4 days ago
'A riot': Jane Austen stage adaptation with karaoke opens tonight
It's the 1800s and it's party time in Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of), the Olivier Award winning West End triumph opening in Southampton tonight (Tuesday June 10) as part of the city's Jane Austen 250 celebrations.
The unique and audacious retelling of Jane Austen's most iconic love story will be at Mayflower Theatre until Saturday.
Men, money and microphones will be fought over in this irreverent but affectionate adaptation featuring a string of pop classics including Young Hearts Run Free, Will You Love Me Tomorrow and You're So Vain.
(Image: Mihaela Bodlovic)READ MORE: We tried Southampton's 'best' bottomless brunch - this was our verdict
Playwright Isobel Macarthur said: "I had a 50p copy of the novel from the second-hand bookshop below my flat in Glasgow. I assumed it would be completely unrelatable, but how wrong I was. The original book is a riot, a dynamic rom com, and Austen is a right laugh!
"This adaptation, which is told by the servants, using karaoke, is in the spirit of her. It's funny, feminist and front footed.
"A two-week run was originally planned back in 2018. So to be still doing it now is proof that audiences respond to generous entertainment and that all-female casts with regional accents don't detract from historical or literary pieces but, rather, enhance them."
Tickets from
(Image: Mayflower Theatre)
