With five actors and a dozen characters between them, it’s inevitable that Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) will, at some point, require someone to argue with herself mid-scene. That someone is Roxanne Morgan, tackling Mary Bennet, Lydia Bennet and Mr Gardiner in the show’s irreverent, pop-soundtracked retelling.
Asked which of her characters she’d most want at a party, Morgan rules herself out as its life and soul.
“I’m not a Lydia – she wants to be the centre of attention, and I never want that. But I’m not as much of a wallflower as Mary either,” she says, landing instead on Mrs Gardiner. “She’s the in-between, but she’s a bit of a matchmaker too, especially in the book.”
Whether she brings any of that sense to a room herself is another matter. “I like being silly. I love a bit of whimsy,” she laughs. “Well, you’re in the right show.”
The quick-change demands of playing multiple sisters in the same scene, she admits, are where the real chaos lives. “There’s a lot of disappearing behind something and coming back out as the other sister to add more context, and everyone goes ‘where’s that one?’ and I must go ‘okay, I’m back as someone else.’ It’s going to be mad – a bit chaotic and wild.”
A first-time tourer, Morgan has done her homework, watching “as many TikToks and vlogs as I could of people going ‘this is what I take on tour.’” Her survival kit includes packing cubes, a travel pillow – “so everywhere I sleep will feel the same, even though it’s a different bed” – and a full set of physiotherapy equipment, given how physically demanding both the show and touring can be.
For newcomers, Morgan promises “rip-roaring laughter” and a looser take on the period than audiences might expect. “These aren’t your Bridgerton Regency people – they’re your country Regency people. They’re allowed to have fun, allowed to be a bit more relaxed.”
She’s quick to praise the female-dominated creative team, led by director Isobel McArthur. “Isobel brings in people she trusts – the MD, the choreographer, the fight director – and because you trust Isobel, you trust them implicitly.”
Musically, Morgan has picked up a new skill for the role: “I’ve learned to play the glockenspiel, so that’s really fun.”£ Her favourite number in the show, though, stays under wraps – “you’ll have to wait all the way to the end for that.”
:: Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) returns to play Lighthouse from Tuesday 26 to Saturday 30 January. Tickets available now at https://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/event/pride-and-prejudice-sort-of/ and on 01202 280000.
Interview by Carl Woodward