Pride and prejudice* (*sort of) – Theatr Clwyd

The outrageously hilarious Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) comes bursting on to the Moondance stage at Theatr Clwyd with an impressive set, wonderful costumes and a group of five incredible women who take us through this story, playing all the roles and leaving the audience on their feet.

Written and directed by Isobel McArthur and based on the Jane Austin novel, Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) starts with the servants ‘cleaning’ in the auditorium, interacting with the audience, the sound of the bell ringing occasionally. The servants realise they are at work and the show begins. The servants are central to the story, reminding us that even though they are never seen, they are always there.

With another ring of a bell the cast jump in to action and with a quick costume change (extremely slick costume change which happens all throughout the show at impressive speeds) we are introduced to the Bennetts. Mrs Bennett and her daughters Jane, Elizabeth, Lydia and Mary. Mrs Bennett needs one of her daughters to find a gentleman to marry so they don’t lose everything when anything happens to Mr Bennett (who we never see but is there in his arm chair reading his newspaper). This is where the story unfolds and we meet numerous characters, all played by the five cast members on stage.

Eva Hope plays Clara but transforms in to the likes of Jane Bennett, Mr Wickham and Lady Catherine de Bourgh, one of my favourite characters who Hope plays extremely well and pulls the best faces in the role.

Georgia May Firth plays Effie also bringing us a wonderful Elizabeth Bennett who is brilliant in the role and uses plenty of hilarious choice language.

Julia Murray plays Flo as well as Mrs Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy both of which are phenomenal. The over the top mother to the straight faced, pompous Darcy. Fantastic.

Grace Farrell plays Anne and also brings a multitude of characters including Lydia and Mary Bennett and the hilarious Mr Collins. All played so well and so fun.

Phoebe Marshall plays Tillie and switches brilliantly between Charles Bingley and his sister as well as others. Absolutely perfect.

I was so impressed how quickly they were able to not only change costumes but their whole characters, accents, the way the hold themselves. And to top it off, the cast were moving set pieces around the stage to move us from scene to scene.

Set and costumes are designed by Ana Inés Jabares-Pita and they are genius. Costumes are grand and stunning to look at but cleverly designed to be stepped into to aid in the extremely quick changes and the set works incredibly well to take us from place to place without having to change the main set piece.

Lighting designed by Ryan Joseph Stafford is great, taking us on a journey and helping with dramatic points, like the sudden appearance of Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

Even though this is a play they’ve incorporated songs in to the piece and they are fantastic, linked extremely well to the storyline and the cast sound amazing. And as well as the cast playing all these characters, they also play instruments at times to accompany the songs. As with most plays the cast weren’t wearing microphones so there were a few occasions where it was difficult to hear a few bits, especially if they were further back or high up and my ears did need to adjust at the times they used microphones then spoke without them straight after but this did not take away from any enjoyment of the show.

I felt that even though I was watching an old story unfolding in front of me, it felt current, almost new and done so well that it will definitely bring new audiences in to the world of Pride and Prejudice, with some slight differences but absolutely for the better.

Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) will have you laughing out loud and leave you in awe of the five incredible women on stage who work tirelessly to bring a fantastic piece of theatre to life.

Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) runs at Theatr Clwyd until Saturday 3^rd October with tickets available at www.theatrclwyd.com

Reviewer: Damian Riverol

Reviewed: 29^th September 2026

North West End UK Rating: