'Love's irrelevant - we're talking about marriage.'

This unique take on Jane Austen's beloved novel is an adaptation like no other, drawing on over two hundred years of romantic pop history, and featuring five young women with a story to tell.

You might have seen them before, emptying the chamber pots and sweeping ash from the grate; the overlooked and the undervalued making sure those above stairs find their happy ending.

Of course, these women have always been running the show - after all, 'You can't have a whirlwind romance without clean bedding' - but now the servants are also playing every part. Let the ruthless match-making begin!

Isobel McArthur's acclaimed Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) was first produced in 2018 by theatre company Blood of the Young at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, before a UK tour the following year, produced by the two companies and the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh. It transferred to the Criterion Theatre in London's West End in October 2021, and won Best Entertainment or Comedy Play at the 2022 Olivier Awards, with its author winning the Emerging Talent Award at the 2022 Evening Standard Theatre Awards.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that an amateur company in want of an irreverent all-female adaptation of a literary classic to perform, need look no further.

About the Author
Isobel McArthur is an actor, writer and musician based in Glasgow. As a writer, her plays include The Grand Old Opera House Hotel (Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, & Dundee Rep, 2023) and Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of), adapted from Jane Austen's novel (Tron Theatre Company and Blood of the Young, 2018; UK tour, 2019; West End, 2021; UK tour, 2023). Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) won Best Entertainment / Comedy Play at the 2022 Olivier Awards, and McArthur was the winner of the Emerging Talent Award at the 2022 Evening Standard Theatre Awards. Jane Austen (1775-1817) was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction set among the landed gentry have earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature.

Reviews

'Frankly sensational... the shocking truth of Isobel McArthur's smart, riotously funny five-woman adaptation is how faithful it is to Austen while being gloriously entertaining'

* Variety *

'This sweary, anarchic reboot of Pride and Prejudice, in which an all-female cast of five play all of the characters, pretty much nails it. It's a joy whether you're a paid-up Janeite or not... brilliantly blunt and wears its feminism on its sleeve. And... it's got KARAOKE, employed to excellent effect as a modern twist on Austen's social commentary... a deep affection for the source material is never in doubt... Teachers will go down in history for taking their students to see this... It's the kind of warm, big-hearted show the West End needs'

* Evening Standard *

'An awful lot of fun, a naughty-but-nice celebration of Austen's classic'

* Time Out *

'Isobel McArthur's roistering all-female pop musical adaptation remains unexpectedly true to the novel's familiar twin themes of hidden passions and economic hardships... There are laughs aplenty, both period and modern, as the cast exchange roles and genders at break-neck speed... It would have won the approval of Austen herself'

* The Stage *

'A raucous and transgressive, yet surprisingly faithful, adaptation... the gags are plentiful'

* Guardian *

'A total blast of hilarity from start to finish... sticks faithfully to Austen's brilliant story while opening it up into a riot of fun, colour and mischief-making. It is dramatic re-invention at its most enjoyable and if Austen aficionados don't enjoy it just as much as Austen virgins, I'll eat my pink Regency bonnet'

* WhatsOnStage *

'Unfettered joy from start to finish'

* Herald *

'Laugh out-loud funny, with sudden bursts of un-lady-like swearing too; Austen's foible-alert wit and emotionally astute reading of her characters are at once counterpointed and impeccably served... I doubt Jane Austen is turning in her grave. In fact I suspect she'd wish that she were there'

* Daily Telegraph *

'Clever, funny, feminist, and not even shy, in the end, of a few powerful moments of true romance'

* Scotsman *


Awards
Winner of Best Entertainment or Comedy Play - Olivier Awards 2022 and Emerging Talent Award, Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2022.



Book Information
ISBN 9781839040467
Author Isobel McArthur
Format Paperback
Page Count 120
Imprint Nick Hern Books
Publisher Nick Hern Books