EDINBURGH 2023: Review: TALES OF A JANE AUSTEN SPINSTER, Greenside @ Nicolson Square

Fans of Penelope Featherington, unite! When a young woman emerges from the doilies and dust sheets of the Jane Austen’s House museum, she does not expect to see anyone. She's looking for Austen to ask her to end her story. An unfinished character in one of the author’s novels, she wants a happy ending of her own. Two centuries have passed, so being on the edge of spinsterhood shouldn’t matter that much, should it?

The excitement of the pursuit of love turns to dismay when she receives her first dick pic. Interrupted and patronised by her first date, she’s alarmed at the similarities between her world and ours.

Alexandra Jorgensen crafts a universally relatable figure who wants exactly what modern people want: to be respected, listened, and appreciated. It’s an amusing concept, continuously charming and very funny.

With light and breezy writing, Jorgensen delivers an accurate analysis of what it feels like trying to find a partner in the 21st Century in 35 delightful minutes of Regency fun. It’s a quick glimpse into the horror of modern romance.

Tales of a Jane Austen Spinster runs at Greenside @ Nicholson Square until 12 August.

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