Photos by Tom Taintor
“Director and co-Sound Designer Penelope Parsons-Lord injects the play with a healthy dose of bold and unabashed energy, utilizing pop songs with confidence. It’s the sort of staging that feels like a risk that paid off, resulting in a show that made you want to get up and join the dancing.”
With everything that’s happening in our world at the moment Pride and Prejudice could seem like an odd choice of show to produce. What could a women writing over 200 years ago have to say to us that’s worth listening to? But to cling to these outdated and superficial prejudices is to dismiss a wonderful story that allows its characters and the world they live in to grow and change, to examine their own biases, to let go of their ego and find a way to see the world from someone else’s perspective. Theatre can be more than one thing, we can have a wonderful entertaining night, we can be swept along with the fun and chaos whilst still connecting with the heart and message of a story.
A few years ago, I designed and built costumes for a different production of this script, and prior to reading it I wasn’t particularly excited about working on the show – I’m going to admit I was a bit of a snob; the BBC version was so good, did we really need another version of this story? Just snuggle down for 6 hours and enjoy the TV. Boy was I wrong – Hamill’s version of this story is joyful, chaotic, gentle, full of dancing, chaotic, funny, raunchy and – oh did I mention chaotic? We have had a blast working on this show in the rehearsal room, creating a crazy and vibrate world that we are thrilled to share with you tonight.
Whether it’s your first time watching Pride and Prejudice or you watch it every year, we hope you are swept along by this lively, exciting, chaotic production.
