AUSTENTATIOUS

The Riverfront, Newport

Fri 5 Oct

Whether it’s from studying from her novels in school or bearing witness to Colin Firth’s Darcy emerging seductively from a lake, like some upper-class 18^th-century wet t-shirt competition winner, most of us are aware of the works of Jane Austen. Even if you haven’t actually read any of her work, or even seen the screen adaptations, it’s likely that you’ll have any idea in mind of the tropes that exist in her world, such is the ubiquity of the era in many a lavish period drama.

Flash forward to the 21^st century and we have the fertile improv comedy scene. Performers are given themes and a basic structure of a story, but little else around which they weave their ideas. Using their quickness of thought and natural wit they create hilarious tales on the spot.

And that’s how we come to Austentatious. This troop of improv allstars, including Rachel Parris (The Mash Report), Cariad Lloyd (Crims) and Joseph Morpurgo (Drunk History), take the familiar setting of the Jane Austen novel and use audience title suggestions each night as the basis for a full-length show created from scratch. Having wowed Edinburgh and spawned successful stars from within the cast, it is sure to be a riot of an evening, be you fully fledged fan or wholly uninitiated.

Admission: £17.50/£16. Info: 01633 656757 / www.tickets.newportlive.co.uk (MH)