Claudie Blakley and Jemima Rooper to Star in WAS JANE AUSTEN GAY? at The Actors' Church
Exploring Jane Austen's life and works through a modern lens with stars from Pride & Prejudice and Lost in Austen
By: Stephi Wild Jan. 20, 2026
The London Review of Books and City of London Sinfonia have announced that Austen scene-stealers Claudie Blakley (Pride & Prejudice) and Jemima Rooper (Lost in Austen) will join the line-up for Was Jane Austen Gay?, the latest in its acclaimed series of Ideas in Concert at The Actors' Church on Sunday 1 February.
Drawing on Terry Castle's notorious LRB essay, famously said to have “catapulted literary London into an orgy of defensiveness”, this provocative postscript to Austen's big birthday celebrations poses the question that nobody thought to ask during the 250th anniversary year: was Jane Austen gay?
The piquant event combines readings and music, with extracts of Castle's essay and the texts it interrogates read by Claudie Blakley and Jemima Rooper, woven into a curated musical programme inspired by Austen's own music collection performed by CLS' Creative Director and Leader, Alexandra Wood (violin), and Rebecca Knight (cello), together with special guest artists: soprano, Anna Dennis, and pianist, James McVinnie. The live music programme will also feature new arrangements by Isobel Waller-Bridge of her evocative score for the 2020 film, Emma.
In 1995, the London Review of Books published an essay by the literary critic Terry Castle with the cover line: “Was Jane Austen gay?”. Outrage ensued, including from the author of the essay, who hadn't actually asked and certainly hadn't claimed this. Castle's piece, about Austen's letters to her sister, Cassandra, was actually a subtle examination of “the primitive adhesiveness - and underlying eros - of the sister-sister bond.” But that wasn't how the LRB readers, or the Janeites, or the Daily Telegraph saw it… More than three decades later, it remains one of the magazine's most notorious episodes, and the perfect springboard for the latest in the LRB and CLS' acclaimed series of Ideas in Concert, after a sold-out performance at the 2025 Hay Festival.
Now for its London transfer two Austen scene-stealers will take up the mantle of Jane and Cassandra. Claudie Blakley, known for her memorable portrayal of Charlotte Lucas in Joe Wright's acclaimed film adaptation of Pride & Prejudice, will be joined on-stage by Jemima Rooper, the much-loved heroine of Lost in Austen, ITV's irresistible time-slip fantasy drama in which a modern-day Jane Austen devotee finds herself swapping places with Elizabeth Bennet. Together the pair will read extracts from Castle's essay and the texts it interrogates - including Austen's letters, novels, her nephew's family memoir, and her lesbian contemporary Anne Lister's diaries. These readings will be woven into a curated musical programme inspired by Austen's own music collection. From the crystalline elegance of ‘Chastity, thou cherub bright', performed by soprano Anna Dennis, fresh from the title role of Susanna in Opera North's acclaimed production of one of Handel's lesser-known oratorios, to the gently sentimental ‘My Phillida, Adieu Love' as transcribed by Austen and composed by Miss Mellish, widely believed to be the daughter of Colonel Mellish, whose ‘Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes' regularly resounded through Georgian homes and salons, and will also feature. Further highlights include George Kiallmark's Variations on ‘Robin Adair', a musical snapshot of Regency taste, and Haydn's brightly spirited Trio no.32 in A Major. Celebrated pianist James McVinnie will perform the Overture from Arne's Artaxerxes in Austen's own piano reduction, alongside new arrangements for piano trio by Isobel Waller-Bridge of her score for the 2020 film adaptation of Emma.
Sam Kinchin-Smith, Head of Special Projects for the London Review of Books, said: “We're delighted that these complex texts will be brought to life by two actresses immortally associated with Austen on screen, and renowned for their intelligent, empathetic, joyful work on literary adaptations of all kinds. What a line-up of performers! A testament to the universal appeal of all things Austen - and the fun to be had in upending sacred cows.”
Fiona Lambert, Acting Co-CEO of City of London Sinfonia, said: “We are thrilled to feature a brand new collaboration with the London Review of Books in our 25/26 season, and to share this thoughtful postscript to Jane Austen's 250th anniversary year - an invitation to linger a little longer with a writer we think we know, and to listen again, more closely. The Ideas in Concert collaboration with the LRB sits at the heart of our ‘Music and…' strategy. Through the combination of music and literature, we explore how orchestral music can enter dialogue with other art forms and ways of thinking - not as accompaniment, but as an equal partner. This approach builds on CLS' legacy of examining the interplay between music and language and more recently our interrogation into themes of identity and belonging. It is a way of working that speaks directly to our belief that music is not static notes in a score, but a living conversation between performers, audiences, and the world beyond the stage.”
Videos