Jane Austen News - February 2016

Follow our blog for all the weekly Jane Austen news from around the world.

Austentatious Returns to Bath 

In 2013, 2014 and 2015 the Jane Austen Festival has been honoured to play host to the fantastic improv show Austentatious, which takes a made-up book title suggested by the audience and bases the evening's performance around that title. No two shows are the same but every show is a delight to be a part of, and happily Austentatious will be back in Bath at the Guildhall on Sunday the 6th of March. More information and tickets are available from their website: http://austentatiousimpro.com

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Harper Lee's Austen Ambition

Along with many others we were sad to learn of the recent death of world renowned author Harper Lee. We knew she was a literary great, but we didn't know that she had such a high regard for Jane Austen.

“I believe that there is something universal in this little world, something decent to be said for it, and something to lament in its passing,” she continued. “In other words, all I want to be is the Jane Austen of South Alabama.”

An honourable ambition indeed.

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Jane Inspires New Art Exhibition

Jane Austen's work has been interpreted in a great number of different ways; through theatre, song, television, films, and of course through hundreds of books. A new interpretation of Jane and her characters saw American artist Amy Lee Lummus fuse her own modern style of painting with Jane's 18th century stories. You can click here to read what she had to say about her paintings and to see a sample of her artwork.

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The Lost Art of Love Letters 

One article that caught our eye this week was an appeal from American author Kevin Symmons who is worried that in this age of Facebook and Twitter we're not writing enough love letters. He's been looking at examples of love letters from across the ages (the oldest according to some scholars may even date back as far as 2000 B.C.) and is keen that the art shouldn't be lost. We certainly agree. 

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Sense and Sensibility Takes to the Stage

Following their success in 2014 when they staged Pride and Prejudice, theatrical duo Joseph Hanreddy and J.R. Sullivan have taken Sense and Sensibility and turned the novel into a two hour and forty minute extravaganza featuring a cast of 19 actors playing 28 roles.

"Under the impeccable direction of Hanreddy, the incisive and witty production is not just imposing in scale, it’s world-class in every detail."

The play is currently on at People’s Light & Theatre Company in Philadelphia until March 20th.

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Sense and Sensibility and Accidental(?) Feminism 

In other Sense and Sensibility news, Devoney Looser has published an in-depth article that explores how he feels Ang Lee's 1996 film adaptation brought out the novel's feminist roots. Looser believes that Ang Lee built on Austen's  Sense and Sensibility by adding new egalitarian attitudes toward women to Colonel Brandon and Edward Ferrars.

"The masculinity portrayed ... embraces women’s desires, independence, and wellbeing."

The full article can be found here.

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 Jane Austen’s News is our weekly compilation of stories about or related to Jane Austen. Here we will feature a variety of items, including craft tutorials, reviews, news stories, articles and photos from around the world.