This is the third time Isobel McArthur’s irreverent dramatic take on our perpetually favourite regency love story has played Newcastle, and it’s still packing in gleefully enthusiastic audiences. Not really surprising – what could be jollier than watching the five assorted maidservants from Longbourne House, home of the genteel but palpably dysfunctional Bennet family, retell Jane Austen’s plot with the aid of lightning changes of costume, a model horse called Willy, a plate of Wagon Wheels and a lot of attitude? Oh, and let’s not forget some hilariously sweary dialogue, a karaoke machine and a tube of Pringles. It plays as a tight-knit ensemble piece, where a second’s disappearance behind a screen can herald a complete change of character, bearing and voice (Mrs Bennet into Darcy was a particularly impressive example) and manages to remain quite remarkably (mostly) faithful to the original. One change, whereby Elizabeth fails to realise that Charlotte Lucas is in love with her, brought a spontaneous sigh of sympathy from the audience – kudos to Emma Rose Creaner for this moment. Then of course there are the songs that illuminate the action – no surprise that Elizabeth dedicates “You’re so Vain” to Mr. Darcy, or that Lady Catherine de Bourgh likes “Lady in Red” because it was written by her nephew Chris. Only Mary, the graceless Bennet sister whose musical ambitions promise exquisite embarrassment not to say social suicide for the family, is held back from performing until the very end of the play, when she sidles onto the empty stage, picks up the microphone and closes the show with a belting version of “Young Hearts, Run Free.” If she’d had the chance, I can’t help betting this is the very anthem that Miss Austen would have selected as her own.

Gail-Nina Anderson