Pride and Prejudice in York

Prepare yourself for a playful, truthful and occasionally disrespectful take on Pride and Prejudice in a new comic adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel by stand-up comedian Sara Pascoe with a score by Emmy the Great.

This York Theatre Royal and Nottingham Playhouse Theatre Company co-production is directed by Susannah Tresilian.

The most famous love story our country has ever produced, yet the women don’t work, the servants don’t speak and who cares how filthy rich Mr Darcy is when he is so arrogant and rude?

Georgian England was a world where men had property whilst women had smelling salts and piano lessons.

Elizabeth Bennet is witty and clever, has terrible manners and muddy shoes.

But with no independence, is her ending actually happy?

Or have we been distracted by Colin Firth and frilly shirts? If you’ve always heard people saying “Austen is so funny” and you never got it – you will now.

Susannah Tresilian said:

“It is a dream come true to be asked to direct a new adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, one of history's greatest love stories.

I'm interested in taking a fresh look at it, whilst staying loyal to the original.

I'm so pleased to be working with two other Austenites, the brilliant Sara Pascoe and Emmy the Great, to create an authentic Pride and Prejudice for a modern audience - combining, one might say, a 21st century sense with a 19th century sensibility."

Sara Pascoe said:

“I am massively excited to be adapting the book for the stage and demonstrating Austen's courage and wit to a new generation of theatre-goers.

I hope our fresh and funny version will make existing Pride and Prejudice fans fall in love with the characters all over again."

Emmy the Great said:

“It’s a privilege to be working alongside Susannah and Sara on this show. Pride and Prejudice is a book that I have come back to often in my life, and through this experience and Sara’s words I am getting to know it with a new intimacy.

The humour of the original text, and this adaptation, makes working on the score extremely fun. I hope I can do it justice.”

Playing Mr Darcy is Matt Whitchurch whose past credits include Midsummer Nights Dream (Liverpool Everyman), We Know Where You Live (Finborough Theatre) and Pine (Hampstead Theatre). Bethan Mary-James is Elizabeth, having appeared at Nottingham Playhouse in The Revenger’s Tragedy and All My Sons (Talawa/Royal Exchange) and Moon On A Rainbow Shawl (Talawa/National Theatre).

Cast as the Bennet sisters are Rebecca D’Souza (Jane), Alice Haig (Kitty), Rachel Partington (Mary) and Olivia Onyehara (Lydia) with Adrian Irvin as Mr Bennet and Kerry Peers as Mrs Bennet. Completing the cast are Matthew Romain (Mr Bingley) and Alex Sawyer (Wickham).

Listings information
Pride and Prejudice,
York Theatre Royal, 4 – 14 Oct
Evenings 7.30pm 4-7 Oct, 10-14 at 7.30pm
Matinees Thu 5 and 12 Oct at 2pm, Sat 7 and 14 Oct, 2.30pm

Spotlight On: Adaptation, Thu 5 Oct, 6.15pm
Post show discussion Wed 11 Oct
Audio described Thu 12 Oct, 7.30pm and Sat 14 Oct, 2.30pm
Captioned Sat 7 Oct, 2.30pm
BSL performance Fri 13 Oct, 7.30pm
Relaxed performance Thu 12 Oct, 2pm

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