Melbourne’s award-winning Bloomshed theatre company is turning Jane Austen’s beloved novel Pride and Prejudice on its head with a bold new production that swaps Regency-era romance for biting commentary on modern Australia’s housing crisis.
Following sold-out seasons across Melbourne, this audacious adaptation arrives at Darebin Arts Centre from July 30 to August 10, reimagining the Bennet sisters’ quest for marriage as a desperate scramble for financial security.
In Bloomshed’s signature style, the production blends sharp satire with theatrical innovation – Mr Bennet is played by a potted monstera plant, while the five sisters navigate a world where love collides with economic reality.
“We’re looking at the decay of ‘Love’ as a political category,” explains co-creator James Jackson. “How the institution of marriage emerges not as an artful expression of human passion, but as a calculated ritual of ownership.”
The company, known for their critically acclaimed reworkings of classics like Animal Farm and A Streetcar Named Desire, brings their trademark wit to Austen’s tale. Elizabeth and Jane may still dream of love, but Mary’s stuck in a goth phase, Lydia’s distracted by the local militia, and Kitty remains happily overlooked – all while their mother schemes to secure their futures in an increasingly unaffordable world.
Having earned multiple Green Room Awards for their inventive productions, Bloomshed takes on their largest stage yet at Darebin Arts Centre. This Pride and Prejudice promises to be both hilariously entertaining and thought-provoking, asking whether romantic love can survive contemporary economic pressures.
Performance Details:
30 July – 10 August 2025
Darebin Arts Centre, 401 Bell Street, Preston
Wednesday-Saturday 7:30pm | Sunday 5pm
Tickets: arts.darebin.vic.gov.au
