Pride and Prejudice* (*Sort Of)

There’s never been a shortage of new adaptations and interpretations of Jane Austen’s most popular novel. The love story between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, and the host of hilarious supporting characters, has been the basis for numerous traditional – and not so traditional – stage and screen versions.

Though Isobel McArthur’s Pride and Prejudice* (*Sort Of), which started life at Glasgow’s Tron Theatre in 2018, faithfully condenses the plot, the execution is thoroughly non-trad. The Bennet sisters have Glaswegian accents, they sing power ballads (Elizabeth performs a composition by Lady Catherine de Bourgh’s other nephew, Chris) and swear liberally.

McArthur and co-director Simon Harvey create a constant flow of remarkable multitasking and quick changes performed by the boundlessly energetic cast. Christina Gordon’s sweet Jane morphs into Lady Catherine, a gorgon in magenta. McArthur herself is a splendidly bawdy Mrs Bennet, unashamedly lusting after Wickham and falling face-first in a tin of Quality Street, and also steps into the boots of the emotionally constipated ‘mardarse’ Darcy.

Mr Bingley as a brainless posh boy with an arm stuck in a Pringles tube is too much of a caricature, but Tori Burgess is highly amusing as an adenoidal Mr Collins in an oversized sweater vest over a cassock (and, as poor old Mary, finally gets a moment in the spotlight). Mr Bennet’s sardonic nature and ineffectual parenting is represented by a backwards-facing armchair and newspaper. Wickham’s attempt to elope with Georgiana is described explicitly as abduction rather than coercion, which offers an extra dimension of fear for Lydia’s future.

Five performers in white muslin and washing-up gloves represent the unseen but all-seeing servants enacting the story and clearing up afterwards (calling to mind Jo Baker’s literary spin-off Longbourn), which provides an interesting but underdeveloped narrative device.

It’s good fun, even if the pacing feels a bit off at times and some of the gags are a tad over-indulgent. Austen’s exquisitely delicate yet biting use of language is deliberately blunted and the internal becomes external. ‘Good’ manners are cast aside and Elizabeth rejects Mr Collins’ proposal in no uncertain terms by telling him to "F off". The bleakness of the Bennet sisters’ prospects if they fail to marry remains ever-present and there is tender poignancy to the way in which Charlotte Lucas (Hannah Jarrett-Scott) is in love with Elizabeth, who is oblivious to her feelings.

Ana Inés Jabares-Pita’s gorgeous set design perfectly matches the enchantingly pretty pink-and-cream Criterion Theatre auditorium, featuring a sweeping staircase and piles of books. The costumes are a hodgepodge of 18th-century and Regency in bright colours (much like Bridgerton, though this came first).

Elizabeth is described by Caroline Bingley as the kind of woman who hates all other women (not true) and Meghan Tyler’s Elizabeth is spiky and even quite sour at times, becoming increasingly dishevelled as the story progresses. She might become mistress of Pemberley, but she’s an abrasive Merytonian through and through.