Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) (Sydney Opera House) ★★★½

Written by Isobel McArthur after Jane Austen. Neil Gooding Productions & Woodward Productions. Sydney Opera House, Drama Theatre. 16 Jul – 30 Aug, 2026.

Another year, another comedy-riff on Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice! This time it’s Isobel McArthur’s Olivier Award-winning karaoke cover version that trades Austen’s incisive wit for brash anachronisms and pop bangers.

The schtick of PAPSO (apologies for the abbreviation) is that it turns Austen’s novel into an oral retelling by five maids, the kind of people overlooked in these grand sweeping Georgian romances. This means the whole cast play multiple roles jumping from scene to scene with some ridiculous quick changes.

Teo Vergara gets off relatively lightly playing the leading part of the feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet. Amy Lehpamer gets to play the pining Charlotte Lucas, as well as both Mr Bingley and his haughty sister Caroline, the latter of which is a scene-stealer. Kaori Maeda-Judge jumps from the broken-hearted Jane Bennet, to the rakish George Wickham, and best of all — to the imperious Lady Catherine. The diminutive Zoe Ioannou doubles the stressed Mrs Bennet with the taciturn Mr Darcy. Ruby Shannon gets the widest range of roles, as both Mary and Lydia Bennet, the creepy Mr Collins, and the loving Mrs Gardiner. It’s a top-notch musical/comedy cast and all five are exceptional.

McArthur’s script relishes highlighting the problematic issues of the day (like Wickham’s habit of abducting teenage girls) and joking about the sexism of the Bennet sisters’ predicament. After setting up the premise, that this story is being retold by the servants, McArthur lets this pretext slide, which is a shame — there would have been a rich vein of commentary to mine — instead the maids become narrators and a simple framing device instead. With only one attempt at any kind of social commentary (a solitary wry joke about immigration), McArthur is here to have fun, not preach, and thank god for that — with a running time of 2 hours 30 minutes the show doesn’t need to be any longer.

The karaoke moments give the show frequent bursts of colour and energy, but feel like a vestigial throwback to an earlier iteration of the show that is better suited to a smaller venue (the show has real “fringe hit” energy despite having originated at Glasgow’s Tron Theatre). Much of PAPSO feels slightly lost in the deep Drama Theatre space in the same way the recent tour of The Play That Goes Wrong did. The set keeps things relatively simple (with a few neat surprises), and much of the visual flare comes from Ana Inés Jabares-Pita’s costumes which are a delight, from the subtle differences between the Bingley siblings, to the Titanic-sized hat worn by Lady Catherine. It’s impressive how they manage to be both visually striking and workable with rapid quick changes. My tip — book for the front 10 rows to be really immersed in the show.

It definitely pays to know your Austen, in all its forms, to get the most out of PAPSO, with a lot of the laughs coming from seeing how they’ll try to execute the well-known story-beats. Jane’s horse-ride to the Bingleys’ house and Darcy’s return home are comedy highlights (but you’ll need to be familiar with the BBC adaptation to get the joke).

Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) is like one of those florid, viral croissants you get from Lune — it’s ridiculous and tasty, full of deliberately empty calories to enjoy. You’ll have a great time revisiting the highlights of that book you read in high school while you wait for the next cinematic adaptation. Have no fear of being stuck in some high-brow night at the theatre — this one is firmly set at mid.