PRIDE & PREJUDICE* (*sort of)

Sing Along with Jane Austen: Five maids, five actresses, over 18 roles, and a karaoke show packed with ’80s hits. This fast-paced reimagining of Pride and Prejudice blends grand emotions with sharp humor, telling a story of love, money, and female empowerment.

In Isobel McArthur’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice, five maids finally step into the spotlight and seize the opportunity to perform their favourite ’80s hits in a fast-paced karaoke show. With wit and irreverence toward the original material, they tell a story of economic dependence and female self-determination. In doing so, they embody not only the five unmarried Bennet sisters but almost all the characters who populate the novel. This theatrical device opens up a new perspective on Jane Austen’s 1813 masterpiece: Mrs. Bennet is determined to marry off her five daughters, since under patriarchal inheritance laws they would otherwise be left with nothing if Mr. Bennet dies. When the wealthy, amiable—and above all unmarried—Charles Bingley moves into the neighbourhood, happiness seems within reach. At a ball, sparks indeed fly between Jane Bennet and Mr. Bingley. At the same time, the sharp-witted Elizabeth clashes with the arrogant Mr. Darcy. While their mother does everything in her power to secure suitable marriages, the sisters long not only for financial security but also for true love and self-determination.

They share these desires with the maids who reenact the story. For once, they are allowed to do more than serve tea to the household as invisibly as possible. They speak about the »menial« tasks that are never mentioned in the novel: the work that keeps the household running—laundry, bedmaking, and keeping the pantry stocked.

Five actresses take on more than 18 roles and tell the story through ’80s hits and playful irony. This approach not only creates a humorous distance from the historical material but also gives a voice to those who are usually indispensable yet remain unseen. Its irreverent, bird’s-eye perspective is as entertaining as it is revealing.

And in the end, love wins. Of course.

Jan Neumann, born in 1975, trained as an actor at the August Everding Bavarian Theater Academy. He works as a director and playwright and has staged productions at venues including the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin, Schauspiel Köln, and Schauspielhaus Bochum. Since the 2013–14 season, he has been resident director at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar. In Bonn, he has already directed Unterleuten, Der Menschenfeind, Kleiner Mann – was nun?, Der Sturm, and Die Kinder by Lucy Kirkwood. KOMÖDIE DER EINSAMKEIT was his first production at Theater Bonn in which he also served as the playwright for the stage adaptation (in collaboration with the ensemble). With PRIDE & PREJUDICE* (*SORT OF), he presents his first musical production.