Written by Cheryl Colley
Well, she has had a little help from a modern day admirer. The result is Promise and Promiscuity, (shades of Pride & Prejudice) a new musical by Jane Austen and Penny Ashton. It’s coming to The Court Theatre from 21 - 22 August.
Just reading Penny Ashton’s CV is exhausting. She’s a comedian, actor, performance poet, wedding celebrant and social commentator. How does she fit all that diversity into her life? “I’ve been performing since I was four years old. It was dancing to begin with and I was going to be a ballerina, but puberty got in the way! I found too that words and performing my own writing eventually gave me the most satisfaction.”
The clever use of words is definitely what Penny has in common with Jane Austen. “I’m a big JA fan. I’ve read all her movies.”
That quip may sound as if Penny has not actually read any of those wonderful six novels we “Janites” know so well. That’s not true. “I have a complete works of Jane Austen and when I was thinking of writing a play that was a tribute to her, I perused the whole tome looking for quotes I really liked. Needless to say, I became hooked and have come to the works themselves since.”
There are thirty-three direct quotes from Jane Austen’s various works and letters in Promise and Promiscuity. “I love the world Jane created. Her dialogue and her characters are funny and witty; her language is so economical yet eloquent and her themes so universal.”
Since it was first written in 2013, Penny has performed Promise and Promiscuity some 300 times all over the world and audiences have loved it. “Every crowd who comes to the show is different. That’s what energises me to keep it fresh no matter how many times I have performed it.”
Audiences to this sell-out show will follow the fortunes of Miss Elspeth Slowtree, an attractive spinster of two-and-twenty years, her ditzy sister Cordelia and widowed drama-queen mother Millicent.
Down on their luck since the Great Nutmeg Crash of 1808, they survive at Little Cox Cottage courtesy of condescending charity from snooty sour-faced dowager Lady Wrexham. Elspeth longs to be an author of note, but battles literary snobbery, her mother’s nerves, and her cousin Horatio’s digestions, all armed with a superior wit and excellent ukulele skills. Balls will be attended; crosses will be stitched and manners will be minded, all with not one ankle in sight.
“I play nine different characters during the show, all through use of facial expressions and distinguishable mannerisms without any costume changes. There are song and dance numbers too. It’s pretty full on for 70 minutes.”
One reviewer called Promise and Promiscuity “A Regency romance pop-culture musical mash-up full of double entendre and cheeky fun.”