CHEER FROM CHAWTON: A JANE AUSTEN FAMILY THEATRICAL, written and performed by Karen Eterovich and co-directed by Susan Pilar and Amy Stoller, will make its U.K. debut at the Jane Austen Festival in Bath on Wednesday, September 20 at 7:30 p.m., Mission Theatre, No. 32 Corn Street. Admission is £12. For tickets, contact the Bath Festival Box Office at +44 (0) 1225 463362.

In the tradition of amateur theatricals held during her childhood at Steventon rectory, Jane Austen has prepared an entertainment for her family and friends, in which her siblings are cast as fellow performers. But her family plays a trick on her, and she must rise to the requirements of an unrehearsed solo performance.

In this interactive production, members of the audience are invited to play Jane’s family - and merriment ensues.

The production has been expanded since its well-received New York debut at the Players Club last spring, when it was titled JANE AUSTEN.

Karen Eterovich’s performance as Jane Austen was sublime and I wish her huge success in this new piece! Very exciting! I went home and dug out my complete anthology of Jane Austen to reread after spending an evening in her lovely, witty company!
– Cynthia Kane, Writer, Documentary Producer and Consultant, Sundance Channel

We’d love to post a reader review if anyone attends this play.

Alert Janeite Kirsty sent us a link to a contest sponsored by the BBC in conjunction with its program(me) “Reader, I Married Him.” Win a set of the new Headline editions of Jane Austen’s novels by answering a very easy question. This contest is open to U.K. residents only. Let us know if you win!

Incidentally, Headline has set up a special site for the new set of books with links to reading group questions and other goodies, including yet another contest to win a set of the novels–and there doesn’t seem to be a residence clause.

An interview with philosopher and animal rights activist Peter Singer reveals that he is an F.O.J. While we look askance at some of the other opinions expressed in this article, we loved this bit.

You once included Pride and Prejudice in a list of your top ten books. Was Jane Austen a feminist? CARRIE HOWARD, Manchester

Of course! Do you think Elizabeth Bennet meekly did whatever men told her to do?

Man’s got a point!

The Guardian has a short review of the Naxos unabridged audiobook of Northanger Abbey, read by Juliet Stevenson.

Writing a few years later, Austen presented herself as the literary equivalent of Dawn French and mocked Radcliffe’s work with her own version, Northanger Abbey. This satire laughed at the idea that all young girls were beautiful and good-natured and all large buildings imposing and full of mystery.

Yep!

DVD Talk has a comprehensive review of the 10th Anniversary Edition of the BBC/A&E miniseries of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. The set includes the miniseries of course, the book The Making of Pride and Prejudice, and some extras that sound like a lot of fun.

The most unique extra, though, is a 10-minute “Impromptu Walkabout with Adrian Lukis and Lucy Briers,” in which the two far-from-famous actors, who shared no screen time in “Pride and Prejudice,” return to one of the location houses to reminisce and generally joke around. The ready-for-work actors propose a sequel series to star themselves. “Wickham and Bennet,” Briers suggests as a title. “A modern-day cop series,” Lukis adds.

A couple hundred fanfic authors just scrambled for their word processors.

One technical detail that we know some viewers were wondering about is addressed in the review.

As with the earlier DVD, the picture is occasionally a bit overexposed or bleachy (mainly in outdoor scenes), though this may have been an intentional effect, perhaps intended to convey a period far removed from our own.

We find that adjusting the color on the television works well to fix this situation.