Theatre Review: Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice

Adaptation Gill Hornby

Composer Carl Davis

Director Tyron Parke

Sydney Opera House Playhouse

Reviewed by Ron Lee, CSP

What happens when you take a classic, popular piece of literature and adapt it? Will it be accepted by the purists?

Gill Hornby and composer Carl Davis have created “an adaptation in words and music” of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Act One was a musical introduction by outstanding pianist Melvyn Tan and violinist Madeleine Eastman. The latter also served as narrator.

In Act Two, Nadine Garner entered to read the dialogue from a book while the two musicals provided the backing.

At times, Garner seemed to compete with the supporting music in order to be heard, and I accepted that her facial and other physical affectations might have been reflective of the early 1800s. Her performance was reminiscent of a card magician who affects a knowing smile and does more than their fair share of “indicating”.

So how did it go over with the audience? The response was quite enthusiastic without the opening night standing ovation. There were clearly Jane Austen fans and I even saw a few men in the theatre.

I would recommend this production to avid Jane Austen readers. To others, it would be like non-Oscar Wilde admirers hearing the quotes, “a life crammed with incident” or “a handbag?!”, or someone who had never heard of Seinfeld hearing references to “the soup nazi” or “master of their domain”.

From the general audience response, this interpretation of Price and Prejudice will be popular with fans of English, period, drawing room dramas.