Oxford Playhouse

Monday 22nd – Saturday 27th February; 2.30pm, 7.30pm

“The speed of the performance made it funny, but it meant it edged dangerously close to farce. In the first two acts, characters had the irritating habit of bumping into each other, as if this was a sound and unmistakeable way of expressing sexual attraction.” Eluned Gramich ★★★★★

“The production on the whole is marked by its comedy, the screenplay adapter, Simon Reade, utilizing often Wilde-esque syntax and situational irony to turn the underlying humor of Austen’s masterpiece into laugh-out-loud hilarity.” Jessica Fast ★★★★★

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Pride and Prejudice ★★★★★

Review by Eluned Gramich

This professional production of the best loved and oft-quoted Austen novel boasted excellent acting, beautiful costumes and engaging choreography. The dancing scenes, so reminiscent of countless films and television adaptations, are repeated on stage to the accompaniment of a live violin. The dancing and movements on stage are carefully constructed and perfectly executed, as is expected from a professional production. Most importantly, of course, the play had a fantastic Mr Collins (Tom Mothersdale), who – as the character should be – was overacted for enjoyable comic effect.

However, all of this was eclipsed by the issue of timing. The problems of adapting a novel to the stage reared its awkward head. The production raced through scenes which I would have preferred to have a minute to actually enjoy, leaping from one character to the next, from one love story to another. The Pemberley scene, for instance, showed Elizabeth and her relatives walking through the grounds before, suddenly, talking about being in front of Mr Darcy’s portrait. The audience laughed at the clear incongruity of the actors suddenly pointing out the furniture when, a line previously, they had been commenting on the beauty of the grounds. The engagement scenes, too, were rashly presented. Lydia and Mr Wickham enter the household married and suddenly Mr Collins points out that Mr Bingley has arrived. And lo, here he comes to ask Jane to marry him. And then, Lady Catherine de Bourgh arrives, and of course Mr Darcy quickly follows. It is extremely ingenious of the director (Toby Frow) to succeed in making a flaw in the adaptation work in his favour: creating comedy out of the very fact that the play moves absurdly quickly. After all, everyone knows the story, what point is there to linger over more moving scenes?

But this is to assume that what Austen writes is a shallow excuse for comedy, and thus ignoring the darker, satirical aspects of the work. Charlotte Lucas’ lines were laughed at, despite her position as a sad and tragic figure, forced by circumstance into an unhappy marriage. The speed of the performance made it funny, but it meant it edged dangerously close to farce. In the first two acts, characters had the irritating habit of bumping into each other, as if this was a sound and unmistakeable way of expressing sexual attraction. Emotions seemed to change every second, and this made many of the scenes difficult to believe. In the end, the problems raised by adapting a novel which spans across years into a two hour play were too great to really be ignored, or even mocked. Almost all complex characterisation is sacrificed, leaving only the comic shells of characters you once knew from the novel, despite the good acting. There was no attempt at a new interpretation, nor did it try to look deeper into the story then the level of plot. It was a good attempt, and a good show, but it offered nothing new.

Pride and Prejudice ★★★★★

Review by Jessica Fast

Theatre Royal Bath Productions brings Pride and Prejudice to the Oxford Playhouse stage in an engaging whirl of creative scene changes, clever staging, and enchanting acting. Adapted from the famous Jane Austen novel and directed by Toby Frow, the play opens with a solitary violinist on a sparsely furnished stage, whose plucking of strings brings the actors in through an upbeat, interactive dance sequence. This method of passing time and marking scenes with the use of music and the presence of the musician transitions the various tableaus of the play from one to the other, quite literally ‘dancing through life.’ With the actors themselves working as stagehands, they move the limited pieces of furniture around the stage, to the middle for the sitting room and to the side for a ball. Occasionally and to great comic effect, the actors also portray props, holding themselves as bookshelves, horses, framed portraits, and topiaries, so no time is wasted to transform settings, which allows the lengthy timeframe of the story to move quickly without leaving the audience feeling too rushed.

The production on the whole is marked by its comedy, the screenplay adapter, Simon Reade, utilizing often Wilde-esque syntax and situational irony to turn the underlying humor of Austen’s masterpiece into laugh-out-loud hilarity. Susan Hampshire brings wit and presence to the stage as Mrs. Bennet, and although the more major roles such as Elizabeth Bennet, played by Katie Lightfoot, and Mr. Darcy, by Nicholas Taylor, carry themselves well and with the stability befitting their characters, they are often overshadowed by the humor and vivacity of the numerous minor characters. These enter and exit the stage with frequency and pleasantly leave the audience with a sense of the absurdity, awkwardness, superiority, arrogance, and good intentions of the various figures who inhabit the lives of the primary characters. These delicious interactions, although good for an ironic laugh, do often leave the spotlight on figures other than those in center stage.

Overall, this play is a breath of fresh air into an age-old classic. In spite of the music and dance sequences becoming a bit tedious by the fourth or fifth one, the dynamism of the characters, the good-humored writing of the script, and the clever staging make this play an all-around hit. I think Austen would approve.