If you’ve ever sat through a period drama and found yourself desperately wishing everyone would stop wistfully walking through fields and start acting like actual human beings, then Pride & Prejudice* (Sort Of) is the theatrical intervention you’ve been waiting for.
Direct from its triumph in the West End where it won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy, Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) is a unique and audacious retelling of Jane Austen’s most iconic love story. Men, money and microphones will be fought over in this irreverent but affectionate adaptation where the stakes couldn’t be higher when it comes to romance.
Rather than being a clean-cut high-school English Austen, (Sort of) chooses to be a riotous, pop-infused, and unapologetically clever retelling that pays tribute to the original while simultaneously taking the absolute mickey out of it.
The production strips away the lace and the lingering glances, replacing them with a high-energy, all-female cast (including a perfect Mr. Darcy played by Zoe Ioannou) who all juggle multiple roles, karaoke anthems, and an existential crisis or two, all while keeping the iconic love story intact.
The show is a brilliant exercise in “what if,” specifically asking what happens when you view the landed gentry of 19th-century England through the lens of modern, unfiltered feminist frustration. The staging is stripped-back and smart, relying on the raw, comedic power of its brilliant five-woman cast to build a world that is as intimate as a living room and as chaotic as a concert.
My plus one and I found ourselves chuckling at the absurdity of the regency marriage market balls one moment and genuinely charmed by the romance the next, a balancing act that shouldn’t work, yet somehow thrives in this format.
It’s the kind of show that reminds you why we still bother with Austen in the first place and why so many adaptions continue to appear on stage and screen. The themes of status, money, and bad first impressions are as relevant today as they were when the ink was wet on the original manuscript.
Whether you’re a die-hard Austen scholar, or someone who has never touched a classic novel in their life, there is enough wit and bite here to keep you hooked until the final bow. It’s the perfect antidote to a rainy Melbourne week with smart and sharp proof that sometimes, the best way to handle a classic is to pull it apart, add a mirror ball and put it back together with a bit of a twist.
– The Plus Ones
