Following a season of smash-hit performances during 2018, Austentatious: The Improvised Jane Austen Novel mark the 243rd anniversary of Austen’s birth (on 16 December 1775) by announcing that they will begin a Monday night residency at the Fortune Theatre, London from 18 February 2019. Tickets will be on sale from 14 December, giving audiences enough time to secure a last-minute Christmas present. A new loyalty card is also being introduced offering fans of the show a fifth performance for free once they’ve attended four performances at the Fortune Theatre.
Austentatious is an entirely improvised comedy play, starring a cast of the country’s sharpest comic performers, who conjure up a ‘lost’ Jane Austen novel based on nothing more than a title suggested by the audience. Whether you’ve read all of Austen’s works or none of them, this hilarious show will be a totally new experience.
Performed in full Regency costume with live musical accompaniment, the company have played over 500 performances in 150 venues around the UK with no two shows ever being the same. Previous ’lost‘ masterpieces covered have included The Sixth Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Shark and Double 0 Darcy. In an evening chock-full of witty heroines, dashing gents and preposterous plots, swooning is almost certainly guaranteed.
Ed Bartlam of Underbelly Productions said: ‘After many years of selling out Edinburgh’s Fringe and smashing success around the country, Austentatious have won over London’s West End with a stand-out season at The Savoy. It’s clear that the audiences can’t get enough, we’re absolutely thrilled to announce Austentatious sitting down at the Fortune Theatre in 2019 for weekly performances of their hilariously unique, Jane Austen-inspired improvisation.’
Austentatious added: ‘We are delighted to be paying a weekly visit to the home of The Woman in Black, although we do think she could do with some rather more colourful outfits and maybe a new bonnet. We can’t wait to take up residence in our new home and look forward to being joined by the great and the good of London’s dazzling West End.’
