The Vaults – until 18 July 2025
Reviewed by Jackie Thornton
5*****
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman in Regency England must be in want of… a very stiff drink. And so opens this rambunctious staging of Jane Austen’s most iconic work from a bunch of…well…Australians.
There’s something about the unapologetic drawl of our antipodean cousins’ accents that clashes wonderfully with the RP of Austen’s world, sending up the rich content a treat. Co produced by two giants in international touring musical theatre, Woodward Productions and Glass Half Full Productions, Plied and Prejudice squeezes over 300 pages into a brisk 90 minutes with heartfelt affection and warmth for the original text, playfully poking fun at the author’s plot holes and coincidences along the way.
Award winning director Dash Kruck and author Matt Semple are obviously massive fans of Austen and have plucked all the silliness, snobbery and hypocrisies of Regency England that she was so fond of satirising and elevated it into farce that edges towards pantomime. The result is positively hilarious as the confines of only having five outstanding cast members to play a bounty of characters sees these good eggs racing up and down the chequered catwalk style stage, throwing costumes on and off and contorting their bodies and voices to fit each role.
Tim Walker is hysterical as he flits between leading man Darcy and the three youngest Bennet sisters and Andrew Macmillan shows incredible versatility sliding between Bingley, Collins, Wickham and Mr Bennet. The stand out performance has to go to Emma Andreatta who deploys her clowning skills and elastic facial expressions to wondrous effect in playing Mrs Bennet, Lady Catherine de Bourgh and more.
Penny Challen’s set and costume design aid the role swapping massively with colourful print polyester gowns nodding at the Regency style yet lithe enough to be frequently changed.
Brigette Freeme displays excellent comic timing as protagonist Elizabeth Bennet as well as some lively dance moves while Monique Salles plays Jane Bennet and shows excellent wit in taking on the lion’s share of narration. Thankfully, for an immersive theatre show, audience participation is kept to a minimum with only a few victims spotlighted and some pantomime elicitation of boos.
If you’re planning on a boozy evening then drinks can be ordered straight to your seat
throughout the show.
This is a sublimely agile, witty and naughty celebration of Austen of which the great author herself would surely have wholeheartedly approved.