Pride and Prejudice (Sort of) || Kaori Maeda-Judge

The Fame Reporter interviewed Kaori Maeda-Judge starring in the much-anticipated musical parody of ‘Pride and Prejudice (Sort Of)’ opening at Playhouse, QPAC from 30 September – 18 October following a popular national tour.

Direct from its triumph in the West End where it won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy, Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) is a unique and audacious retelling of Jane Austen’s most iconic love story. Men, money and microphones will be fought over in this irreverent but affectionate adaptation where the stakes couldn’t be higher when it comes to romance. This “smart, laugh out loud funny” (Daily Telegraph) show features a string of pop classics including ‘Young Hearts Run Free’, ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’ and ‘You’re So Vain’.

Kaori’s screen credits include Neighbours, Orange Is The New Brown and NBC’s La Brea, while her extensive stage credits include Lazarus, White Pearl, The Dismissal, The Hello Girls, Little Women, A Christmas Carol and more. In 2025, she toured Japan as the lead Japanese performer with Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo, and she’s known for her love of audience interaction — so consider yourself warned!

We caught up with Kaori to chat about starring in Pride and Prejudice (Sort Of), the challenge of taking on multiple characters, and putting a hilarious spin on Austen’s classic, and much more.

For anyone who hasn’t seen Pride and Prejudice (Sort Of) yet, how would you describe the wonderfully chaotic experience audiences can expect when the show arrives at QPAC?
Fast-paced, quick-witted, big, bold comedy. Expect to be laughing from start to finish, I would say! It’s a great barrel of laughs, and I think that’s what catches people off guard the most.

We do a bit of fun pre-show audience interaction, and I’ve spoken to countless guests who’ve told me they were back for a second or even third time, and had dragged all their family members along insisting that they HAD to see it.

A lot of people say they knew it was going to be funny, but they weren’t expecting to be laughing the entire way through.

The show combines Jane Austen with classic pop songs like Young Hearts Run Free and You’re So Vain. What is it like performing a Regency-era story with such an unexpected soundtrack?
There are some really fun musical numbers, with classic hits sprinkled throughout the play that will have you wanting to sing along. I think they’ve been so cleverly woven into the narrative. Don’t forget, it’s ‘Sort Of’ Pride and Prejudice, so our lovely narrators often have these little wink-wink moments with the audience that draw them in and make them feel like a fly on the wall. The musical numbers are the perfect extension of that.

It’s always fun to imagine what characters from that time would have on their Spotify playlists, and I think the absolute bangers in our show are a perfect bridge for that.

It’s not uncommon to hear an audible, collective giggle or sigh when the audience clocks what song we’re singing. There’s a lot of nostalgia attached to them, and even some Easter egg jokes in the script for audience members who know the tracks inside and out.

You play four very different characters — Clara, Jane Bennet, George Wickham and Lady Catherine de Bourgh. How do you approach switching between such different personalities, and is there one you particularly love playing?
As an actor, particularly a female actor, it’s one of the best challenges and the most fun I’ve ever had on a job! I love getting to play such a vast range of characters, especially someone like George Wickham, who is such a ladies’ man. When am I ever going to get that opportunity again?!

All the characters have such distinct accents, vocal ranges, ages and personalities that it actually doesn’t feel like a huge effort to switch between them, they are all soooo different.

When I’m playing a character, I’m fully in the headspace of that person and don’t even consider that two seconds ago I was playing someone else. Even if we reference another one of my characters in the dialogue, I imagine them as someone completely separate from me.

I’ve had feedback that sometimes audience members don’t realise it’s the same actor, which is a huge compliment! Although it does mean people are often unimpressed when they see me do the fastest quick change in the show, out of Lady C and into Jane, haha. As a bonus, I also play Kitty Bennet, who is never actually seen on stage but has some offstage lines!

What can you tell us about Clara, the original character created for this adaptation, and what does she bring to the story?
Clara is one of the maids who directly addresses the audience and guides them through the story, we’re essentially telling Pride and Prejudice through their lens. She’s lower-class, a bit goofy, a bit cheeky and incredibly Scottish.

I love the maids because they’re the only characters who aren’t directly from the book, so they’re also the only ones audiences don’t come in with a preconceived idea about.

My maid is probably the sillier one of the bunch. I grew up watching Australian comedy legends Lano and Woodley and The Umbilical Brothers, so having their work influence how I now navigate comedy on stage fills me with such pride. Frank Woodley has probably had the biggest comedic impact on me, and there are definitely little nods to his comedy style in my performance.

Jane, Wickham and Lady Catherine are all very recognisable Austen characters. What have you enjoyed most about putting your own spin on each of them?
Jane is the classic ingénue, sweet, with a high, girlish voice. She tries to be proper but speaks with a slight Estuary accent, has a certain naïveté about her and always sees the best in everyone. In my interpretation, I try to bring out her youth a little more. She lives up to her mother’s description of her as “the perfect one”, but the audience also gets to see the real human underneath that. She’s young, excitable, cringey at times and a bit of a dork, and I love getting to show her messy side too. She has an absolute tantrum at the end of Act One, and it’s 100% ugly crying.

Lady Catherine is an absolute menace and a whole lot of fun to play. She’s much older, speaks with a very upper-class, Queen’s English-style accent, and her voice often sits in a much higher, shriller part of my range. She’s the polar opposite of Jane, so having some of their scenes back-to-back with a quick change in between is great fun.

I’ve never played a mean character in my career, so finding the justification for why she says and does the things she does has been a thrill. She’s such a caricature and has such wonderfully colourful dialogue. Pair that with the 5kg costume she dons, and Lady CDB is definitely a workout every show.

George Wickham is the only male character I play. His voice obviously sits much lower than my own, and there’s something very sly and calculated about him. I imagine his voice like thin wisps of smoke curling around you. He’s such a ladies’ man and practically slides around the stage, circling Lizzy as he tries to lure her in. My version of Wickham is based on some guys I’ve dated, haha. He knows how good-looking he is and does not refrain from turning on all his charm to get what he wants. He’s super melodramatic and can spin a great story.

Wickham is charming but definitely questionable, while Lady Catherine has absolutely no problem making her opinions known! Which of your characters is the most fun to unleash on stage?
Ooft! You can’t ask me that, it’s like asking me to pick a favourite child! I couldn’t possibly decide because they’re both so much fun. I love the effect Wickham can have on audience members, sometimes hearing the nervous and bashful laughs, but I also love the hysterics I can put people into as Lady Catherine.

They’re both characters people love to hate, and I think there’s something very uniting about that. There’s a line Darcy says towards the end, “Oh f**k Lady Catherine!” and when the audience cheers at that, I pat myself on the back because it means I’ve done my job properly!

You’ve said you love audience interaction and that the more people avert their eyes, the more likely you are to pick on them! What makes that interaction so much fun for you?
Ahahahahaha, yes! I can tell when people don’t like audience interaction, and I’ll approach them mostly in the hope that I can free them up a bit and help them realise it’s not scary, I’m not scary, and it’s all just a bit of fun. The line about picking on them is mostly to make everyone around them laugh, but by that point their nerves are usually gone and they’re laughing along too.

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE a pre-show and audience interaction.

I got to do a lot more of it in Jack Thorne’s A Christmas Carol, I had the whole audience doing a stadium wave at one point! I love it because it’s such a great way to connect with an audience and get them on side before the show even begins. It can be really special when you have individual interactions that make audience members feel like they have a unique connection with you.

In A Christmas Carol, I would usually chat to the same section of the audience every night to lightly prep them for something later in the show, purely so it would go more smoothly for me, really! I’d tell them they were my favourite audience members, and then for the rest of the show, if I threw my eyes over to them, it was like we had this little inside pact. They’d erupt with cheers as the show began, and it was like having my own little cheer squad.

You have an impressive mix of stage and screen credits, from Lazarus and Little Women to Neighbours and La Brea. What do you love about live theatre, and how does your approach differ between stage and screen?
They’re such different art forms. The energy you need to bring to screen is completely different from the energy you bring to the stage.

What I love about theatre is getting those live reactions from the audience. Every audience is different, so being able to mould the performance to their energy and sense of humour on the fly is a wonderful thing.

Screen requires a much more intimate energy. You’re dealing with close-ups where the camera catches every little detail, so you don’t have to work as hard to convey something. For me, stage is about making big, bold choices, while screen is about knitting together a much more intricate and subtle performance. But again, I couldn’t pick one that I love more!

What has the energy been like within this cast on tour?
The cast are wonderful! We all agree that it’s been so well cast, with such strong and dynamic actors.

There’s quite a range of ages and experience levels, yet everyone is so professional and hardworking.

We’re an unlikely family, but a very functional one, and we make each other laugh on and off stage all the time.
Just last night during our mic checks, we were all in hysterics when Ruby whipped out her kazoo and started playing the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey while Amy conducted. So that probably paints a pretty good picture of the chaotic energy this show brings us!

What are you most looking forward to about bringing Pride and Prejudice (Sort Of) to Brisbane audiences at QPAC?
I’ve actually never toured a show to Brisbane before, so I’m so excited to finally check that off my bucket list!
I’m really excited to experience a Brizzy audience. Every city brings such a different energy and tends to find humour in different places, so I’m keen to see which bits land best for them.

In my head, Brizzy is the land of good weather and good vibes, so I’m thinking they’ll be up for a good laugh.

We’ll also cross paths with The Book of Mormon, Fiddler on the Roof and Anastasia, so I’m really looking forward to being reunited with so many friends in one venue. What fun!