Theatre Royal Bath Productions presents ‘Pride and Prejudice’,

Published by: Tremayne (Potter)

An impressive opening displaying a raised stage which character Mary Bennett, played by Victoria Hamnett, approaches plucking on her violin as she does so. The music builds up as each member of the cast, alternating between male and female comes onto the stage.  After they have taken up their positions there is a steady build-up of stamping feet, almost replicating Riverdance.

When we are introduced to The Bennett Family and Kitty (Leah Whitaker) I felt her coughing in the scene a little overacted.

The scene where Jane (Violet Ryder) has taken to her bed with a cold it is creatively put together through imaginative stagecraft. The actress stands on top of a chair holding a white sheet up against her as a blanket, whilst another actor holds a pillow in place. 

Elizabeth (Katie Lightfoot) comes to join her beloved sister Jane, scampering across the countryside, shown through a use of abrupt violin sounds and sudden, jerky running movements across the expanse of the stage.

I particularly liked Kitty’s sudden shrieks of laughter when she visits Mr Bingley’s (Alex Felton) abode with her mother (Susan Hampshire).

As Mr Collins (Tom Mothersdale) arrives, he is introduced standing on top of a chair, reading a letter aloud, the spotlight shining down on him.  As he greets Lizzie the second eldest Bennett daughter, and Jane, he bows right down to the floor.

When the dining table is brought in we can see that the food is quite literally stuck to it, along with the plates and cutlery, and wine glasses.  Very comical!

To denote the time passing, a male member of the cast crouches underneath and behind the various pieces of furniture and intermittently rises up and down as the big hand strikes.

Tom Mothersdale plays Mr Collins in a Mr Bean/Lee Evans style, particularly when Elizabeth Bennett opts to dance at The Ball with Mr Darcy (Nicholas Taylor), escaping his clutches.

One of my two favourite scenes in ‘Pride & Prejudice’ is where Lizzie declines Mr Darcy’s initial proposal of marriage, quite clearly in love with him but is, at this point in the story, wanting to ascertain what, if any, are his exact motives.

In Act II, The Bennett Family contemplate a holiday in Brighton when two soldiers ride past them, waving as they go. These men each ride on another person’s shoulders, that person sporting a horse’s head. The audience found this very amusing.   

With the mention of Derbyshire, Chatsworth and Dovedale fond memories are conjured up inside my head of where I grew up.

Mr Darcy’s abode is visited.  The family portraits are admired by all and are cleverly depicted by cast members holding up chairs and peering through their empty backs, creating the appearance of picture frames.

Slight disappointment came when the production managed to leave out the ‘wet shirt’ scene made famous by the BBC interpretation, when all of womankind then hankered after Colin Firth’s Mr Darcy!

A line that rests in my mind is one spoken by Mr Darcy to Elizabeth right at the end of the play when he says to her, having realized just how much they mean

 to one another: “..by you, I was properly humbled.”  It is then brought to a cleverly thought out finale through a series of letters, thus allowing for a strip in scene changes.  I found this production extremely imaginative, well produced and highly entertaining.