Our theatre reviewer, Sam Sims, shares his thoughts on Pride and Prejudice at Hull Truck Theatre.
After the success of To Have and To Hold back in May, Hull Truck Theatre returns with a co-production between Octagon Theatre Bolton, Theatre by the Lake and Stephen Joseph Theatre, of Jane Austen’s most famous and most iconic love story, Pride & Prejudice. This wonderful adaptation is also in association with Theatr Clwyd.
Pride & Prejudice centres on the Bennet sisters, their everything but especially money and status hungry mother, and father who seemingly only wants a quiet life. Pressured into finally settling down with a rich husband, headstrong Elizabeth ‘Lizzy’ Bennet is determined to defy the expectations set upon her, but how long will that last when the sopping wet Mr Darcy pops into her life?
This might be the first time I’ve experienced Pride & Prejudice, like, ever? I know, I feel dirty. There’s the 1813 book, an absolute classic of English literature which I’ve always meant to, but never read, the 1995 TV mini-series starring hunk of all hunks, Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, which I’ve always meant to, but never watched, and the Oscar nominated film starring baby Keira Knightly, which I maybe saw back at uni but those days are a blur. There are many other adaptations, plus some interesting twists on the story, like Bride and Prejudice and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Eeek.
I think we can all agree, this is a story that for the most part, is just never going to age. And that’s why, decade after decade, century after century, it is going to delight legions of new and existing fans. I really love this stage adaptation. Admittedly, I found Louie Whitemore’s set, which is very simple, quite jarring when I first sat down – there are some chairs, a pianoforte and not much else but my imagination quickly filled in the gaps. There’s also a lovely floral hanging ceiling ‘piece’ which could be called a chandelier if it had lights.
Sure, this is a romance and quite a famous one, but the most startling element of Director, Lotte Wakeham’s Pride & Prejudice is how damn funny and exuberant and robust it is. Every single character – and especially the sisters – have so much autonomy and are gloriously fleshed out. Jane (Aamira Challenger), is the prim and proper Bennet. She’s the one who is actually looking for love and rather than grumble at and mock her mother for so actively trying to set up matches for her daughters, delights in it. Yet at the same time, we see her as more than this. We see her have a giggle with Lizzie (Rosa Hesmondhalgh) and hole up in her room because she has a cold and feels unattractive. Relatable! We also have Lydia (Jessica Ellis), the youngest Bennet who gets stinking drunk on punch and rants about her love of balls, but ultimately experiences the most devastation. Kate Hamill’s adaptation of an already very colourful story (so I’ve heard), is just brilliant. They remain faithful to Austen’s writing, whilst bringing it into the twenty-first century, but not forcefully or making it cringe. A particular highlight is both Lydia and Mrs Bennet’s (Joanna Holden) outbursts of “I love balls” and the latter dabbing Darcy’s (James Sheldon) damp crotch. Lovely.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a strong, unified cast on stage, who all work so brilliantly together. Picking standouts is really hard because everybody is damn good and the comic timing is on point. Kiara Nicole Pillai as both Caroline Bingley and Charlotte Lucas is hilarious, and especially as the former. It would have been so easy to make the insufferable Bingley irritating and not much else but Pillai gives her a nasally voice and makes her very horny. It’s magic. Holden is also very funny – you never know what the hell is going to come out of her mouth, as is Ellis, who doubles up as both Lydia and the grotesque Lady Catherine De Bourgh. But again, the cast are all superb.
Something I was quite taken aback by was the conclusion to Lydia’s story and how lightly it is discussed in the play. Clearly, relations between a pre-pubescent girl and a grown man were not taken quite as seriously in the early 1800s, as they are now and I appreciate staying loyal to the source material, but personally, I think more should have been done to address it through a 2025 lens.
Ultimately, this is a delight from start – as Holden’s Mrs Bennet tells the audience to “switch off your mobile phones because they haven’t been invented yet” – to finish. Fans of Bridgerton and its use of orchestral versions of our fave pop songs are going to love this adaptation of Pride & Prejudice. I certainly did.
Pride and Prejudice runs at Hull Truck Theatre until Saturday 11th October.
[Sam Sims – Theatre reviewer]
