Review: Pride & Prejudice* (*Sort of) at the Theatre Royal Windsor

In want of a wife or more laughter in your life? Get lost in Austen with this madcap take on the beloved tale of the Bennet family and their five matchless daughters.

Told by the long-suffering servants of various big houses, an all-female cast of five become a below-stairs chorus, swiftly switching plain white undergarments for feathers and finery to become laughing Elizabeth, her sundry sisters, the proud Mr Darcy, cringey Mr Collins, hollow George Wickham,  artless Mrs Bennet and the whole Longbourn/Netherfield/Pemberley crew.

Everyone takes on multiple roles, which is part of the fun, Mr Bennet being played by a wingbacked chair and a newspaper is particularly apt.

Ana Jabares-Pita's set is simple and effective, an angled staircase and gallery frame the stage, providing levels, hints of books and a touch of Regency blue, while other props and furnishings appear with dizzying speed.

Pop hits push along the action, some with recorder, guitar and glockenspiel, played by the agile cast, others are karaoke-style.

And it’s a suitably joyful and eclectic soundtrack for this rollercoaster: Holding Out for a Hero, You’re So Vain, Every Day I Write the Book… 

When we meet the excruciating Lady Catherine de Bourgh, she sweeps on to the sound of Lady in Red written by ‘her nephew Christopher’.

There’s also a lovely Divine Comedy song in this delightfully earthy comedy – and a fair bit of swearing.

Isobel McArthur’s romp of a play is definitely created for modern sense, nonsense and sensibilities. Hurrah!