A hilarious Pride and Prejudice hits the stage
Pride and Prejudice ★★★★
Lyric Theatre, QPAC, until March 9
Jane Austen never goes out of style, but we are surely experiencing Peak Austen right now. Bridgerton’s fourth season has been announced; drunken parody Plied and Prejudice played to 12,000 people last year in Northshore Brisbane; and a new Bridget Jones film (albeit, with her beloved Mark Darcy deceased) just opened in cinemas.
Now, in the year of Austen’s 250th birthday, we have Queensland Theatre’s lavish and delightful new production of her most popular book, adapted by two Patrick White Award winners, Lewis Treston (previously the author of a gay take on the tale, Hubris and Humiliation) and Wendy Mocke (a Papua New Guinean multidisciplinary artist).
Under the bonnet: Jane (Perry Mooney) and Bingley (William Carseldine) take a turn while the family looks on.Credit: Morgan Roberts
While Mocke and Treston hit all the plot novel’s points and classic lines, you can’t accuse them of over-reverence. They’ve written plenty of their own fresh rom-com zingers, adding modern sass to the novel’s story of a woman’s search for love and respect within the harsh economics of the Regency marriage market.
Co-directors Bridget Boyle and Daniel Evans have done their utmost to make the story accessible. They’ve leaned into the comedy, and their colourblind casting gives the piece a Bridgerton vibe. So does Guy Webster’s thrilling music, which backs strings and piano with house beats (there are some lashings of Gaga and Eilish in there as well). Dance sequences choreographed by Nerida Matthaei give the show massive injections of energy and sexuality.
Newcomer Maddison Burridge is a perfect Elizabeth, the heroine’s intelligence and wit radiating from her megawatt smile. Skilled at repartee and physical comedy, Burridge is nothing like anyone you’ve ever seen play the part – but she completely owns it.
Maddison Burridge (Elizabeth) and Andrew Hearle (Darcy) play the central characters in the classic story of changing your manners and your mind.Credit: Morgan Roberts
On the other hand, as the proud Mr Darcy, Andrew Hearle resembles Colin Firth in looks and taciturn air of distraction, and even gets a nod to the famous “wet-shirt” scene from the BBC version. Literally nobody is going to be upset about that.
Courtney Cavallaro, the scheming maid from last year’s Queensland Theatre curtain-raiser Gaslight, excels as horndog, loose-cannon Bennet sister Lydia. As you’d expect, Gael Ballantyne serves up comic gold as both husband-seeking missile Mrs Bennet and super-snob Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
