Review: Pride and Prejudice (*Sort Of) At Newcastle Theatre Royal
Pride and Prejudice (*Sort Of)
Newcastle Theatre Royal – 23th September 2024
Invited| Review by Stephen Stokoe
Where to start with this production? Well, the title is very appropriate because you do get the whole of Jane Austen’s classic tale of the Bennett family and their copious daughters seeking marriage to the eligible bachelors in the area and beyond, sort of.
The tale is told by the downstairs menials of a stately home some time when the original story was set. These hard working girls are frustrated that their stories are never told so take it upon themselves to re-enact Pride and Prejudice as seen through their eyes. This makes for some hilarious observations and some choice language as they reinterpret the relationships between the Bennett girls and all the men that come into their lives along with the various balls (who doesn’t love balls?) with some rib-tickling observations of their own.
The set designed by Ana Inés Jabares-Pita is essentially the hallway of a posh country home complete with sweeping staircase and a moveable piano. The cupboards under said staircase are very cleverly used as entrances and places to shove a very cleverly presented Mr Bennett when he is not required. Jabares-Pita is also responsible for the costume design which is appropriate and in-keeping with the period of the classic story.
The cast consists of Susie Barrett, Emma Rose Creamer, Rhianna McGreevy, Naomi Preston Low, Christine Steel, Isobel Donkin and Georgia May Firth. I have named them all because it would be a miscarriage of epic proportions and a serious injustice not to. They all play multiple characters, several instruments and can don and wield a duster with the skill of an olympic fencer. All of the characters of the story are there and played with great skill and ingenuity by the cast. The script by author and director Isobel McArthur is relatively faithful to the Jane Austen novel but with a fair seasoning of artistic licence and a firm tongue well and truly in the cheeks of the actors.
There are some well chosen and well known songs peppered throughout the show which add to the anarchy and ridiculousness of this raucous but affectionate ode to the book. I have little doubt Ms Austen would be rolling around and chortling in her final resting place should she get wind of Pride and Prejudice (Sort Of.)
It definitely helps if you have at least a working knowledge of Pride and Prejudice to fully appreciate this production but with irreverent period TV such as Bridgerton and others, I think that most people will get what this production tries and, for me, very successfully achieves to do.
Pride and Prejudice (Sort Of) is a new production from Newcastle Theatre Royal Productions and has opened at this wonderful theatre before embarking on a UK tour. It forms one of two ventures co-produced by Newcastle Theatre Royal in 2024 with the second being Gerry and Sewell with Jamie Eastlake Productions which is based on the quintessentially Geordie film ‘Purely Belter.’
The story of Pride and Prejudice is all there – sort of. It is a delight from start to finish and I can thoroughly recommend that everyone gets along to see this classical piece of literature given some very creative and thoroughly naughty treatment. You will not regret it.
Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) plays at Newcastle Theatre Royal until Sat 28 Sep 2024. Tickets can be purchased at www.theatreroyal.co.uk or by calling 0191 232 7010.