My Review of Sara Pascoe's Pride and Prejudice

So I have to admit that I read the works of Jane Austen while I was in school, I also read a whole bunch of other things it was very unpopular for a young teenage boy to read including Romeo and Juliet, Little Women and all manner of other ''girly'' things, I also read Tolkien, Pratchet, the Omen, basically I was a big reader who was open to exploring as many fictional worlds as possible. I also flocked to watch as many films as I could and I was always willing to try out film versions of anything I have read. This is something which is still true to this day, I read Stephen Kings IT, I saw the mini series and enjoyed it and I have just recently seen the new film and enjoyed that as well.

So where am I going with this? Well basically I had seen posters around advertising a stage play of Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice which had been adapted by Sara Pascoe the Comedian. I mentioned this to my girlfrind who went on to say that it was one of her favourate books and while I dont feel that deeply for it, I did enjoy it so I suggested that maybe I should book us tickets for it as a part of her birthday presents/celebrations.

When booking the tickets I was a little worried I have to admit, you see I know Sara Pascoe for her apperance on various comedy pannel based shows and have seen her in the company of people like Frankie Boyle and such and well part of me was almost expecting this production to be full of jokes about the size of characters genetialia or for it to just try and be well too post modern and to far removed from the original material. Its not that I would have minded it if was that rude but I was kind of worried that it wouldnt be something my wonderful girlfriend would fully appreciate.

Personally I found the play to be very good, there was some humour injected into it but it was never over bearing or at the expense of the material in my opinion, it was at least to my sensabilities nice end of the peer comedy gently intertwined into the story, it made you giggle a bit here and there and kept your mood light but it didnt destroy the feel of the show. I was a little hit and miss when it came to the fact that there was this sort of  play-within-a-play structure to the show. You see we cut from the actual story to three diffrent types of scene which all sort of exist to critic the play, you see a teacher teaching girls about the play in a class room, you see people playing the characters in rehersal talking about the story how they feel about there characters there thoughts on the play, and then we also go to these two people who are adapting the story into either a TV show or film who talk about what they think of the characters and what they think they should do to sell individual scenes and to get characters across in a good or bad way. If this is a good or a bad thing depends upon what you think about this critique and if you even want one, at times I found myself enjoying these bits but at other points I kind of just wanted to get back to the main story, I guess I just felt like I had read the book and thought about the themes and the characters and didnt need certain points thrusting down my throat quiet as much, I do however admit that others might enjoy this and it might make them think about some of the issues more than they had before or in new ways.

If I have a critic which I feel is not down to personal taste and is more of an actual solid complaint then I dont like how many actors actually double dip and play two or more roles. Not only do you have to see the same person play multiple roles there are also bits where stand in wooden men are dragged around dressed as soliders. Now when the cheapest seats in the house were £15 with the more prime seats being more and the house was full to its 750 person capacity I can not for the life of me see how they couldnt offer basic none speaking stand there and smile or walk across the stage parts to some young aspiring actors, heck at the right point in my life I would have happily stood in uniform for free on the stage just for the thrill of being part of a performance and I am sure there are still plenty of people who would feel like this and be happy to do it just to fill there CV with something intresting.

There are a few short musical numbers thrown into the show where the girls talk about how its not funny becuase if they dont get married and get money they will be thrown in to the street to starve and how they shouldnt be judged by modern standards, how if we were in there position we would do the same as they are doing. There are also the odd jokes a lot of them thrown in by two particular characters one of them being one of the sisters who is sort of treated like she is well mentally ill, she says weird things out of place like wondering if she is dead and a ghost now and if people can see her, I personally found her funny but I could see how others might not.

I would recomend the show but I do think that you need to take certain things into consideration when wondering if it would be for you, You need to ask yourself if the humour might annoy you and if the wrap around sections will stimulate your mind or simply annoy you. Ultimatly I think its a good adaption but I have read reviews were people have been a little in my opinion snooty about it seeing it as trying to be too hip and modern I guess ultimatly if it is for you or not depends on your own sense and sensabilities.