The Jane Austen Festival announces 2023 events programme

The 2023 Jane Austen Festival will bring festival-goers more events to try out hands-on hobbies from the Regency period than ever before.

or so many people, their dream of visiting the Jane Austen Festival is to step back in time, walk the streets that Austen once did, and do what she and her characters did. This year, The Jane Austen Centre has been able to create this immersive experience in so many new ways, from dancing, fencing, playing croquet, gaming and much more.

One of the particular triumphs of this year's Festival has been The Jane Austen Centre's collaboration with the National Trust to bring dancers in their Regency finest to dance, drink, eat and play cards in Bath’s Assembly Rooms for the Meryton Assembly Ball. For many Austen fans all over the world, this is a location they will have only ever read about in Austen’s novels, but now they will have the chance to live out the scenes that Austen described in that iconic location. 

Also filling the Assembly Rooms on Saturday 9 September will be the famous Festival Fayre, back for 2023 with more stalls than ever before. Go on a Regency shopping spree through the Assembly Rooms with stalls offering hats, fans, gloves, books, hair pieces, jewellery and lots more.

The Roman Baths and The Pump Room are two other celebrated venues that the Festival hosts events in; this year, changes have been made to allow more Festival-goers to live out their Austen-dreams and take part in the Soiree and Masked Ball.

The Natural Theatre Company are back with two new Regency comedies for the Jane Austen Festival. Over the first weekend they will regale walking tours with a “new” Austen novel: Austen’s Lost & Found. This previously lost Jane Austen novel has been unearthed in Bath, revealing more recognisable plotlines, familiar characters and just a little bit of nonsense. 

The Naturals will also provide a theatrical finale to the Festival, performing 'Inspiration & Perspiration,' their improvised introduction to some newly created Jane Austen characters, at The Mission Theatre on Saturday 16 September. 

Whether you come along for a day, weekend, or the entirety of The Jane Austen Festival 2023, The Jane Austen Centre wishes you ‘a delightful visit.'