Information for Pride and Prejudice at Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham (Play). It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife... The ultimate romantic comedy, Jane Austen's story of the five Bennet sisters and their relentless pursuit of suitable husbands is one of the best-loved novels ever written, constantly topping the polls of favourite books. When feisty Elizabeth Bennet first meets handsome bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited. When she later discovers that he has scuppered the relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane, she is determined to dislike him more than ever. In the sparkling comedy of manners that follows, the family's lives are turned upside down as Jane Austen shows the folly of judging by first impressions and pokes gentle fun at the affectations and etiquette of provincial middle-class life.