(3 / 5)

If you’re looking for something that will give you a chuckle but is something new every time and yet is slightly satirical of the world of Austen, then look no further.

This show is very much what it says on the tin; each show is different as they take a theme and improvise on the topic, all set in the world of Austen and the topics of her stories such as the marriage mart, high society, the Georgian world. The approach is fundamentally of the time but the occasional improvisation dips into modern life, all depending on where the performers decide to take it.

In true Austen style, the performance that I attended had an underlying theme of the push and pull of romance, the will they won’t they, and a sense of not entirely being sure who will end up with whom. Alongside this, the performers take on the improvised challenge of suddenly being in a church rave, a coffee shop with questionable machinery, and a moment where the movement of the minimal staging that goes on too long because a ridiculous moment of moving chairs around the space. The performers lean into it and take the unexpected changes with real gusto.

What is enjoyable is how much the performers themselves seem to find the performance, occasionally chuckling or trying to trick one another. They equally take the mantle from one another but are certainly skilled enough to run with directions they weren’t expecting to go.

While enjoyable, I wouldn’t say that I particularly came away having laughed enough for sides to split. But it did elicit a chuckle and general content enjoyment.

Austentatious: An Improvised Jane Austen Novel is a fun show to watch, with the knowledge that each performance will likely be completely different to the next, and for the Austen fans, enough reference with the dash of modernisation to make you chuckle.