Hold on to your bonnets: Jane Austen-style musical coming to Rotorua

Penny Ashton is bringing her Jane Austen-style musical 'Promise and Promiscuity' to Rotorua for the first time.

Pack up your bonnets and make your way to the Sir Howard Morrison Centre next weekend to enjoy an evening of satire and laughs.

To celebrate a decade of performances, Penny Ashton is bringing her Jane Austen-inspired musical Promise and Promiscuity to Rotorua for the first time, as part of a larger tour around the country.

In this musical, audiences will follow the fortunes of Miss Elspeth Slowtree as she battles literary snobbery, her mother’s nerves and Cousin Horatio’s digestions, all armed with a superior wit, excellent ukulele skills and her generally being quite bright, you know, for a girl. Balls will be attended, crosses will be stitched and manners will be minded, all with not one ankle in sight.

She will be performing her original show in the centre’s Black Box Theatre on Saturday, May 13.

Since 2013, Penny has performed Promise and Promiscuity all over the world, with about 500 performances in more than 100 towns and cities in six countries.

This has included at Austen’s final resting place in Winchester and at the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, United Kingdom.

Penny says Promise and Promiscuity is an uplifting comedy which is very affirming for everyone.

She says it features a lot of satirical feminist content, which is surrounded by plenty of joy, laughs and love stories.

“It’s taken me everywhere... I think people respond to the joyful comedy.”

Penny says although the musical is written in the style of Jane Austen, who is very dry, sarcastic and witty, there are a lot of popular culture references too.

She believes that many aspects of Jane Austen’s stories such as Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice are, sadly, still wildly relevant today, featuring issues such as financial stability for solo mothers.

“I think people still want to feel loved and secure, and it embodies that.”

It has been about 15 years since she performed in Rotorua, and she is excited to perform in the refurbished Sir Howard Morrison Centre.

“I last performed in Rotorua in the mid-2000s when Monty Morrison ran the Rotorua Arts Festival. It’s cool to go somewhere new to perform this show, after performing it so many times.”

The Details

What: Promise and Promiscuity: A Musical by Jane Austen and Penny Ashton

When: Saturday, May 13, 7.30pm

Where: Black Box Theatre, Sir Howard Morrison Centre

Tickets: $25 to $36.50, available at Ticketmaster

This is a Public Interest Journalism funded role through NZ On Air