A Jane Austen Fan's Delight: Pride & Prejud(ish) Brings the Bennets to Wales

I'll start with a confession: I'm a huge Jane Austen fan.

Not a casual fan. Not a "I've watched the film once" fan. I've read every single Jane Austen novel and have happily spent years revisiting the worlds she created. So when my husband and I stepped in at the last minute to review Pride & Prejud(ish) at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama on behalf of Jak, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

Jane Austen and contemporary Wales?

Mr Darcy and a hen weekend in Torremolinos?

I'll admit, I was intrigued... and slightly nervous.

Thankfully, I needn't have worried.

From the moment the show began, it was clear we were in for a very good night.

Written and directed by Richard Tunley, Pride & Prejud(ish) takes the characters we all know from Pride and Prejudice and drops them headfirst into modern-day Caerphilly, complete with family drama, holiday antics and plenty of Welsh humour.

What could have been a simple parody is actually something much cleverer. The production clearly loves Austen's work. It pokes fun at it, certainly, but it never feels mean-spirited. Instead, it feels like a joyful celebration of the characters and stories that readers have adored for generations.

The biggest stars of the evening, though, were undoubtedly the cast.

Black RAT Productions / Blackwood Miners Institute / Penny James

With only four performers taking on the entire story, the amount of talent on stage was genuinely impressive. Zoë Davies, Kate Powell, Jemima Nicholas and Olivia Edwards barely seemed to stop moving for two hours.

One minute they're Lizzie Bennet or Mr Darcy, the next they're somebody completely different. The costume changes, character switches and comic timing are relentless, yet everything feels effortless.

I genuinely don't know how they kept up the pace.

The audience certainly appreciated it. There was laughter throughout the evening, and not just polite chuckles. Proper belly laughs. The kind where you look around and realise everyone else is having just as much fun as you are.

My husband and I certainly were.

One thing I particularly loved was how Welsh the whole production feels. While Austen's story provides the foundation, this version firmly belongs to Wales. The humour, the references and the characters all feel wonderfully familiar. You can see why Black RAT Productions has built such a strong following across the country.

The original songs by Dai Smith and Allyson Summerhayes only add to the fun. The cast sing beautifully, and the musical moments help maintain the show's infectious energy.

As someone who adores the original novel, I was surprised by how quickly I forgot about comparing it with Austen's version and simply enjoyed the ride. That's probably the show's greatest achievement. It doesn't ask audiences to choose between the classic story and this modern retelling. Instead, it finds a way to celebrate both.

By the end, I realised I'd spent most of the evening smiling.

Actually, that's not quite true.

I spent most of it laughing.

Pride & Prejud(ish) is funny, energetic, clever and packed with heart. It's a wonderfully Welsh reimagining of a much-loved classic, performed by a fantastic all-female ensemble who sing, dance, switch characters at lightning speed and somehow manage to keep the audience laughing almost constantly.

Whether you're a lifelong Jane Austen devotee like me or someone who's never picked up one of her books, there's plenty here to enjoy.

I went in hoping Austen's beloved characters would survive a trip to Caerphilly and Torremolinos.

I'm delighted to report they absolutely thrived.

A joyful, laugh-out-loud night of Welsh theatre that proves Mr Darcy would fit into modern Wales far better than you might think.