REVIEW: PRIDE & PREJUDICE* (*SORT OF) @ THEATRE ROYAL PLYMOUTH

🎭 Pride & Prejudice* (*Sort Of)

📍 The Lyric, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Royal Parade, Plymouth, Devon, PL1 2TR 

🗓 Monday 27th January 2024

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

SOUND ISSUES HAMPER A BRILLIANT SHOW

Playing all this week at Theatre Royal Plymouth, PRIDE & PREJUDICE* (*SORT OF) is a parody of what is perhaps Jane Austen's most famous love story. This unique retelling is told from the perspective of the servants who work for the novel's characters and is sprinkled with songs and quick changes galore.

Amongst all the chaos, Isabel McArthur's adaptation does stay true to the original text, but makes it charmingly relevant to a modern day audience. The addition of pop songs ranging from Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow to Holding Out For A Hero is quirky, but somehow they fit the narrative really well.

The cast in this production are absolutely sensational. Between the 5 of them they play every character in the story and there are some seriously fast costume changes throughout. Each cast member multi-roled extremely well, and it was never confusing which is a testament to both the talent of the performers and the writing.

I have to say that the standout star of the show for me was Emma Rose Creaner. She had some of the best characters to play and her energy and enthusiam was contagious. Her running through the audience screaming was hilarious, and she often acted like she was making her lines up on the spot which was joyous to watch.

Rhianna McGreevy gave a somewhat nonchalant portrayal of the iconic Mr Darcy which was wonderful, but honestly the entire cast were amazing and each pulled off flawless performances.

The biggest issue for me was that this production seemed to get lost in The Lyric. When I walked in I straight away noticed that the set struggled to fill the stage, but what really failed here was the sound. The actors did not have personal microphones so it was actually often quite difficult to hear what was being said and I really had to concentrate to hear everything. When there was audience laughter there was no hope of hearing what was being said on the stage. For me personally this cheapened the entire production as it regrettably felt like a cost-cutting exercise. This may not be an issue in smaller venues but even with the Upper Circle closed and the ceiling lowered, The Lyric auditorium was just too big.

This is a real irritation as the content of the show is really good. I would recommend anyone that wants to see the show during its run at Plymouth who may be hard of hearing or who fears they may struggle as I did to book the evening performance on Thursday 30th January which is captioned.

When the performers sang they did have hand held microphones but unfortunately if the song was being performed with a backing track rather than on stage instruments, then the levels were all wrong and once again it was difficult to hear the lyrics being sung.

It is such a shame that the sound issues had such a negative impact on my experience because the show is good and the amazing performers worked so hard to deliver an incredible show. I definitely think that this is something the producers need to look into, especially as there are some other big venues coming up on the tour. I would like to see the show again in the future but I feel that the current sound issues would put me off booking a ticket.

If you're interested in catching PRIDE & PREJUDICE* (*SORT OF) it's playing at Theatre Royal Plymouth until Saturday 1st Fenruary. CLICK HERE to book your tickets.

Neill Kovacic-Clarke

All views are my own and I pride myself on being honest, fair and free from influence. Theatre is subjective and it is important to remember that all views expressed are just those of one person.

My ticket for this performance of Pride & Prejudice* (*Sort Of) was gifted by the Theatre Royal Plymouth who invited me to watch the show in exchange for my honest review. The fact that my ticket was gifted played no part in the content of my review or the star rating given.

CAST LIST:

Emma Rose Creaner; Eleanor Kane; Rhianna McGreevy; Naomi Preston Low; Christine Steel

RUNNING TIME (approx):

2 hours 15 minutes, including interval

CONTENT WARNINGS:

Occasional bad language; Weapon imagry

AGE GUIDELINE:

12+