A Summer of Performance: Celebrating Performing Arts at Chawton House
TLCM – Twelfth Night at Salisbury Cathedral – Photo credit Jack Offord
This summer Chawton House will welcome local, national and international performers as part of their largest ever performing arts programme, all to celebrate Jane Austen’s 250th birthday and her love of theatre and music.
We start with a return for the critically-acclaimed Handlebards on 31st May with “Much Ado About Nothing”, followed by a script-in-hand of a new production, “The Austens”, by early career American dramatist, Sarah-Rose Kearns. Chawton House will host three outdoor stage adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels: “Emma” and “Pride & Prejudice” by This is My Theatre; and a musical version of “Sense & Sensibility” by Ledwell Productions, which debuted at the Minack Theatre in 2024.
Once again, the much-loved The Lord Chamberlain’s Men bring their national tour to Chawton House, on 14th July when the South Lawn will be transformed into the set of “Twelfth Night”.
For the first time, there will also be a music programme, developed in partnership with Louisa Hunter-Bradley. As with the theatre programme, it will combine the best national talent with showcasing local early career performers. On the 20th June, following their sell-out show last year, Anna Sideris (Soprano), Béatrice Dupuy (Mezzo Soprano) and Chad Vindin (Piano) return to the Great Hall for “A Night at the Opera”.
We are excited to celebrate the year of Jane Austen’s 250th birthday with a day of music on 8th July with leading international Austen scholars and musicians, Laura Klein and Gillian Dooley in the Dining Room, where Jane herself dined and celebrated with her family. At noon, there will be a concert of music Austen knew, and in the evening Laura brings her popular production, “Jane Austen’s Playlist”, a mixture of classical music and readings from Jane Austen’s works.
There are pop-up recitals throughout the summer (included in the standard visitor ticket), and The Hesperi Ensemble perform their Radio 3 Album of the Week, “A Gift for your Garden” in the Chawton House gardens on 30th August.
Chief Executive, Katie Childs: “Our fascinating new exhibition, Sisters of the Pen (free with admission) shows just how often Jane Austen visited the theatre and how it influenced her writing, and so we are delighted that this summer we can reflect that with performances of Shakespeare and her own works, as well as new Austen-inspired writing with “The Austens” on 6th June. Jane Austen was an accomplished musician, and her nieces were given piano lessons here at Chawton House too, so to celebrate this we have decided to showcase the best international talent as well as give an opportunity to those early in their career to perform for our visitors. This is all part of the expanding creative programme at Chawton House, where we continue to foster early career talent and tell the stories of women’s writing and how this estate significantly influenced Jane Austen.”
Tickets for every event are available via the Chawton House website: www.chawtonhouse.org/whats-on.