The Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of Pride and Prejudice - first staged in 2013 - returns to Cambridge in October.

First published in 1813, Pride and Prejudice has remained one of the most popular novels in English literature, selling more than 20 million copies and spawning numerous adaptations, most notably the 1940 film starring Laurence Olivier and the 1995 BBC adaptation starring Colin Firth.

The cast features Matthew Kelly as Mr Bennet, Tafline Steen as Elizabeth Bennet, Benjamin Dilloway as Mr Darcy and Doña Croll as Lady Catherine De Bourgh

The production, at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, concludes the production’s 2016 summer season ahead of a major UK tour.

Opening at the Churchill Theatre, Bomley, the tour will visit Norwich, Cambridge, Salford, Leicester, Woking, Truro, Birmingham and Richmond, with further dates in 2017.

Matthew Kelly has appeared several times in the West End, as the original Stanley in Funny Peculiar, in Waiting For Godot with Ian McKellen and Roger Rees, Tim Firth’s play Sign of the Times, the musical Lend Me A Tenor! and as Lennie in the Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s production of Of Mice and Men at the Savoy Theatre where his performance won him the Olivier Award for Best Actor. His other most recent theatre credits include The Jew of Malta, Volpone and Love’s Sacrifice for the RSC, Toast (Park Theatre/59E59, New York), Twelfth Night (Liverpool Everyman) and The History Boys (Crucible, Sheffield). Television work includes the award-winning thriller Cold Blood, Benidorm and Bleak House - although he is perhaps still best known for presenting ITV’s You Bet! and Stars in their Eyes.

He joins the previously announced Felicity Montagu as Mrs. Bennet. Felicity played the long-suffering PA Lynn in I’m Alan Partridge, both in the television series and the 2013 film Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa

Pride and Prejudice is the third Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production to tour the UK, following their smash hit productions of To Kill a Mockingbird in 2014/15 and Lord of the Flies in 2015/16.

One of the most universally loved and quintessentially English novels of all time, Pride and Prejudice tells the story of the Bennet family and their five unmarried daughters. A family of humble means, Mr and Mrs. Bennet see the perfect opportunity to improve their social standing when the wealthy Mr Bingley and his eligible friend Mr Darcy move to the neighbourhood. But while Bingley takes an immediate liking to their eldest daughter Jane, the dismissive Darcy instantly clashes with the Bennet’s headstrong second daughter, Elizabeth. As the Bennet sisters haplessly search for love in Jane Austen’s ultimate romantic comedy, it is Mr Darcy who unwittingly finds his match.

Performances are from October 4-8 and tickets are priced from £22.50-£32.50 and are available from the box office on 01223 357851 or online: cambridgetrustlive.co.uk.