Last night we were treated to a delicious evening's entertainment from two of our wonderful British actors at the Jane Austen Festival. Adrian Lukis (who is a very well-known and loved actor in the UK - he played Mr Wickham in the classic 1995 Pride and Prejudice adaptation) and Caroline Langrishe (who is well-known for her roles in Judge John Deed, Lovejoy and Sharpe) entertained us with a selection of duologues - some of the most memorable scenes from Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion and of course, Pride and Prejudice. My personal favourites were the scenes from Persuasion - beautiful!
They were absolutely brilliant and brought all of the characters to life - it's always wonderful to hear Austen performed 'out loud' and the audience lapped it up - the room echoed to the sounds of their laughter!
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| Caroline Langrishe and Adrian Lukis performing Austen duologues - Jane Austen Festival |
I was very lucky to meet Adrian and Caroline when I appeared in a Masterchef episode for the BBC last year - celebrating the 200th anniversary of Sense and Sensibility. We had a lot of fun filming the episode, especially off camera and it was lovely to catch up with Caroline last night - they both graciously appeared after the show to chat with everyone gathered there - what a treat for Austen fans!
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| Adrian Lukis at the Jane Austen Festival |
Adrian Lukis and Caroline Langrishe are currently touring with a play, The Handyman, with Timothy West and will be appearing in Cheltenham tonight!
“Harwood’s best and finest play” The Sunday Times
Ronald Harwood, Academy Award-winning playwright and screenwriter is the author of this intelligent and stimulating story about law, justice and revenge.
Cressida and Julian Field live comfortably in the Sussex countryside with their elderly Ukrainian odd-job man and friend of the family, Romka. He cooks, mends fences, trims hedges and grows vegetables. Cressida calls him her ‘life-saver’. Then suddenly two police officers from the War Crimes Squad arrive... What has Romka done? Is he guilty? Is there a time limit on punishment?
The Handyman looks at responsibility and the possibility of evil, in a story that holds and intrigues from start to finish.
The week-long shows begin at 7.45pm with additional afternoon shows taking place on the Thursday (September 20) and Saturday (September 22) at 2pm.
Tickets cost from £10 plus a booking fee and are available by calling the Everyman Theatre Box Office on 01242 572573 or by visiting www.everymantheatre.org.uk.
I shall be talking at the Jane Austen Festival on Wednesday 19th September - it would be lovely to see you there!
I shall be talking at the Jane Austen Festival on Wednesday 19th September - it would be lovely to see you there!