Pride & Prejudice Night: Activities

I realised that I never finished my series of posts on my Pride & Prejudice night 2 weeks ago. I thought you might like to hear what we actually did on the night.

This was the program:

On the visitors' arrival we had punch and admired each others' costumes. The girls had all gone to so much trouble with their dresses, even those who chose not to come in Regency dress had worn pretty dresses. They were also kind enough to bring me flowers, chocolates and some contributions to the food, which was nice. I had planned to have hot apple cider, but it turned out to be a hot day and night so I sent my long-suffering husband out in the afternoon to buy drinks for punch.

Here's a photo of me and my friends. Of course in real life they all have beautiful faces but I thought I should protect their privacy! You can see that some of them are wearing lovely Regency-style dresses, some of them bridesmaids dresses.

Then the fun began. I divided the girls into 2 teams – the Bennets and the Bingleys
and we did this quiz on Jane Austen, I read out the questions and they discussed the answers in their teams. Since I had recently read a book about Jane Austen I did well on this test but the Bennets and Bingleys had more troubld on the night!

One of the main things we did on the night was to watch segments from the 1995 BBC production of P&P, so at this point we watched the opening, where the Bennets are excited to hear that Mr Bingley has moved to Netherfield, and we learn a little about class in England at the time.

Then we played a game I called "Know Your Place" I printed out names titles and ranks of Regency society (using this as a guide) and the teams had to put them in order of rank from the King to the Poor. This was pretty tricky but both teams did well.

Then we watched some more of the video - the ball scene, the part where Jane catches cold at Netherfield and she and Elizabeth stay there for a few days.

While there, Elizabeth has an interesting conversation with Mr Darcy and Miss Bingley about what constitutes an "accomplished lady" and this led to our next quiz "Are you Accomplished?" where ladies had to select from a list of possible accomplishments and add up their scores, which would show whether they were good enough to marry someone like Mr Darcy, or instead would have to live a spinster. I took the questions from Miss Bingley's list and also some of the other accomplishments mentioned in P&P.

The quiz began ...

Have you ever
Painted a table?
Covered a screen?
Netted a purse?

Trimmed a bonnet?
(at least I could tick that I have trimmed a bonnet now!)

Then we watched Mr Darcy have a bath, Mr Collins arrive, and Elizabeth and Darcy dance at the Netherfield Ball.

Then came one of the highlights of the night, where we actually learned the dance that appeared in the movie (well actually, we simplified it for the sake of not spending the whole night learning it) and danced it with our resident violinist playing the tune used in the movie! So much fun. The girls loved this and this is what they were all talking about at church the next morning!

Then we watched in agony as Mr Collins proposes to Elizabeth. Thank goodness I never received a proposal like that!

I read some production trivia from the making of the BBC version we were watching.

We watched the section where Mr Darcy arrives at Rosings, and then when Darcy proposes to Elizabeth.

Then it was time for Supper which was enjoyed by all.

It was fun then to watch other Mr Darcy proposals - Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson, and then Matthew Macfadyen and Keira Knightley.

We returned to the BBC production to see Elizabeth visit Pemberley, and then I had some Regency paper dolls for them to take home and cut out. (these are lovely if you want some yourself)

The rest of the plan for the night was to see Bingley & Jane become engaged, and then to play a game called " Ready for Mr Bingley" where the ladies have to sloth about doing not much but when someone sees Mr Bingley coming they quickly have to find their needlework, or moral reading, compose themselves and stand with dignity when the servant announces their visitor. Unfortunately it was a bit late by now, and one of my Regency ladies had to go home to feed her baby, so that was the end of the night. Those who had not watched the video before had to take our word for it that Darcy and Elizabeth did finally become engaged!

So that was my Pride & Prejudice night. It was lots of fun! It was funny when we got to church the next day, to hear my friends' husbands (who weren't at the party) telling me what a good party it was! They were all a bit tired, their wives had kept them up all night chattering about the party.

Maybe I'll do Emma next. LOL