Pride and Prejudice, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield

Pride and Prejudice

(Photo Credit: Johan Persson) 

(Accessed http://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk)

This honest retelling of Jane Austen's classic is told in Sheffield to a very appreciative audience.  Lez Brotherston, a renowned designer, ensures the staging is 'resonant of the situation that the Bennet family find themselves in'.  The painted romantic landscape, serving as a backdrop, depicts the daily life the Bennets lived and commuting by foot across the fields was commonplace.  It certainly challenges perceptions one may have about how the story is told and set by watching other adaptations.

The production is unique for its contemporary movements and choreography throughout. Certainly important as much as the talking dialogue.  Tamara Harvey describes so that the audience is entertained as much as being aware of how relevant today. Love, money and class are quintessentially familiar in many societies worldwide.

Scott Ambler, renowned for his involvement with Matthew Bourne's productions, is keen to embrace humour and imagination; the performers, particularly Grace Chilton's Mary Bennet, demonstrates the non verbal activity for telling this classic successfully with the smooth running of the performance and there no prolong pauses with the scenes transitions.  Much more a creative process than an adaptive one.

The cast performs extremely well portraying the unique characters from Pride and Prejudice.  Performers which stand out are Isabella Laughland's quick mind and witty Elizabeth Bennet; James Northcote's dark and unassuming Mr Darcy; Howard Austin's quintessential Mr Bennet and Michele Austin's larger than life and excitable Mrs Bennet -all supported by a dynamic and exciting cast.

Pride and Prejudice sums up:

"IT IS A TRUTH universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife"

These words are echoed at crucial stages in the performance,  Playing at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre until 6th June 2015.