Guest Blog: Amy Cooke-Hodgson On Austentatious In The West End

I don't think any of us could have ever dreamed of our little improv show growing to such a size that it warranted a night in a West End theatre. In the early days, we were overjoyed to see a dozen bums on seats in a small room above a pub.

When we first began, about six years ago, we had all been performing in 'short form' shows - a little like Whose Line Is It Anyway?, where games and sketches lasted around three minutes. A few of us who had been performing together in Oxford fancied trying to create a 'long form' show, where characters and narrative would be developed over a longer period, telling a whole story over about an hour.

Some of us had experimented in other genres like musicals and film noir, but since we all had a secret (or not so secret) love for all things Regency and period drama, Jane Austen seemed the obvious choice. A couple more London-based improvisers joined the group and, as we began rehearsing together, we quite quickly we realised that Austen's work was rich with humour and wonderful characters whose mannerisms, emotions and reactions are still relatable today. Improvising in her world was a gift!

It's quite an anomaly for an actor to continue working on one show for as long as Austentatious has been working together. I'm sure if this was a scripted production then we might have all been sick of it by now and moved to pastures new, but the joy of improv means that every show is entirely different, and that keeps it fresh and unpredictable - not just for the audience, but for us too.

We've been working with each other for so long now that it's a little like being on stage with family; you get to know the sorts of moves each one of us could make. Having said that, I love it when a cast member makes a choice on stage that's totally unexpected. We often try to surprise each other to help ensure that we don't play similar characters or plot moves.

I think one of the most memorable of those moments was when the girls were performing a hen do scene, finally glad to be celebrating the long-awaited impending marriage of two characters, when Andrew Hunter-Murray arrived on stage and introduced himself as a police officer who'd come to arrest the bride-to-be.

I can vividly remember the girls being outraged at him - we had about five minutes left to tie all the plot points together and sending the bride to jail was certainly not on our agenda. It took a few seconds to realise that Andy had in fact turned up as a strip-o-gram dressed in 'uniform'. The audience adored the reveal, though it took us a few more seconds to get over the shock before enjoying Andy's really terrible Regency-style 'strip'!

Of course, the audience plays an important role in helping to make each show totally unique too. Since the story is inspired by an audience suggestion (for a lost Austen novel title), we are to a certain extent vulnerable to the requests of those there to watch.

Just recently on tour, at the glorious Leeds City Varieties, our suggested title was Bacon, Milkshakes and Erotic Driving. Not quite what you'd expect Jane to have penned, but it nonetheless provided us with plenty to have fun with - and even ended with a real proposal from an audience member! (She said yes.)

I think the thing that we're particularly excited about in preparing for the West End is having a custom-built set made.

It's not often that an improv show has that luxury - Showstopper! have been using a wonderful set for years which keeps evolving, allowing them to create a whole heap of locations and spaces - but for us, the idea of having more than a couple of chairs at hand to help create the scene is really exciting. We've only seen a model of what's planned at the moment, but that was enough to get us all giddy!

We've taken the show to venues all across the UK and to some European cities; since 2012 have been at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; and performed in many London venues (including some pretty unlikely spaces, from the London Eye to Kensington Palace) before our imminent arrival in the West End. Sometimes it's hard to comprehend the journey we've had - I have to keep pinching myself!

Austentatious is currently on UK tour and arrives at the Piccadilly Theatre on 5 December. Full show dates at www.austentatiousimpro.com

Photo credit: Robert Viglasky