Prejudice and Pride continues at theSpaceTriplex – Big, Edinburgh until 27 August 2022.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Many a strange thing happened during lockdown and we are all reaping the harvest of the extraordinary creativity explosion as it reaches stages, books and screens across the globe. In Kansas, Nicholas Collett and Sam Wright came up with the idea of not only a gender reversal take on Pride and Prejudice, but to change estates for ranches and set it in contemporary America, laced together with a country music score.
It’s a crazy idea, but it works.
The hardworking talented cast not only sing, but play a fair amount of instruments too – banjo, guitars and even the spoons (!), all anchored by Mark Hamblin’s double bass.
The Longborn family comprises: Bennet (Sam Wright – also on banjo); Jake (PT Mahoney – also on guitar) and Lyle (Christian Thomas Owen – also on ‘spoon’) as the interpretation of Elizabeth, Jane and Lydia Bennet. Their parents are also role-reversed with a wonderfully laconic Mama Longborn (Margaret Shelby) and the fusspot Papa Longborn (Matt Rapport – also guitar and mouth organ).
There is an urgent need for the sons to marry well to provide a future for the family. Salvation appears in the form of Carly Bing (Stefanie Stevens) and her spark with Jake. Her friend, Darcy Fitzwilliam (Bridget Casad – also on guitar) is a rather quiet and distant character. The fizz of wit between Darcy and Bennet is rather subdued in the performance as both seem somewhat shy.
Stefanie Stevens plays several other characters, notably Victoria ‘Wick’ Hamm, the rascal who first charms Bennet then Lyle. Her plotline as the louche lothario is well told and Lyle is a suitably gullible ‘target’.
The tie-in with recent Whitehouse incidents may need a little revision to ensure the through plot is clear.
Would Jane Austen have liked this? No… She would have loved this!!
Fiona Orr
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