Nearly 30 years after his critically-acclaimed screen adaptation of Pride and Prejudice first aired, award-winning screenwriter Andrew Davies has rewritten his original script to be performed on the stage.

Rather than a professional company in London's West End, it is Kenilworth's Talisman Theatre - where Davies is a patron - where the world premiere of the production will be staged this summer.

Running from June 26 until July 1, the Barrow Road theatre's mainstage will be graced by the Jane Austen classic, allowing audiences to witness the love story between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy first hand.

Ahead of the production, we sat down with Davies to find out more about the new adaptation, and his 60-year connection with the Talisman Theatre.

Adapting an Adaptation

It was some 18 months ago when the 86-year-old was first approached about the stage version of Pride and Prejudice, by the Talisman's chair and theatre director Nigel Elliott.

What started as a conversation about whether such a script existed, quickly turned into the Welsh writer agreeing to condense his six hour television programme into a two hour play.

Davies says it took just six weeks to polish off the new script, which has been written specifically with the Talisman in mind.

While he says he had a head start in working from his previous adaptation, there were a few obstacles to overcome to complete the stage version.

"Pride and Prejudice, in a way, is an odd sort of story which you don't realise until you are trying to do an adaptation of it," he explained.

"The first half of the book all takes place pretty much within a mile or two of Elizabeth's home and a lot of it takes place with the people actually there.

"But then in the second half of the story, annoyingly everybody seems to go off into different parts of England and people write each other letters.

"And of course letters are no good if you're trying to write a drama, so the second half becomes much more difficult!"

Davies said he had to be 'prodded' to write the original 1995 script (image via Talisman Theatre)

As well as the letters, Davies also said keeping the same energy as the TV version was a challenge.

"Of course on TV you are helped so much by the scenery and being able to run across large spaces and so on that create a sense of energy," he explained.

"I think we have achieved that though. There is a lot of energy in this stage adaptation and I think I have managed to make it funnier than the original."

He also said there was the issue of balancing the number of characters involved - given the number of local actors who were likely to be available for the production - without compromising any of the plot.

But the multi Bafta and Emmy award winner said he was "delighted" with the early read throughs.

"To my surprise," he added, "it seems to have worked pretty well in terms of performability, because they haven't really asked me for any rewrites!"

Luckington Court was used as Elizabeth Bennett's home in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (image via SWNS)

The First Draft

Davies - who first moved to Kenilworth in 1963 to teach - was first approached to create the original TV scripts by his former student Sue Birtwhistle, who by then had become a TV producer at the BBC.

Having originally been reluctant to get involved, he had to be "prodded" a few times before turning his hand to work on a book he had "always loved".

"She said to me she wanted us to do a 'sexy' adaptation of Pride and Prejudice," Davies said.

"Of course she didn't mean like a Carry On film!

"It was just that all the adaptations previous to ours were very indoors and very buttoned up and very stuffy. The idea was to do something different."

The cast of Pride and Prejudice rehearsing ahead of the first ever stage production (image via Talisman Theatre)

And in doing something "different", Davies said he also felt the pressure of not letting down the many Jane Austen fans who had an "intricate" knowledge of the book.

"I know there are a lot of people who absolutely worship Jane Austen, who might think I have taken too many liberties," he said.

"Indeed in 1995 some people thought I did.

"But because they knew Jane Austen so well, they could see why I was doing certain things and they tended to appreciate it.

"Call me arrogant but I don't think there has been an adaptation as good as that 1995 adaptation we did.

"Bits of some of course have been good, but I still think that is the best. But everyone is entitled to their opinion!"

Bigger Ambitions

While audiences at the Talisman Theatre will be the lucky first few to see Pride and Prejudice on the stage, Davies says he has plans for the show to be seen further afield in the future.

"Of course the original idea was to write it for the Talisman," he said, "but if it plays well then it would certainly be something that we should publish and make available to other amateur companies.

"But I have got bigger ambitions for it than that.

"I would like to find somebody who would love to put on a professional production of it."

However, he said the Talisman will always be able to "proudly" say it held the world premiere of one of the most loved and famous books of all time.

Davies said he was very pleased after seeing the Talisman's rehearsals (Image via Talisman Theatre)

And having seen some of the early rehearsals, the former teacher promised Kenilworth audiences they are in for a brilliant experience.

"It has all worked out extremely well," he said.

"I went to the read through and that was absolutely terrific. I was so pleased to meet all the cast and hear them and it was a very good read through.

"I think it will actually make a lot of people laugh, as well as of course to get emotional."

The show is now completely sold out across the run.

But visit the Talisman Theatre website here to find out more about what is coming up next with Blackadder Goes Forth at the end of August and beyond. 

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