New stage version of Jane Austen classic

Sara Pascoe is adapting Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice for the stage.

The new version is said to put the emphasis firmly on comedy as she offers her ‘playful, truthful and occasionally disrespectful’ take on the classic.

She said: ‘I am massively excited to be adapting the book for the stage and demonstrating Austen's courage and wit to a new generation of theatre goers. I hope our fresh and funny version will make existing Pride and Prejudice fans fall in love with the characters all over again.’

The show will run at the Nottingham Playhouse from September 15 to 30, and features an original score from singer-songwriter Emmy the Great.

Director Susannah Tresilian added: ‘It is a dream come true to be asked to direct a new adaption of Pride and Prejudice, one of history's greatest love stories. 

‘I'm interested in taking a fresh look at it, whilst staying loyal to the original. I'm so pleased to be working with two other Austenites, the brilliant Sara Pascoe and Emmy the Great, to create an authentic Pride and Prejudice for a modern audience - combining, one might say, a 21st century sense with a 19th century sensibility…’

Pascoe has previously worked with the Nottingham Playhouse in developing her own play The Ending, about three siblings trapped in a room. It was written specifically with no gender, no age and no location specified.

Pride and Prejudice is being co-produced with York Theatre Royal, and the theatres’ blurb for the show reads:

‘The most famous love story our country has ever produced, yet the women don’t work, the servants don’t speak, and who cares how filthy rich Mr Darcy is when he is so arrogant and RUDE?

‘Georgian England was a world where men had property whilst women had smelling salts and piano lessons. Lucky them. Elizabeth Bennet is witty and clever, has terrible manners and muddy shoes. But with no independence, is her ending actually happy? Or have we been distracted by Colin Firth and frilly shirts?

‘If you’ve always heard people saying "Austen is so funny" and you never got it – you will now.’

Published: 10 Feb 2017