On Tuesday evening, make-up intact, I took my front row seat at the Hull Truck Theatre to watch a performance of Pride & Prejudice.
Nearly three hours later, at the show’s end, I had acquired panda eyes and could have kicked myself for not wearing waterproof mascara.
The person responsible for my facial demise? Ben Fensome.
In this Jane Austin classic, made extra famous by the TV series starring Colin Firth (who could forget that wet shirt scene), Fensome has a dual role – that of dashing soldier Mr Wickham and ingratiating clergyman, Mr Collins.
It’s his portrayal of the latter that caused my tears of mirth. Tall and slim, every move he made in his all-black apparel had the audience in stitches. But it was his rubbery facial expressions that did the damage to my face.
Yet as Wickham the soldier, in his glorious red uniform, he was a totally transformed being.
TV’s Mr Collins was an unlikable soul, so I’m glad this adaptation by writer Kate Hamill, presents him in a more amusing light.
Pride & Prejudice, first published in 1813, introduces us to the Bennet family – Mr and Mrs Bennett (Dyfrig Morris and Joanna Holden) and their four, unmarried, daughters.
The four, Jane (Aamira Challenger), Elizabeth (aka Lizzie – Rosa Hesmondhalgh), Mary (Eve Pereira) and the youngest, Lydia (Jessica Ellis), all have differing personalities.
Serious Mary spends her time at the piano playing sombre dirges; Jane, the eldest and prettiest, has a sweet personality, while head-strong Lizzie freely speaks her mind. Then there’s 14-year-old flighty, flirty Lydia.
Genteel young women in the 1800s were brought up to aspire to being someone’s wife by their early 20s at least.
Jane is the first to be wooed, by the kindly Mr Bingley (a dual role for Eve Pereira), but, thanks to his friend Darcy (James Sheldon) snootily warning him off the Bennetts, she is left heartbroken – but for how long.
But Darcy also has a hand in Wickham making an honest woman of the wayward Lydia, averting a huge scandal for her family. So, he can’t be all that bad.
Somehow, Mr Collins finds a girl to marry – Lizzie’s penniless friend Charlotte Lucas (a dual role for Kiara Nicole Pillai who also plays Bingley’s sister, Caroline).
Upon Mr Bennet’s death, it’s Mr Collins and his wife who will inherit the Bennett estate, making it even more important for one of the sisters to find a rich hubby.
However, Lizzie takes an instant dislike to the very rich (£10,000 per annum no less), tall and extremely handsome Fitzwilliam Darcy upon their first, and subsequent, meetings.
But as events unfold, and the truth emerges, can Lizzie swallow her pride and accept she has made a huge mistake in her dealings with her rich suitor?
And can the aristocratic Darcy overcome his prejudices towards those he feels to be of a lower class?
The whole shenanigans, full of misunderstandings, second chances and love, is played out on a sparsely furnished stage – three long stools, a square piano (so called because of its rectangular shape and square corners), chair and table, with a huge screen backdrop showing sky, and a large, circular structure overhead, decorated with dry flowers.
Period costumes have the women in long cotton dresses and the men in coat tails; plus Wickham’s military uniform.
The lighting only dims during scenery changes, when the cast move the aforementioned furnishings around themselves.
Of the 10 performers (which includes off-stage Swing Emily Kathryn), six play more than one role, two of which created many laugh-out-loud moments.
Jessica Ellis’s second role was as Darcy’s aunt and Mr Collins’ patron, Lady Catherine De Bourgh, and, boy, did she play the snobby, loud, insulting character for all she was worth. In her tartan bustle of a dress, she attracted attention of any “low life” around her, by loudly banging her cane on the floor.
In a much quieter role, but no less amusing, was Lady Catherine’s unwed daughter, Anne. Draped in a huge veiled hat, we never saw “her’ face, but funnily enough, Mr Bennett (Dyfrig Morris) and Anne De Bourgh never appeared on the stage at the same time.
Every actor on the night played their role(s) to perfection. All voices were loud and clear; I never missed one word.
Joanna Holden as the fortune-hunting Mrs Bennett was screechy, hysterical at times, and always lively and amusing. We couldn’t ignore her and didn’t want to.
Dyfrig Morris perfectly portrays Mr Bennett as a husband and father, oblivious to the female hysteria around him, yet inordinately proud of his girls.
But thanks to the 1995 TV series, it’s the two main characters that we remember most when we think of Pride & Prejudice – Elizabeth (Lizzie) and Darcy.
Rosa Hesmondhalgh’s no-nonsense Lizzie is the polar opposite of James Sheldon’s Mr Darcy, but their palpable on-stage chemistry culminates in one of the most memorable final scenes ever.
A scene that’s worth the ticket money alone. I couldn’t fault a thing.
Recommended age 12+
Pride & Prejudice runs at Hull Truck Theatre until Saturday, October 11th, 2025, with tickets available at www.hulltruck.co.uk or by calling (01482) 323638.
Reviewer: Jackie Foottit
Reviewed: 23rd September 2025
North West End UK Rating: