Love, marriage and duty are dissected in this sparkling adaptation of one of the best-loved novels of all time. Samantha Laurie reviews Pride and Prejudice, coming to New Victoria Theatre, Woking on October 25-29. 4.5 STARS
It’s over 200 years since Jane Austen gave the world the five Bennet sisters and their overbearing matriarch, but her acerbic tale of love, relationships and duty remains as popular as ever.
Austen’s well-loved characters translate well to drama – witty and mischievous Elizabeth, aloof and brooding Mr Darcy, the comically absurd Mr Collins – but the challenge for any page to stage transfer of her novels is to do justice to the author’s rapier sharp prose and knowing irony. Simon Reade’s dramatization, now on tour following a sell-out run in 2013 at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, certainly gives it a good go.
He has some aces up his sleeve. Felicity Montagu, perhaps best-known as the long-suffering personal assistant in the TV series I’m Alan Partidge, is superb as Mrs Bennet, whose overly-enthusiastic marrying off of her daughters belies a very real desperation borne of suffocating social pressures for women. When only the eldest son can inherit, her daughters need to find husbands if they are to avoid a life dependent on other people’s charity. With five still unmarried, Mrs Bennet has little choice but to get them wed as quickly as she can possibly manage it.
![Matthew Kelly and Felicity Montagu as Mr and Mrs Bennet [2]. Photo Johan Persson.jpg](https://www.essentialsurrey.co.uk/downloads/7451/download/Matthew%20Kelly%20and%20Felicity%20Montagu%20as%20Mr%20and%20Mrs%20Bennet%20%5B2%5D.%20Photo%20Johan%20Persson.jpg?cb=3f0e66b2def1b77ee36b1b0e6d1ec1da&w={width}&h={height} "Matthew Kelly and Felicity Montagu as Mr and Mrs Bennet [2]. Photo Johan Persson.jpg")
Matthew Kelly, unrecognizable from his Stars in their Eyes days, sporting a snowy white beard, looks every inch the country gentleman, befuddled by the merry-go-round of a home full of feisty women, but unwilling or unable to give them proper guidance. Tafline Steel makes an excellent Lizzy, smart, lively and sassy but stubbornly full of misassumptions.
We see the darker side of the novel in the marital compromise chosen by Charlotte Lucas. Played here by Francesca Bailey, whose long-limbed elegance and accentuated gestures give the impression of a flower, blown in the wind. In this case, the winds of realism. As foolish and obsequious as Mr Collins is, he is her only chance of a secure future.
Director, Deborah Bruce uses a revolving cast-iron stage to switch between the various stately homes and the dances and balls that plot the sparring romance of Lizzy and Mr Darcy. In the spectacular open air setting in which I saw it (the show returned for two weeks in September to its original home in Regents Park), it added a lovely touch of elegance and Regency glamour. You may not have the magic of an outdoor setting on one of this summer’s hottest days to enjoy it, but this is a top-notch, beautifully-executed version of a fine book.
Pride and Prejudice is showing at Woking Theatre October 25-29 and at Richmond Theatre November 15-19. For tickets visit atgtickets.com
Check out our recent interview with Matthew Kelly who plays Mr Bennet in this production
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