Sense & Sensibility: The Musical

Friday 12th & Saturday 13th September - 20:00 

If ever a novel were screaming for a musical adaptation, Sense & Sensibility is the one. After 2024’s sold out run, Sense & Sensibility: The Musical comes to you in a new, intimate chamber setting, featuring outstanding international singer-actors from the UK Premiere cast.

Set against the stoic and judgemental values of Regency era England, the Dashwood sisters experience the world very differently. Elinor, patient and thoughtful, upholds the values of society, yet yearns to express her true feelings. Marianne, young and passionate, dives head-first into romance without a thought for her reputation. With its soaring musical score and sensitive lyrics and dialogue, Sense & Sensibility: The Touring Musical invites audiences to live alongside the Dashwood Sisters, their colourful family, friends and even enemies; where people rarely say what they mean, and passions, hidden by society, are realised in song.

The Jane Austen Festival team are pleased to be working in partnership with Bath’s Historic Venues events team to bring you this exciting adaptation of Sense & Sensibility.

Venue: Pump Room, Stall St, Bath BA1 1LZ

Tickets £30

Lost & Found - theatrical walking tour

Saturday 13th September - 13:30, 14:00, 14:30, 15:00, 15:30 & 16:00

Sunday 14th September - 13:30, 14:00, 14:30, 15:00 & 15:30

Saturday 20th September - 11:30, 12noon, 12:30, 13:00 & 13:30

The Natural Theatre Company returns with their hilarious immersive walking tour show Lost & Found. Another lost Jane Austen novel has been unearthed in Bath, revealing more recognisable plotlines, familiar characters and just a little bit of nonsense. Immerse yourself in wooing, weeping and wagers as we wander around Bath, and watch this joyful story come to life around you!

Meet: At the top of Gravel Walk opposite No1 Royal Crescent, BA1 2LW

Tickets £19

Pride & Prejudice at Bath Abbey

Saturday 13th September - 20:00

FilmBath is proud to present a very special screening of this beloved classic at Bath Abbey. Surrounded by the grandeur of one of Bath's most iconic landmarks, immerse yourself in the sweeping story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, brought to life on the big screen.

Venue: Bath Abbey, Abbey Churchyard, BA1 1LY

Tickets £24

Ladies of Leisure

Sunday 14th September - 11:00

Do you fancy a spot of Regency cricket? Or is lolling on the sofa with a book more your thing?

This delightful talk from the creator of Bad Girls & Bonnets and Ladies of a Certain Age explores pleasures and pastimes in Jane Austen’s era, from ambling in the shrubbery to enchanting embroidery.
Historian Lucy Adlington will showcase marvellous original fashions for sport and dancing, and amuse you with hilarious readings from Austen’s novels.
This event is being kindly sponsored by the Apex Hotel Bath.

Venue: Banqueting Room, Guildhall, High St, Bath BA1 5AW

Tickets £18

Jane Austen’s Assemblies – narrated Regency dance performance

Monday 15th September - 17:30

Sit back and let the Jane Austen Dancers transport you to the various venues where Jane Austen’s characters enjoyed dancing and socialising. If you have ever dreamed of watching from the edge of a ballroom and learning all the intricacies of etiquette, hierarchy and social obligation that take place on a dancefloor, this is the event for you.

Enjoy watching an 'impromptu dance at home', a 'public assembly' or two (there were five in Northanger Abbey!) and an invitation-only 'private ball', such as at Netherfield. Taking her books and screen productions as inspiration for a visual treat of Country Dances, Reels, Quadrilles and Cotillions, enriched with quotes from her books, we also explain the subtle etiquette rules of each venue. Plus, the option of joining in one or two dances.
Period costumes welcome but not essential.

Venue: Banqueting Room, Guildhall, High St, Bath BA1 5AW

Tickets £19

Sense & Musicality

Monday 15th September - 19:00

Sense & Musicality explores the love story of Jane Austen and music. Through the authentic sound of historic square piano with soprano voice, Penelope Appleyard and Jonathan Delbridge delight audiences with music connected to Austen's life and works, including songs she sang herself, and bring to life moments from her letters and novels. This performance celebrates the release of brand-new song ‘Ode to Pity’ – a rare musical setting of Austen’s poetry.

Venue: Bath Abbey, Abbey Churchyard, BA1 1LY

Tickets £12

Pride & Prejudice in Words & Music

Monday 15th September - 21:00

This spell-binding performance combines story and music in a unique way. Much like a “melodrama” (a major form of salon-entertainment of the Regency-period) it is essentially an hour-long, one-woman play with live music, fit for the intimate 18th Century drawing room.

The narrator performs Gill Hornby's dynamic, abridged telling of Jane Austen’s witty and moving Pride and Prejudice, and is accompanied throughout by a piano and violin duet. The superb music for this play is familiar and loved by many; composed by Carl Davis for the iconic 1995 BBC TV adaptation starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.

Venue: Banqueting Room, Guildhall, High St, Bath BA1 5AW

Tickets £24

Potted Pride & Prejudice - theatrical

Tuesday 16th September - 17:30 & 20:30

A fast-paced 'Potted' adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. All the funny bits in Austen's best-loved romantic comedy and all the beloved characters played by four super-talented actors. Think the whole story can’t be told in 55 minutes, using Austen’s own words? Think again!
“Incredibly funny but also retaining all the charm of Austen” - After rave reviews from Worthing and Chichester audiences, don’t miss this at the Bath Jane Austen Festival.

Venue: The Mission Theatre, 32 Corn St, Bath BA1 1UF

Tickets £18

Almost Austen - musical performance

Wednesday 17th September - 18:00

Catherine is a modern girl in love with Jane Austen's world. She can't believe her luck when she meets her very own 'Mr Tilney'. Through passages from Northanger Abbey and songs from Musicals and Opera, we follow Catherine's romantic ups and downs as real life and fantasy collide.

Venue: The Mission Theatre, 32 Corn St, Bath BA1 1UF

Tickets £22

Austen Delights

Wednesday 17th September - 19:30

Partake of a deliciously decadent selection of High Tea Treats, finished off with a traditional Regency pudding in the gorgeous surroundings of the Regency Tea Room. Complete with bubbles and highly entertaining Austen interpretations, why not escape for a couple of hours to this haven of literary fiction? 

Venue: Regency Tea Room, Jane Austen Centre, 40 Gay Street, BA1 2NT

Tickets £58

Love, Laughter and Rogues

Thursday 18th September - 16:00

A musical exploration of Jane Austen’s life, loves, novels and humour using music from her own collection. Join ‘The Square Pianist’, Lisa Timbs with Verity Joy, soprano and Annemarie Rhys-Jones, harpist, for a romp through the Austen music books to discover what this contemporary playlist tell us about Jane.

In the beautiful Georgian surroundings of the Elwin Room, beneath the building’s famous Casali ceiling paintings, once dined under by Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton, Lisa will share music and insights gained from years of studying Jane’s original manuscript books. These rarely heard pieces will speak of patriotism and passion, highlight Jane’s love of nature and laughter, and provide clues in her novels that warn us about the rogues!

Venue: Elwin Room, BRLSI, 16-18 Queen Square, BA1 2HN

Tickets £17

The Complete Works of Jane Austen (Abridged)

Thursday 18th September - 20:00

Friday 19th September - 14:30 & 20:00

One newbie and two self-professed Janeites, through almost all means imaginable, tackle the entire canon of Jane Austen’s works – in just 80 minutes. Written by Jessica Bedford, Kathryn MacMillan, Charlotte Northeast & Meghan Winch.

Come along for a fun, funny, and fast-paced romp through the masterpieces of Jane Austen with The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged. Three nimble actors take on all of Austen’s beloved heroines, friends, and love interests—and her incisive social satire—in just 80 minutes. It is a truth universally acknowledged that an audience in possession of high spirits must be in want of a ticket to this big-hearted comedy that will delight Janeites and newcomers alike.

Suitable for ages 14+ (contains swearing and sexual references).

Venue: The Mission Theatre, 32 Corn Street, BA1 1UF

Tickets £19

Courtship with Kim Hicks

Friday 19th September - 12:30

Bristol-based actor Kim Hicks returns to the Jane Austen Festival to perform her internationally acclaimed one woman show, the longest running Jane Austen show in the world! With wonderful renditions of both well-known passages from the novels and less familiar pieces from the minor works, Kim reacquaints you with Austen's beautifully drawn characters.

Meet: In foyer of Theatre Royal, Saw Close, BA1 1ET

Tickets £18 from Theatre Royal Box Office, theatreroyal.org.uk

Emma

Saturday 20th September - 19:30

The beautiful, high-spirited Emma Woodhouse is determined that she will never marry but loves to meddle in her friends’ and neighbours’ relationships. When her confidante and former governess, Miss Taylor weds her fiancé Mr Weston, Emma, having introduced the couple, takes credit for the marriage and decides that a future in matchmaking lies ahead of her.
So begins a comic journey through the lives and loves of Emma’s friends and neighbours, embracing the burgeoning Regency social scene of Bath and Weymouth. But as the romantic web she weaves amongst her friends becomes ever more entangled, will Emma herself get swept up in true love’s wake…?

*This production of Emma will be running over the whole course of the Jane Austen Festival, from the 11th to 20th September 2025, but the Jane Austen Festival will be offering a whole host of other evening events throughout the rest of the week, so we are encouraging our Festival visitors to attend the final Saturday 20th evening performance of this wonderful production of Emma to end the 2025 Jane Austen Festival altogether.

Venue: Theatre Royal, Saw Close, Bath, BA1 1ET

Tickets £13 - £50

Love and Friendship - film showing

Sunday 21st September - 18:30

Whit Stillman’s sparkling, critically-acclaimed adaptation of Jane Austen’s early, posthumously-published novella ‘Lady Susan’ stars Kate Beckinsale, radiant as the scheming and scandalous widow Lady Susan Vernon out to secure suitable husbands for herself and daughter. Beckinsale has a ball, creating an unforgettable comic character dressed in arguably the most splendid costumes ever created for Austen on film. "The funniest, most deliciously venomous Jane Austen movie ever made" – Empire Magazine.

Venue: Widcombe Social Club, Widcombe Hill, Bath BA2 6AA

Tickets £8 - £10