Due to Popular Demand Pride & Prejudice*(*sort of) Extended Through January 21, 2024
For Immediate Release
Media Contact: John Karastamatis, Sue Toth, Erin Nantais
TORONTO HAS FALLEN IN LOVE WITH PRIDE AND PREJUDICE* (*SORT OF)
DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND THE SHOW IS BEING EXTENDED A SECOND TIME
NOW ON STAGE UNTIL JANUARY 21, 2024 - CAA THEATRE, 651 YONGE (SOUTH OF BLOOR)
CRITIC’S PICK “Brilliant. Ingenious and great fun for all audiences. Entertaining with added depth, context and nuance. The solid ensemble performs with scene-stealing glee.” - The Globe & Mail
“Outrageously Funny!” - CTV
“I cried laughing too many times to count. A feel-great show with an incredible ensemble of extremely talented women. Not to be missed!” - CP24
“Hilariously fun!” - Sirius XM
“Bawdy fun! Leads with contemporary feminism and class politics, layering in karaoke and broad British farce.” - Toronto Star
"A fun, frolicking musical comedy reimagination of Austen's classic tale.” - That Shelf
“F***ing hilarious! I’d watch it again in a heartbeat.” - View the VIBE
Toronto has a new sweetheart. The irreverent and hilarious Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) is extended for one more week, now playing until January 21, 2024, at the CAA Theatre, 651 Yonge (south of Bloor). Tickets are on sale at mirvish.com or by calling 1.800.461.3333.
This Olivier Award-winning Best Comedy comes to us straight from a smash-hit London run and UK tour. This is its North American premiere.
Pride & Prejudice*(*sort of) is a unique and audacious retelling of Jane Austen’s most iconic love story. Men, money and microphones will be fought over in this irreverent but affectionate adaptation where the stakes couldn’t be higher when it comes to romance. This “smart, laugh out loud funny” (Daily Telegraph) show features a string of pop classics including Young Hearts Run Free, Will You Love Me Tomorrow and You’re So Vain.
Pride & Prejudice*(*sort of) is directed by Olivier and Evening Standard Theatre Award Winner Isobel Mcarthur and Simon Harvey. Comedy staging is by Jos Houben, design by Ana Inés Jabares-Pita, lighting by Colin Grenfell, musical supervision by Michael John McCarthy, sound design by Michael John McCarthy and Luke Swaffield for Autograph and choreography by Emily Jane Boyle.
CAST BIOS
Ruth Brotherton
Ruth trained as an actor musician at Guildford School of Acting. Theatre includes Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) (UK tour), As You Like It (UK tour), Estella (UK tour), Puss in Boots (Market), Twelfth Night (UK tour), Robin Hood (Queen’s, Hornchurch), and Piramania! The Swashbuckling Pirate Musical (Upstairs at The Gatehouse & Edinburgh Fringe). Credits whilst training include Anne Boleyn, Betty Blue Eyes and Our Town.
Olivia Dowd
Olivia trained with the National Youth Theatre Rep Company where she played the titular role of Macbeth at the Garrick Theatre (West End). She has since appeared in shows at the Soho Theatre, Camden Roundhouse and Lyric Hammersmith as well as the sell out run of Grills at the Camden People's Theatre, for which she was a co-writer. Her TV credits include Doctors and EastEnders (BBC). She has recorded over 60 audiobooks for all major publishers and won Best British Director at the British Short Film Awards for her recent short film, Minutes.
Christina Gordon
Christina trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Theatre includes: Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) – Olivier Nomination, Best Actress in a Supporting Role – (Criterion, Tron, UK tour), Kidnapped (NTS, UK tour), The Stamping Ground (Eden Court), The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil (Dundee Rep/NTS tour), Glory on Earth (Royal Lyceum Edinburgh), Ali The Magic Elf (Tron Theatre), Rocket Post (National Theatre of Scotland), Witness for the Prosecution, The Witches, Midsummer (Dundee Rep), Still Game: Live 2 (Phil McIntyre), The Music of AR Rahman (BBC SSO), Mancub (Cumbernauld Theatre). Film & TV includes: Mimi! (Jupiter Artland), Make Me Up (Hopscotch Films), Princess Emmy (Studio 100 & Red Kite Animations). Radio includes: My Big Sister’s Birthday (BBC Scotland).
Lucy Gray
Lucy trained at LAMDA and graduated in 2021. She made her professional debut understudying in Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) at the Criterion and then was moved into the cast as Tillie for the national tour. Alongside acting she is a writer and theatre-maker and has worked with the National Theatre of Great Britain on their ‘Writing for Theatre’ course as well as creating her own work. She is currently developing a musical comedy with Co-Star Dannie Harris. Lucy is also a drag king and has just finished on Soho Theatre’s ‘Drag and Cabaret Lab’. Theatre whilst training includes Fen, Red Velvet, Blue Stockings, Measure for Measure, Women of Troy, Sweeney Todd. Other credits include Rapid Write Response: Milk and Gall (Theatre503), The Gunpowder Plot (Layered Reality).
Dannie Harris
Dannie trained at Drama Centre London (where another Darcy, Colin Firth, also trained). UK theatre credits include: Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) UK Tour, The New Musketeers (Trinity), Love Letters (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch), Away in a Danger (Lichfield Garrick) and Teechers (tour). Screen credits include: Marriage (BBC), Autopsy: Elizabeth Montgomery (USA Reelz/ITV). Dannie also played the title role in the feature film project Mae West: Boxer in a Corset which was selected for Toronto's Inside Out, Canada’s largest 2SLGBTQ+ film festival in 2021. As a writer, Dannie co-wrote and composed the music for The New Musketeers, which was published by Methuen Drama after its short run at Trinity Theatre. Her short audio drama was selected for the INK New Writing Festival, and she performed it on BBC Radio Suffolk and East Suffolk One Radio. She is currently writing a new musical comedy with her co-star, Lucy Gray.
Leah Jamieson
Leah trained at Rose Bruford College on the Actor Musicianship course where she was a recipient of the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation scholarship. She is a recent graduate and was thrilled to make her West End debut in Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) in 2021 before joining the touring cast last year. She’s very excited to be making her international debut at the CAA Theatre this Christmas! Theatre whilst training includes: Romeo and Juliet, Spring Awakening, Market Boy, Macbeth (Plough on Sunday); Tonight at 8:30 (Theatre 54); The Crucible (troublehouse) and Medea (Muchmuchmore) Other credits include: Fib R&D (Kimbo).
Grace Liston
Grace trained at Rose Bruford College (Actor Musicianship BA Hons). Credits include The Smeds and The Smoos (West End, UK and International Tour), The Rascally Diner (UK Tour), Pataflafla (Bridge House), Beauty and the Beast (Wakefield), A Christmas Carol (Barn), A Lightweight Disposable Product (Vaults) and Twelfth Night (Half Cut). Grace is proud and honoured to be a Trustee of Industry Minds, a charity advocating for mental health awareness in arts industry @industrymindsuk
CREATIVE TEAM BIOS
Isobel McArthur (Writer and co-director)
Isobel is an actor, director and playwright and she trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Acting credits include Ella Hickson’s Wendy & Peter Pan; Anthony Neilson’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lyceum), the Scottish premiere of Mike Bartlett’s Cock (Tron), Temp/Casual (Contact) and Edwin Morgan’s Scots language Cyrano De Bergerac (National Theatre of Scotland/Citizens). Isobel’s plays have toured the UK and are also performed internationally. Playwrighting credits include A Christmas Carol (Pitlochry Festival), Quiz! (National Theatre of Scotland/BBC Scotland) with joint credits as lead performer and playwright including Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of); How to Sing it (Tron) and Daphne Oram’s Wonderful World of Sound (Tron/Scottish Tour).
Simon Harvey (Co-Director)
Simon is a director, writer and producer based in Cornwall. He is the Artistic Director of o-region theatre and film company and was a long-time Associate with Cornwall’s internationally acclaimed Kneehigh. As Artistic Director of o-region he produced and directed Laughing Gas, One Darke Night, Stay Brave Brian Gravy, HIRETH and Tre. He wrote and directed FUP based on the cult novella by Jim Dodge (in co-production with Kneehigh) which was recently remounted at The Minack. Work in film includes producing the feature length films The Midnight Drives by writer / director Mark Jenkin and Weekend Retreat and Brown Willy and LONG WAY BACK by writer / director Brett Harvey. For Kneehigh Simon’s work as director includes The Illustrated Girl, FUP and Noye’s Fludde and as Associate Brief Encounter (with David Pugh Ltd) Tristan and Yseult, 946, The Wild Bride, The Red Shoes, Hansel and Gretel and Cymbeline.
Writer and Director – Isobel McArthur
Director – Simon Harvey
Design – Ana Inés Jabares-Pita
Lighting Design – Colin Grenfell
Comedy Staging – Jos Houben
Musical Supervision and Sound Design – Michael John McCarthy
Choreography – Emily Jane Boyle
Sound Design – Niamh Gaffney for Autograph Sound
Casting Director – Sarah Bird
David Mirvish Presents by arrangement with James Seabright and Joshua Beaumont the David Pugh Production of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE* (*SORT OF) by Isobel McArthur. (Originally co-produced by The Tron Theatre Company, the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Blood of The Young, Birmingham Rep, Bristol Old Vic, Leeds Playhouse, Northern Stage and Oxford Playhouse).