'Plied and Prejudice' Review

Janet Gordon checks out this must-see show for tipsy Janeites

Photo credit: Guy Bell

'It is a truth universally acknowledged...' has to be one of the most famous opening lines in the world. Copied, altered, plagiarised and rewritten - those opening lines from Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice can conjure up anything you want them to be.

And so when I was invited to the Press Night of Plied and Prejudice – the hit Aussie show which has now transferred to The Vaults, Waterloo, I was soo excited. I love Jane Austen – Pride & Prejudice is my go-to relaxing book. You know when you’ve been frightened to death by serial killer reads, or cried your eyes out after a very romantic weepie? I pick up P&P and just relax - it’s like a familiar and comforting friend.

I didn’t know what to expect. Sure, I’d read the press release inviting me to the booziest of boozy balls at Mr Darcy’s Place, but I’d never taken part in immersive theatre before.

Armed with our free boozy drink - in a Plied & Prejudice mug - we queued and filed excitedly into the beautifully decorated angular tunnel which is The Vaults, to the accompaniment of bass and violin playing souped up versions of Bridgerton/Regency type music. Some of us were dressed up, some of us weren’t. I’d so loved to have worn my Regency outfit but on the tube – nah.

It started off reasonably authentically. Hooray, we had front row benches and sitting next to us was the Australian bestie of Lizzie Bennett. Just to remind you, Mr and Mrs Bennett have five daughters - Elizabeth, Jane, Lydia, Kitty and Mary. Since the last three are silly girls, they are played by three dresses hung onto a broomstick, with a three voiced actor moving up and down along the stick, changing voices as he shunted up and down the broomstick.

Nervy Mrs Bennett implored Mr Bennett to visit Netherfield which had been let to Mr Bingley. And after Jane had been sent up to Netherfield ostensibly to catch cold so that she could stay overnight, with Lizzie trudging three miles in the mud to join her, the matchmaking Mrs Bennett and the broomstick girls descended on Bingley and his snooty sister, and implored Mr Bingley to have a Ball. The amiable Bingley, best described as a lovable golden labrador who had fallen in love with Jane, agreed. And the Netherfield Ball – well if you cross hip hop with Regency, you’ll get it, with Bingley eager to bop with everyone whilst Darcy looked down his long nose and found nobody to be even tolerable, thus – as we all know all too well – earning Lizzie’s undying ire.

Of course, the Bennett girls have to marry well, because their home is entailed to Mr Collins, the cleric who brown-noses Lady Catherine de Burgh, his patron, so creepily. And as cleric Collins slithered into the room, slimly spitting as he spoke, he was hailed as a sex pest and so with the audience completely hyped up every time Mr Collins was mentioned, we all yelled SEX PEST until at the end of that scene, with

the rubber legged Mr Collins (SEX PEST) writhing all over the floor ending up like a piece of flat packed furniture lying on the harlequin tiles, he received a sitting ovation – well, we were all a bit too boozed-up to make it a standing one!.

As a cast member pointed out, we still had most of the chapters to get through and with only twenty minutes to go, the whole cast began to play in double time. Galloping up and down The Vaults, hats flying as they changed characters – with only five cast members and at least twenty characters being played – if it was difficult for the cast to remember who they were meant to be as they slickly changed clothes, hats and voices, it was almost impossible for the audience - but who cared? It was hysterical.

And of course we were all waiting for that infamous wet shirt scene. The Vaults doesn’t have a lake, and Darcy didn’t have a horse – but that didn’t stop him standing under a hose pipe getting soaked to his white linen shirt to the hoots and applause from all watching. Lots of improv, tons of ad libbing, and not-so-muttered asides from the exhausted cast. But all true to the spirit of Austen. My goodness, they are so fit, literally running up and down The Vaults nonstop.

It’s very hard to pick out individual cast members – they all melded together just like a family but special mention has to go to Mrs Bennett/Lady Catherine de Burgh whose wonderful headdress and bustle almost stole the show, and then Mr Collins – words simply don’t do justice to the way he slithered and slimed his way across the floor.

I don’t think I've ever had such a hysterically uproarious boozy evening. I enjoyed every second and I’m still laughing days later.

It’s over 18s only – it’s very lewd and rude, noisy and boozy – and yes I did buy a Mr Darcy T shirt.

Janet Gordon

Tickets bookable until July:

https://pliedandprejudice.com/london/