Yesterday evening I spent an enjoyable few hours at the Birmingham REP at their opening night of Simon Reade’s adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Currently touring the country, this play is an enjoyable reselling of Jane Austen’s most famous and beloved novel.
I was invited to review the performance and given my tickets free of charge for the purpose of this post.
Pride and Prejudice is up there as one of my favourite books of all time. My two girls are named Georgiana and Lydia Elizabeth which should give you an idea of how much I love P&P! Although we do hope that our Lydia turns out a bit better than Austen’s.
This adaptation of the novel is very amusing, full of enjoyable characters and captivating scenes, and I enjoyed it very much. Judging by the rapturous applause from the audience, I wasn’t alone in my admiration of the screenplay and the actors in this particular retelling.
Pride and Prejudice is probably one of the most adapted novels out there. I have seen it performed live as a play before, and there are several films telling the story (both period adaptations and modernised ones), and of course the incomparable 1995 BBC adaptation with Colin Firth – probably the most famous Darcy. So, this play had a lot to live up to!
It’s always interesting to see what is included and what is not, in order for the story to be compressed into a few hours. In this case, the first few weeks of the book are compressed into one scene, with the assembly and the gathering at Lucas Lodge combined into one.
The characters of Mr & Mrs Hurst were omitted, and Wickham didn’t appear until the Netherfield Ball – which he usually doesn’t attend at all. A few elements of the story are out of order which causes a little bit of confusion in the plot – for example Elizabeth is set against dancing with Darcy before his unfortunate comment, and it’s not clear why. However, they have generally done an excellent job of adapting the long & complex novel, and the story is told well.
Matthew Kelly and Felicity Montagu’s Mr & Mrs Bennet are a total triumph, with hilarious on stage chemistry and masterful comedic timing. Mr Bennet had the audience chuckling throughout, with his facial expressions and body language telling his side of the story without words a lot of the time. I saw Matthew Kelly perform at Stafford Castle in Taming of the Shrew well over a decade ago, and his performance was as brilliant then as it was last night – he belongs on the stage.
Benjamin Dilloway was wonderfully proud as Mr Darcy, but cracked a smile by the end, and Tafline Steen’s Lizzy was funny, likeable and fun to watch. Steven Meo’s Mr Collins was not as slimy as some I have seen, but was very funny and OTT. Doña Croll’s Lady Catherine was the perfect blend of pompous and ridiculous.
A few things didn’t make sense… I’m not sure why they felt the need to change Anne de Bough’s name to Annabel, both Mr Gardiner and Colonel Fitzwilliam were missing which felt odd (I wasn’t sure how was Lizzy so sure that Darcy played such a large part in taking Bingley away without Fitzwilliam spilling the beans), and the scenes at Pemberley were so shortened that Elizabeth’s reevaluation of her feelings for Mr Darcy seemed to be based on very little.
However, they did do a good job of including all of the main plot points and a lot of the best lines from the novel were included. Of course, it began with Mrs Bennet proclaiming the most famous line of all… “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
The sets were wonderful in their simplicity and each setting was instantly recognisable to anyone who is familiar with the novel; the slight chaos of Longbourn, simple elegance of Netherfield, and overdone gaudiness of Rosings park were achieved very cleverly with just a few pieces of furniture. The use of a hanging electronic screen behind depicted the changing of the seasons very neatly.
The music was wonderful throughout the play; especially composed for the original Regent’s Park performance of this adaptation, it was the perfect soundtrack to the story. They had CDs of it available to buy and I am kicking myself for not grabbing one while I could. Likewise, the costumes were exquisite, and wonderful examples of Regency dress.
So many elements of the novel were brought to life wonderfully in this adaptation; the reading of the letters was brilliant with Georgiana’s near-elopement being acted out in the background as Elizabeth read the letter in the foreground, and I loved the way the portrait gallery at Pemberley was depicted.
Overall it was a very enjoyable evening and the audience were laughing throughout at this excellent adaptation of Pride and Prejudice – and even gasping in shock once or twice. I highly recommend it to any Austen fan, and it would be a great introduction to those who haven’t experienced anything Austen before, too.
Pride and Prejudice is on at the REP until Saturday 12th November, and then continues it’s tour at another six venue around the country – find out more here. Tickets are from just £15 and it is well worth it!
