Out & About July 2017

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Jane Austen tour with coffee and cake
Winchester Cathedral
First Saturday of the month, through to
November
10am to 12noon
Standing beside the grave of Jane Austen and
reflecting on the life of this great author is a
moving experience.
This tour by specialist cathedral guides
includes insights into Jane’s life and
connections within Hampshire, a walk through
the Cathedral Close to the house on College
Street, where she died, and time at her grave.
The guide will join the group in The Refectory
after the tour. The ticket includes tea or coffee
and a slice of cake.
anniversary-jane-austens-death
The Mysterious Miss Austen,
Winchester Discovery Centre
To the end of July
Presented in partnership with Jane Austen’s
House Museum, this landmark exhibition will
explore the intriguing question – who is Jane
Austen?
The exhibition will look at the author’s work, life
and relationship to Hampshire, the county that
provided inspiration for her novels.
The centrepiece of The Mysterious Miss
Austen will be six portraits of Jane together
under one roof for the first time, including one
from a private collection which has not been
seen in public for more than 40 years.
Of the handful of items that survive today
which actually belonged to Jane and can be
traced directly back to her, on show will be her
silk pelisse coat and purse.
Other treasures include the manuscript of an
alternative ending to Persuasion in her own
hand, while Grayson Perry’s Jane Austen in
E17 ceramic is evidence of her lasting legacy
and influence on the arts.
gallery-at-winchester-discovery-centre
Persuasion
The Chesil Theatre, Chesil Street,
Winchester
July 15 to 22
7.45pm
Jane Austen’s last novel has been skilfully
adapted to portray the lost loves of both the
author and her heroine, Anne Elliot.
We meet Jane in her last days as she
transmutes her own ill-fated love affair into a
bittersweet tale of loneliness and longing, set
against a background of scenes the author
knew well: country houses, Bath in the season
and the coastal town of Lyme Regis.
Regency week
June 18-23
Chawton House Library will be putting on
daily events, to include meet the shire horses,
a garden tour, embroidery workshops and
lectures.
Discover the Jane Austen Collection
June 18-23
Alton Library
Vicarage Hill, Alton
Alton Library is home to the Hampshire
Libraries special Jane Austen collection,
featuring editions dating back to the 1900s.
As part of Alton’s Regency week programme,
Alton Library is holding a drop in 2-4pm with
local historian Jane Hurst, where you can
discover the amazing items held in this unique
collection.
Pride and Prejudice
Shaw House
June 30
Gates open at 6pm, performance 7.30pm
Newbury’s amateur theatre group New Era
Players presents Pride and Prejudice, adapted
by Paula K Parker. If you haven’t read the
book, now is your chance to see it performed
in the beautiful setting on the lawns at Shaw
House. This sparkling adaptation pits the
opinionated Lizzy Bennet in a fencing match of
words against the wealthy, taciturn Mr Darcy.
Reputations, family fortunes and (of course)
hearts are at stake.
Austenmania
When did you discover Jane Austen?
GH: Jane Austen has always been one of my
favourite novelists.
Fifteen years ago, Short Books, a publishing
house, were doing a series of non-fiction books
for children and asked me to write about Jane
Austen and my fascination with her life took off.
Tell us about the process of adapting Pride
and Prejudice in this recent project.
It was great fun working with Carl Davis. He is
an extraordinary genius.
I feel that I have kept the humour and wit of
Pride and Prejudice in the adaptation, and the
plot is all there. Picking it apart and putting it
back together again was fascinating.
Pride and Prejudice really is a masterclass in
narrative.
There are other Jane Austen experts
speaking at the Kintbury Connection
weekend. What can visitors expect?
GH: On Saturday morning two great authors,
Paula Byrne and Helena Kelly, are going to tell
us about their work on Jane Austen.
Paula is a renowned Jane Austen expert with
several successful publications on the subject
to her name.
Helena’s book, Jane Austen, the Secret
Radical, is particularly interesting for me.
It re-examines her novels and redefines
them as novels which, contrary to popular
understanding, explore the social and
political commentary therein.
For example, she highlights the social mobility
in Pride and Prejudice, the slave trade in
Mansfield Park and the blatant gender
inequality of property rights in Emma.
We have to ask; what is your favourite
Jane Austen novel?
GH: Persuasion, because, as I have got older,
I appreciate Anne Elliot as a more mature
heroine with an intelligence and a depth of
emotion that is not so evident in Jane Austen’s
younger heroines in her earlier novels.
Persuasion contains a real sense of jeopardy
for its protagonists; it is a much more serious
work.
When I was younger, it was undoubtedly Pride
and Prejudice.
Finally, Mr Knightley or Mr Darcy?
GH: Mr Knightley all the way!
There are many events taking place all over the country to mark the bicentenary of Jane Austen’s death and
below are just a few of the local ones. For a comprehensive list, visit
Gill Hornby
For further details on The Kintbury Connection
visit: