Death Comes to Pemberley at Richmond Theatre

I had not heard of Death Comes to Pemberley before, and had forgotten that Pemberley is the country estate owned by Fitzwilliam Darcy in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, but I had heard of PD James and it was on at Richmond Theatre where I see almost every play so I went for it.

Mu usual seat on the left side of the front row of the Dress Circle had been taken so I went for the right side instead where seat Dress Circle A6 cost me £43.

The view from there is good, which is why I (almost) always choose to sit in the cheaper seats in the front row of the Dress Circle.

The photo also shows that the stage was fairly bare, more on the later.

While this was set in the world of Pride and Prejudice all that did was give the story a location and some characters to start with and this was very much a crime story and not a period drama.

It was a good story too with lots of dead ends and twists, in other words I had no idea who the killer was or why the killing was done until the reveal on stage.

However, I do not think that the story translated well from the page to the stage and, at times, it felt like a staged reading, an audiobook with pictures. I would have to see it again to test my theory but I think that part of the problem is that books can quickly move from one location to another whereas plays cannot so to achieve those changes they went for a fairly bare stage and moved just a few props in and out for the different scenes. That sort of worked but it meant that the play was not very visual and with little physical action there was little to watch.

Putting those negatives aside, it was a good story and the actors told it well. I enjoyed it but would find it hard to recommend it.