Courtship with Kim Hicks

Friday 11th September - 12:00 noon.

(duration 1 hour)

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

Jane Austen: Incurable Romantic - A brand new wandering show in the heart of Bath!

Saturday 12th September - 13:30, 14:00, 14:30, 15:00, 15:30 & 16:00

Sunday 13th September - 11:30, 12:00, 12:30, 13:00 & 13:30

Saturday 19th September - 11:30, 12:00, 12:30, 13:00 & 13:30

(duration 1 hour each)

The Natural Theatre Company is back for their 10th consecutive year at the Jane Austen Festival with their hilarious walkabout show, Jane Austen: Incurable Romantic! Following the success of Austen Undone and Lost & Found, this brand new piece celebrates everything Jane Austen. It reveals recognisable plot-lines, familiar characters and just a little bit of Austen-based nonsense. Immerse yourself in wooing, weeping and wagers as we wander around historic Bath, and watch this joyful story come to life around you!

Meet: Bath War Memorial, Royal Ave, Bath BA1 2PH

Tickets £19

Emma at Bath Abbey

Saturday 12th September - Doors open 18:45
(Film Duration 19:30 - 21:34)

Celebrate the 2026 Jane Austen Festival with a special screening of Emma (2020) at Bath Abbey.
Directed by Autumn de Wilde and starring Anya Taylor-Joy, this vibrant adaptation brings fresh wit and visual flair to Austen’s beloved novel.
Emma Woodhouse is clever, confident and entirely certain she knows what is best for those around her. But as her matchmaking schemes unfold, she is forced to confront her own misunderstandings about love, friendship and herself. With its striking Regency costumes, sharp humour and playful tone, Emma offers a modern take on one of Austen’s most enduring heroines, while remaining true to the spirit of the original story.
Set beneath the Abbey’s vaulted ceilings, this atmospheric screening forms part of Bath’s annual celebration of Austen’s life and legacy in the city that inspired her.

Wireless headphones will be provided for all audience members."

Venue: Bath Abbey, Abbey Churchyard, BA1 1LY

Tickets £20 from Bath Box Office

Musical Women: Science or Seduction in Jane Austen's time

Sunday 13th September - 11:00

(duration 1hr 45mins)

Being an accomplished musical amateur helped snare a husband, but being a professional female Regency composer was as rare as seeing Mr. Darcy enjoying a lively cotillion! Composition was a science undertaken only by men….or was it?
Join The Square Pianist and friends for the launch of their new project spotlighting women composers who proved that success and independence was possible in a man’s world. With original instruments, authentic costume and beautiful music now only found in archives, you will see how determination and skill could bring fame and professional respect.
Lisa Timbs – Square piano
Annemarie Rhys-Jones – Regency harp
Susan Legg – Mezzo-soprano.

The concert will be filmed and you will have the opportunity to shape the future of the project as your valuable feedback will determine what will be included in the trio’s upcoming album and tour.

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

Tickets £15

“Yours very affectionately, Jane” – narrated Regency dance performance

Sunday 13th September - 16:00

(duration 1hr 15mins)

Take your seat at the edge of the ballroom and enjoy the Jane Austen Dancers of Bath narrating and dancing their way through Jane Austen’s Regency publishing years 1811 to 1817 – inspired by her personal letters, her novels, news of the day and dances from her era.

If you’ve always wanted to be a fly on the wall of a Regency Ball in Austen’s lifetime, this is the perfect event for you! Austen’s own personal letters are brought to life using narration, drama and- most of all- dance.

We join Austen’s publishing journey in 1811 when her first novel is published, and we travel with her, and her letters and novels, through every year until her passing in 1817.  Each year is punctuated with quotes from her letters/novels; the headline news, and gossip, from the greater world; and finally we top each year off with a relevant, themed selection of dances.

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

Tickets £19

Austen Delights

19:30 - Sunday 13th & Tuesday 15th September

(duration 3 hours)

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

Pride and Prejudice - A Murder Mystery by The Moonstone Theatre Company: The Killing at Netherfield Park…..

Monday 14th September - 12:30

(duration 3 hours)

The Killing at Netherfield Park...Charles Bingley was taking a stroll through his rented estate at Netherfield Park when he came across a man’s body in the grounds. It was obvious that he had been murdered.
The body was that of George Wickham but who wanted him dead and would the killer be caught?

Venue: The Bird Hotel, 18-19 Pulteney Rd (South), Bathwick, BA2 4EZ

Tickets £53 including lunch from Bath Theatre Royal

Pride & Prejudice in Words & Music Dinner Recital

Monday 14th September - 20:00

(duration 3 hours)

Join us in the Pump Rooms for a three-course meal, accompanied by music and a re-telling of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, from violinist Leora Cohen, with pianist Paul Wingfield and narrator Susan Rutherford. 

Gill Hornby's dynamic, abridged telling of Jane Austen’s witty and moving Pride and Prejudice is accompanied throughout by a piano and violin duet. The superb music is familiar and loved by many; composed by Carl Davis for the iconic 1995 BBC TV adaptation… returning by popular demand from 2025!

Your ticket includes a starter, a main course with sharing sides, and a trio of desserts.

Venue: Pump Room Restaurant, Abbey Churchyard Entrance, Stall St, Bath BA1 1LZ

Tickets £125

A Musical Kind of Little Wilderness

Wednesday 16th September - 18:30 

(duration 1 hour)

By placing her writing desk by the window, Jane positioned herself at the border between two worlds: Indoors and Out…

Join The Little Song Party (soprano Penelope Appleyard and pianist Jonathan Delbridge) for a musical jaunt, to explore Jane's love of music and the outdoors, including her apparent preference for a little 'wilderness' in landscape, music and fiction, particularly in Pride & Prejudice! Seamlessly blending scholarship with entertainment, this performance takes listeners on a road trip from Jane's own garden, past Pemberley and all the way up to Scotland, taking in a spot of Regency landscape design, and celebrating the intimate creativity of domestic music making. The playlist for the journey includes some of her favourite songs, poems and dances, and themes from TV/film.

Regency costume very welcome but not mandatory.

Venue: Bath Abbey, Abbey Churchyard, BA1 1LY

Tickets £15

Lovers’ Vows - Exclusively in Bath for one night only!

Thursday 17th September - 20:00 

(duration 1 hour)

What would have happened if Sir Thomas Bertram never came back early to Mansfield Park? The Natural Theatre Company asked themselves that very question. You thought you’d never get to see it, but here it is at last; the (hopefully) full rehearsal of Elizabeth Inchbald’s Lovers Vows’ featured in Jane Austen’s iconic novel, acted out in all its chaotic glory.
Will this play within a play be any good? Or will the play go wrong?
(Suitable for ages 12+)

Venue: Bath Abbey, Abbey Churchyard, BA1 1LY

Tickets £28