Tue 20 Oct, 8:00pm
Before Pride & Prejudice there was chaos!
Reveal Productions presents…
LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP
Taunton Literary Festival 2026
Jane Austen is back! Dead since 1817, she has spent more than two centuries observing humanity. In this playful new adaptation of Love and Friendship, an older Jane Austen returns to reflect on the exuberant novella she wrote aged fourteen.
Looking back across two hundred years of social change, she discovers that while fashions, language and technology have transformed, human beings remain delightfully susceptible to vanity, romance, impulsive decisions and spectacularly poor judgement. Written long before Pride and Prejudice and Emma, Love and Friendship reveals Austen at her most outrageous: a whirlwind of friendship, romance, fainting fits and dramatic excess.
Performed by Imogen Smith, this fast-paced one-woman production brings sixteen unforgettable characters to life, celebrating the wit, theatricality and youthful brilliance of one of literature’s greatest observers of human behaviour.
After the play Imogen will be joined on stage by renowned British biographer and literary scholar, Paula Byrne, who has written extensively on Jane Austen. In 2025 Paula hosted and fronted the BBC BBC Radio 4 series, When I Met Jane Austen and featured as a key expert in the major BBC documentary series Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius. Paula will be available to sign copies of her books on Jane Austen: Six Weeks by the Sea (a fictional imagining of the moment when Jane Austen fell in love), The Real Jane Austen and Jane Austen, Rise of a Genius.
Taunton Literary Festival 2026
Brendon Books, Taunton’s best loved independent bookshop, organises the annual Taunton Literary Festival. Packed full of author talks of all shapes, sizes and interests, the Taunton Literary Festival is now in its 15th year and is an annual treat, not to be missed. Visit the Brendon Books website for information here.
Robin Ince: The Future of Jokes is just one of the wonderful events coming to the Tacchi-Morris soon. Check out our What’s On page to discover even more brilliant shows in Taunton.