Pride, Prejudice and Other Useful Qualities

PRIDE, PREJUDICE AND OTHER USEFUL QUALITIES by Geoff Bamber, is a comedy inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice with all the familiar themes including devious relatives, a family keen to marry off their five daughters, but peppered with modern parlance including a mention of Toys are Us and high fives! 

The set was excellent and well designed so as to be used for multiple scenarious such as a park, the Bennet and Bingley residences. It was decorated with greenery, pillars with a path leading to a folly. Props were good and well used such as parasoles, shopping bags and papers.

The costumes were fabulous and in keeping with the period. There were lovely dresses for the young women, appropriate ones for the more senior women and there were relevant costumes for the parson and Richard Barnett looked resplendant in his uniform as Captain Wickham. Also in uniform was Sarah Short as Constance, the maid. Breeches and fitted coats/jackets were the order of the day for the men and there were lots of accessories in the form of mop caps, lace gloves and fans.

The evening was in two parts; the first being the celebration of the group’s 75th anniversary. This took the form of a potted history, read and acted out by Hannah Rogers with Richard Barnett who were both in costume.  This was informative and light hearted. The history was interspersed with A dance at the Pump Rooms, performed by four of the cast and a ‘lesson’ on fan etiquette. This section ended with a rendition of ‘Bold Sir John’ from the Company.  After the interval, Pride, Prejudice and Other Useful Qualities was performed. This play managed to combine history and humour and lots of tongue in cheek twists to the well known story of Pride and Prejudice. Changes of location in the action were announced in this spirited and modern retelling of the Jane Austen classic. Performances were of the highest quality all round with newcomer, Michael Reynolds, perfect as the arrogant and, seemingly unfeeling, Darcy. He was well matched by Emma Davis as Elizabeth. This was a visual and verbal treat with witty remarks, humour, intrigue and romance which went down brilliantly with the audience.

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