Blackpool Grand Theatre – until Saturday 6 May 2023
Reviewed by Debra Skelton
5*****
Spring has certainly sprung so come join in this riotous celebration of Jane Austen’s classic, brought up to date and thrust firmly into the modern consciousness with total hilarity.
A unique and audacious retelling of one of the most iconic love stories opened this week to rapturous applause and a full house standing ovation. Blackpool Grand Theatre is currently playing host to the Oliver Award-winning comedy Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) and it was an absolute blast.
Continuing on its whistle-stop tour, the multi-award-winning Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) by Isobel McArthur (and in a small way, Jane Austen) first graced regional theatre at Northern Stage in 2019 where it attracted critical acclaimed and five star reviews. Since then, it has been to Edinburgh, won a host of awards and left audiences up & down the land in the throes of hilarity.
Re-telling the intertwined love stories of Mr Darcey, Mr Bingham, Mr Whickham and the Bennet family, it is packed with in-jokes, observations and more innuendo than you can shake a feather quill at. The cast of 5 uber-talented actresses play all the parts, making for some wickedly imaginative portrayals, fabulous costume changes and tonnes of off-the-cuff witticisms.
Men, money and microphones are fought over in this irreverent but affectionate adaptation where the stakes couldn’t be higher when it comes to romance. If you’re any sort of fan of the original (which is pretty good on its own merits) then you will LOVE this version. With similar feelings to the first forays of Mischief Theatre and their ‘Goes Wrong’ catalogue, this is sure to become a modern comedy classic, sought after and re-watched time and time again.
The cast includes Leah Jamieson as Anne, Mary Bennet, Lydia Bennet and Mr Gardiner, Lucy Gray who reprises her role as Tillie, Charlotte Lucas, Charles Bingley and Miss Bingley, Emmy Stonelake as Effie and Elizabeth Bennet, Megan Louise Wilson as Clara, Jane Bennet, and Lady Catherine de Burgh and Dannie Harris as Flo, Mrs Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy.
The show features a string of pop classics including ‘Young Hearts Run Free’, ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’ and ‘You’re So Vain’, all played and sang by the cast and making for some hilarious yet surreal interludes. Austen-style prose is interjected with some pretty ‘modern day’ language (if only the original was written this way, I’m sure more students would have paid attention in English Literature) all sat under the duvet of familiarity which makes it feel like the whole audience is at a sleep-over watching their favourite movie.
It’s the 1800s. Its upper-class England and there’s romance in the air (or is it pine fresh flash?). Grab your tickets and hold your sides, it’s party time.