Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice adapted for the stage by Simon Reade and directed by Deborah Bruce is a triumph. It will transfer to the West End and become a hit. It is a faultless production with a brilliant set by Max Jones and a cast that brings this novel to life and shows it to be a comic masterpiece. I can’t praise it highly enough. All I can suggest is that you go and see it for yourself.
To see Felicity Montagu as Mrs Bennet is worth the price of the ticket in itself. She is a comic actress par excel-lance. Her range is stunning as she tries every trick in the book to marry off her five daughters. In one scene she attempts to stop the hapless Mary Bennet from singing atrociously so she places her gloved left-hand on Mary’s cheek and with the right claps/slaps simultaneously to bring proceedings to a halt. It is both funny and cruel but pure Mrs Bennet. Nothing will stop her from promoting her girls. In my view Felicity Montagu is the heir to Maggie Smith’s iconic status as our most brilliant comic actress.
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Another performance of comic brilliance is given by Steven Meo as the repulsive Mr Collins. Steven captures wonderfully the mixture of obsequious fawning and self-serving hypocrisy so characteristic of England’s class pecking order. His bow to Mr Darcy would be a kow tow if it were any lower. His delight in the misfortunes of the Bennet family upon Lydia’s elopement is rendered perfectly. “Your family will be ruined and no one will visit you” he explains gleefully. It is wonderful dialogue, perfectly acted.
I must also put in a word for Kirsty Rider. She was just right as the spiteful passive-aggressive Miss Caroline Bingley. Kirsty was making her professional debut and in my view looked totally at ease and in control, so well done Kirsty.
Of course Pride and Prejudice revolves around Miss Elizabeth Bennet (Tafline Steen) and Mr Darcy (Benjamin Dilloway). The chemistry between them is electric and the zig zags in their encounters as they mess up and misunderstand until they finally reach a resolution is achieved with great subtlety and depth of emotion. When they are reconciled at the end Elizabeth says “well you could’ve spoke to me more” to which Mr Darcy replies “ If I had felt less.”
It is worth going to see this wonderful production just for that line alone.
