Floral Pavilion welcomes Pride and Prejudice (*sort of)

Olivier Award-winning stage comedy Pride & Prejudice (*sort of) is heading for the Floral Pavilion next week.

The acclaimed play, which won Best Comedy in the 2022 Oliviers, arrives at the New Brighton venue direct from a smash hit season in the West End and as part of a national tour.

It runs at the Floral Pavilion from April 8-12.

Described as ‘unique and audacious’ and ‘irreverent but affectionate’, Isobel McArthur’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s much-loved novel reworks the story into a laugh-out-loud show where men, money and microphones are fought over.

Cast members transform themselves from Austen’s unnamed 'below stairs' staff into the Bennet family and their suitors, and the action is delivered complete with a string of pop classics including Young Hearts Run Free, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, You’re So Vain and Elvis Costello’s Every Day I Write the Book.

McArthur, who also directs the show, explains: “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.”

The is the first time the play has been seen anywhere in the Liverpool City Region, and comes in the 250th anniversary year of Austen's birth. This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the BBC's landmark adaptation of the tale starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.

Pride & Prejudice (*sort of) is at the Floral Pavilion from April 8-12. More details and tickets HERE