Interview: Isobel McArthur, writer/director of Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of)

Men, money and microphones will be fought over as Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of), a unique and audacious retelling of a certain Jane Austen novel comes to York Theatre Royal from 4-9 November. The stakes couldn’t be higher when it comes to romance but it’s party time so expect the show’s all-female cast to deliver a string of pop classics including Young Hearts Run Free, Will You Love Me Tomorrow and You’re So Vain.

Isobel McArthur, the writer of the show, directs this new production of the West End hit which has already won her the unprecedented double of an Olivier Award for best comedy and the Emerging Talent Award in the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. Find out more about Isobel’s inspiration for the show and what to expect here.

Austen’s original tale is so well loved as a book, television series and film, can you give us an insight into what makes this version of Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of)?

I suppose what I was aware of when watching many of the other adaptations of this novel was that, for whatever reason, the humour of Austen’s novel has repeatedly been side-lined in the interest of… I don’t know – something so reverent that it’s become positively solemn. The original book is a riot. So, this adaptation – told by the servants, using karaoke – is in the spirit of Austen herself and the way she writes. It’s funny, feminist and front footed.

Where did you first have the inspiration for Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of)?

I had a 50p copy of the novel from the second-hand bookshop below my flat in Glasgow. I was in my late twenties and had never read any Austen before. I assumed it would be starchy, unrelatable stuff – all red-nosed dukes and drawing rooms. How wrong I was. Opening at page one, I started laughing. And, crucially, not the knowing laugh of a literature graduate (although I am one, for my sins) – rather, the belly-laugh of a human being who recognised in the matriarch of this novel a woman I’d encountered a hundred times in my own life. I knew instantly that in this book were a set of observations and a cast of characters that needed to be shared with as many people as possible. ‘Don’t believe what you’ve seen at the movies!’ I wanted to shout, ‘Austen is a right laugh!’

It’s been some two-hundred years since the publication of the novel, what elements did you want to feel very of their time in the piece, and what elements did you want to feel up to date?

Story-wise, it isn’t a question of anything feeling old or contemporary per se because the novel remains so relevant. In our show, Pride & Prejudice is set to a pop-karaoke soundtrack. I began compiling a list of songs at the start of the writing process and discovered quickly that all good artists come to the same conclusions about love. When Jarvis Cocker tries to define it – he does so in the same terms as Austen. It’s no coincidence. Some things just endure.

Aesthetically, however, when it comes to old and new – it’s a free-for-all! The design, music and tone borrow from a full two hundred years of romantic history so expect things to remind you, your folks and your grannie of when you first fell for someone.

What are the physical challenges of the show, given the number of roles everyone plays?

It’s a run-away train for the performers! There are 119 named characters in the original Pride & Prejudice. We have reduced this to an essential 18 in our production – played by just 5 actors. Lightning-fast costume changes are required from the cast throughout. They also play the instruments, sing the songs and perform all the scene changes.

However – this is not merely in the interest of economy. In our adaption, the Pride & Prejudice story is told by the female servants of a Regency Era household. During the Napoleonic wars, these women really did it all. They facilitated the making of art for centuries. Without these overlooked and undervalued servants of households like Austen’s – we wouldn’t even have the music, portraiture, or novels of the period (including this one).

Do you have to be an Austen afficionado to enjoy the show?

Not at all. You don’t need to know a single thing about Jane Austen or her books. In fact – please don’t go looking up a synopsis. Theatre should not require homework. If you really like it, you can always go and read the novel afterwards.

The show won Best Comedy or Entertainment Play at the Olivier Awards and then you won the Evening Standard Award, what was that feeling like for you?

I think we’re all extremely proud of our collective achievements with this show. It first played at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow in 2018 with a two-week run planned. To be still doing it now is proof not only that audiences respond to generous entertainment but also that all-female casts with regional accents don’t detract from historical or literary pieces but, rather, enhance them.

Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) is at York Theatre Royal from 4-9 November.

Find out more information and book your tickets here.