A joyously inventive, funny, satirical yet reverential masterpiece delivered by a cast that lovingly owns the play; an audience roaring and on its feet at the ‘final curtain’; writer Isobel McArthur’s and Director Paul Brotherston’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s best seller is as good a night out in Bristol you could ever reasonably expect to experience. 

First performed at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow last year, in the words of Isobel McArthur: “I suspect that it is the inherent humour and heart of Glaswegian audiences which initially imbued this text with the flare, wit and generosity of spirit that I hope are still at the core of it. It should feel affectionate-whist-knowing, front-footed, funny, fourth-wall-breaking and utterly celebratory. We can watch six women embody their employers, including those who are men, in an act of double transgressive triumph.” Triumph it most certainly does.

Austen’s tale is principally a woman’s story – female survival within the harshly patriarchal society of the late 18^th century. For the Bennet family one of five daughters would have to marry in order to save the family from destitution. Their father’s house was ‘entailed’, that is, could only be passed from male heir to male heir. It is this underlying concern that drives the story and provides exquisite moments of anxiety as first the beautiful Jane, then spirited Elizabeth seem to have gained suitors, only for the plot to dash these hopes away, while further ignominy threatens from the reckless deeds of their younger siblings. 

McArthur has given the story a downstairs-upstairs flip – here it is six female servants who steal the narrative from the off, dashing through Austen’s plot and switching roles and costumes at speed while singing karaoke songs, playing trumpet, harp, accordion, piano and guitar, and pumping 21^st century blood through the Bennet sisters’ veins. Austen’s polite discourse is sometimes turned a hilarious blue as McArthur empowers the sorely tested siblings. But she stays true to Austen’s sense of the embodiment of real love. As Elizabeth (Meghan Tyler) slides off a sofa groaning, we are in no doubt she has caught the bug.

Part of the enormous enjoyment watching this production is the speed at which the actors morph into other characters – McArthur’s speedily framed pose as Darcy’s portrait being just one of many theatrical delights to gain spontaneous applause. And Paul Brotherton’s direction never lets the pace slacken. Lights go down and up with sometimes pantomime-like effect, such as the gloriously sudden entry of Lady Catherine de Burgh (Christina Gordon). Sparkling confetti, smoke effects, chandeliers and a full-sized horse all add to a magical theatrical mash-up. But let’s not forget the music!

Meghan Tyler utterly nails it as the feisty, sensual Elizabeth, hilariously dissing Mr Darcy when singing ‘You’re So Vain’. ‘Will You Still Love Me tomorrow?’, ‘It takes Two’, ‘You’re Just too Good to be True’ and ‘If You leave Me Now’ all have their moments too. All are funny in the context, but somehow manage to hang on to their emotional integrity while adding greatly to the appeal of the show.

McArthur delivered a suitably flapping Mrs Bennet while she had us giggling at her steely but lost-for-words Mr Darcy. There were sparkling performances from Christina Gordon as Jane and Lady Catherine; Hannah Jarrett-Scott as Mr Bingley, and the dreadful Charlotte Lucas; Tori Burgess as Lydia and Mary and Felixe Forde as the cringeworthy Mr Collins and others.

This was a special night at the Old Vic – utterly vindicating BOV Artistic Director Tom Morris’s decision to bring this Blood of the Young production to Bristol. “There is nothing as thrilling as… people who can say new things in new ways and startle the rest of us into a new way of understanding our world.” Amen.    ★★★★★    Simon Bishop     13^th September 2019