The last venue I visited before the theatre lockdowns started was the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds for a delightful production of Quality Street, an amusing period piece that sat so perfectly on the stage of this wonderful 200-year-old Theatre. The first production we viewed thereafter was a recording of Pride and Prejudice (sort of) a lively fun take on the classic novel from the NST in Southampton which the lockdown prevented us from seeing live. How appropriate therefore that just prior to indoor theatre reopening on the 17th May we get the chance to view a stream of Being Mr Wickham a glorious tour de force performance from Adrian Lukis from the stage of the Theatre Royal based on the imagined reflections of the cad from Pride and Prejudice as he turns sixty.
Adrian Lukis with Catherine Curzon has written this charmingly clever piece, carefully weaving a back story for key characters from Jane Austen’s novel with historical references to the Duke of Wellington, the Battle of Waterloo, Lord Byron and early 19th-century courtesan Harriet Wilson with scenes from the original book. He invites his audience who he addresses directly through the camera lens to make their mind up about his life. His questionable behaviours and attitudes cast him as the baddie in the classic story and viewed through the 21st Century lens his going “fishing” for young ladies or “having a crack” at her would certainly attract critics, but can we feel sympathy for him or excuse his actions?
