It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. Preferably one who can sing, dance, play an instrument and drop F bombs all over the place. This is the third time I have seen the show, the first was in 2020 and the second in 2023. All I can say is that it gets better every time.
The idea is straight forward in that it is an adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel, the twist is that the story is told by five housemaids who work for the Bennet family, around whom the story revolves. As the book runs to over 400 pages it has obviously had to be truncated in order to be performed in a couple of hours, including an interval. This is done by the female actresses playing multiple parts, of both genders (there were only two in those days) and glossing over sections of the story by giving us a precis.
The cast in full karaoke mode
The gist of the tale is that Mr and Mrs Bennet have five daughters, all of whom are single and look like staying that way for the foreseeable future. This poses problems as Mr Bennet is not in the best of health, his own fault really as all he does is sit in his chair smoking and reading the newspaper. You need to have seen it to get that joke. The law of the land in 1813 was based on primogeniture, the system by which a man’s estate passed to his eldest son when he died. Just having five offspring on the distaff side meant that, should he ascend the stairway to heaven with none of them married – in which case the husband copped for the legacy – his house and possessions would be forfeited to the state.
Understandably, Mrs Bennet was not keen on the idea of being made homeless so she became the Georgian equivalent of Tinder, scouting the realm for male partners. Unlike Tinder, they had to be willing to commit and, once spliced, not to do a runner with their new-found wealth.
Mr Bingley, with hand caught in the Pringle tube, Mrs Bennet and daughter.
Several gentlemen, of various degrees of attraction, were lined up but none was suited to the girls. One was a parson, who was boring, even in clergyman terms, as well as being a letch, another was a scoundrel, milking his brother for money, and a third, said brother, Mr Darcy. He is the one everyone remembers, played in the tv series by Colin Firth, when he emerged from the lake in a white top, thus winning the Mr Wet T-Shirt competition. This was referred to in the show when one of the sisters remarked that he looked ‘very dry’. Darcy was handsome but said barely a word and clumsy around the ladies.
Givin’ it large with the karaoke again
The comedy covered all genres; farce, my pet hate, but which was executed superbly well, wit – sharp as a razor, silly dancing, facial and bodily expressions, and prat falls. Each element pulled off with aplomb, and, even though I had seen the stunts and heard the jokes before, they still made me laugh out loud. A lot of this was due to the actors, who were an ensemble rather than there being a star, and were able to inject their personalities into the role, meaning that even though the joke was the same it took on a different life each time.
I referred to F bombs in the heading paragraph, and, whilst they were bandied about a bit, were used sparingly enough to shock when dropped, especially by ladies in Georgian costume.
The cast, minus one, who was in the cupboard under the staircase.
The songs were all well known, rather than especially written, and delivered either by the cast playing accompaniment on various instruments, or by use of a portable karaoke machine, which kept appearing from nowhere, as did microphones and, very impressively, people.
As already said, the show was an ensemble piece with eight members listed. Sadly there is no indication of who played which daughter and, although I could identify a couple from their photographs in the programme, I don’t want to show favouritism so will provide a list of them all: Emma Rose Creaner, Eleanor Kane, Rhianna McGreevy, Naomi Preston Low, Christine Steel, Susie Barrett, Isobel Donkin and Georgia May Firth.
You just know where that vase will end up. Correct!
The play was superbly directed by Isabel McArthur with Comedy Supervisor, Jos Huber, doing a brilliant job, as, indeed, did all the creatives.
For a taster, click on the trailer at https://prideandprejudicesortof.com/gallery
I would urge you to go see this production, which runs at Leeds Grand Theatre until Saturday 31st May. There are only two further stops on the tour: Exeter next week and Southampton the week after.
More information and booking can be found at https://leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/pride-prejudice-sort-of-2025/
Details of further shows at Leeds Heritage Theatres are at https://leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/
Feature image from Leeds Heritage Theatres. Photographs by Mihaela Bodlovic
Tyke It To The Limit 