In 2010, Amazon user “mr carlton b morgan” wrote the following review of Pride and Prejudice:
One star. Just a bunch of people going to each other’s houses.
It’s a clumsy takedown of Jane Austen’s 1813 novel of manners that also critiques marriage, wealth and class. But it does feature an inordinate number of visits to other people’s houses, dealing with the etiquette of invitation, being welcome and the politics of the random drop-in. Austen was well ahead of her time.
In
Bloomshed’s fast-paced ninety-minute reimagining of the story, they do focus
on houses and visits and the romance of both, but they also dive deep into how
Mr Darcy stays so wealthy: as a landlord. As with all of the company’s work, their
progressive, left-wing politics is on show and the romance of Austen’s book is
skewered but it’s the housing and the rent increases and the experience of
tenants that underlines everything they are doing here.
Savanna Wegman’s
set design makes an impression on first entering the theatre: the action takes
place on top of a beautifully-decorated cake that has a giant fork plunged into
one end. Samantha Hastings’ costumes nod to the period, without ever feeling
beholden to it. John Collopy’s lighting design is full of the passion and joy
of the show – why be subtle when nothing that is happening in front of us ever
is. Lots of colour, followed by true blackouts; Collopy keeps us on our toes.
Bloomshed
creates their shows as a team: writing, directing and ensemble are all blurred
lines. While their versions of Animal Farm and Paradise Lost were
more potent with political and social commentary, their Pride and Prejudice
continues the company’s tradition of making smart updates to classics – injecting
humour both clever and bawdy.
They also know
that much of the audience will be more familiar with the 1995 mini-series or
the 2005 film than the book, so there are nods to those adaptations as well. It’s
a remix and an homage and parody all rolled into one.
It would be
criminal not to cast Elizabeth Brennan as Elizabeth Bennett, for the name
alone, but she’s also an actor who can find comedy in a sly look or an
articulate rant, which makes her a perfect Lizzie B. James Jackson knows the
key to Mr Darcy is his inherent awkwardness, while he’s fully aware that he's richest man in the room. The battles between the two lovebirds aren’t even reconfigured
that much in this adaptation; their central conflict – their reluctance to open
up to each other – continues to feel vital.
The choices to make Mr Bennet a potplant (what does the character even contribute to any
version of the story?) or the sickly cousin a skeleton head with a shawl
or to have the marvellous Syd Brisbane do double-duty as local pastor Mr Collins and overlooked
fifth daughter, Kitty, is the kind of silliness that Bloomshed excels at.
Because in amongst the social commentary, their shows embrace over-the-top
theatricality and ridiculous puns.
If it is a
truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good
fortune must be in want of a wife, what of a man with a meagre fortune whose
home only has three bedrooms and one-and-a-half baths? Bloomshed’s
production of Pride and Prejudice will make you wonder if these things
can ever work out, especially if – adjusted for inflation – he’s a billionaire
and her family is just middle class.
This is a
joy of a show, which made me cackle from beginning to end. You probably need to know the story or the movie or the mini-series to really appreciate it, but there's comedy and nonsense for everyone. Not to be missed.
Pride
and Prejudice is
playing at the Darebin Arts Centre (not far from Bell station) until August 10th
Photos: Sarah Walker
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