PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (Sort Of)

 

Pride and Prejudice (sort of). 

Written by West End Co-Director Isobel McArthur after Jane Austen.  West End Co-Director and Australian Tour Director Simon Harvey. Associate Director and Choreographer Simone Sault. Musical Director Kohan van Sambeeck. Original Sound Composition Michael John McCarthy Set and Costume Design Ana Ines Jabares-Pita. Costume Supervisor Isaaac Lumis. Jason Bovaird Lighting Designer. Marcello Lo Ricco Sound Designer. Company Stage Manager Jasmyn Cate. Assistant Stage Manager Brittany Myers. Executive Producers Neil Gooding and Alex Woodward. Producer David Pugh. The Canberra Theatre. Canberra Theatre Centre. September 19-27 20226 Bookings: 62752700 or www.canberratheatrecentre.com.au

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

The Cast of Pride and Prejudice (sort of)

The very first question one might ask is would Jane Austen have approved of writer Isobel McArthur’s hysterically chaotic, uproariously eruptive and outrageously silly, topsy turvy telling of Austen’s most beloved Pride and Prejudice? Can the story told in word and song by five petticoat clad maids of the Bennett household still be true to Jane Austen’s sharply, and yet affectionately penned social satire of the 19^th century? At the end of the Australian production of the Olivier Award winning hit after the five maids had romped through two hours of playing all the characters and charging through the fateful lives of the desperate Mrs. Bennett, the sanctimonious Mr Collins, the stuffy William Darcy, the silent Mr Bennett and each of his five unmarried daughter there was no doubt that the Canberra audience revelled in McArthur’s clever invention of a female take on the story and its characters. In a high octane production class is exposed, social status lampooned, the fickle nature of love and romance revealed and the treatment of women condemned by a female author over two hundred years ago who observed with wit and intellect injustice in society. In 2026, I Think that Jane Austen would applaud McArthur’s stance and the production’s challenge to cast aside preconception and faithful reverence and enjoy  this madcap glimpse of Jane Austen’s world. It helps if you have read Pride and Prejudice. Well sort of!

Teo Velzara as Darcy. Zoe Ioannou as Elizabeth

 Pride and Prejudice (sort of) smacks of University Revue in its playful and imaginative approach to the time worn classic. However there is no doubt that writer McArthur is resolved in placing the role of women and their status in society at the very centre of this production. It is left to director Sam Harvey and his talented cast to layer McArthur’s work with all the fun and invention of the action. The cast throw themselves into this theatrical romp. They sing, dance, play instruments and switch roles with a jacket, a hat, an Empire dress or a bedpan. It’s a giddying telling of the familiar source and at times it risks losing control of the storyline. I suspect that style and storyline could become confusing for those less familiar with Austen’s narrative. 

Amy Lehpamer in Pride and Prejudice (sort of)

 

There are carefully etched sketches of character by the performers. Their versatility is astounding. Amy Lehpamer is equally convincing as the haughty Caroline Bingly or the sexually suppressed Charlotte. Ruby Shannon convinces as the flighty Lydia or the obseqious Mr. Collins. Kaori Maida Judge effectively captures Jane’s anguish and Lady Catherine De Bourgh’s fearsome authority . Teo Vergara’s Mrs. Bennett exudes desperation in her quest to marry off her daughters as well as the aloof arrogance of Mr. Darcy.

Kaori Maida Judge as Jane in Pride and Prejudice (sort of)

In focusing mainly on Elizabeth NIDA Graduate Zoe Ioannou is able to give more depth to Jane Austen’s intelligent and independent heroine. Love may triumph in the end but one feels that her strength of character will never be compromised. In Act Two, the confrontation scene between Elizabeth and Darcy assumes a more naturalistic truth that lends it a moment of emotional truth. This is largely in part due to Ioannou’s convincing portrayal.

 

It’s all played out with a sense of fun, frivolity and respect for Jane Austen’s amazing and enduring popularity. Pop music prevails, anachronism abounds, props transform and Ana Inez Jabares-Pita’s lolly pink climbing staircase and towering bookshelf provide a romance novel backdrop. Her costume design is lavish and Pride and Prejudice (sort of) is as tasty a treat as a Venetta from a red-dotted Coles shopping bag. If that is to your taste, then you are in for a treat.

Photos by Matthew Chen.