The Wykehamist
An Evening with Austen
On the evening of the 26th of April, students, parents, dons and guests alike flocked to New Hall for An Evening with Jane Austen, the occasion which marks the beginning of the school’ s – and the wider Winchester community’ s – celebration of Jane Austen, 250 years after her birth. The event was nothing short of a wonderful success, with its skits, readings, lectures and music being everything from hilarious, richly informative and poignant, all at once.
From the blue, authentically regency sofa adorned with microphones, the marvellous colour and contemporaneity of the dresses sat in the rows around the stage, and Edward Thomson’ s( Coll:, 2020-) first“ pray stand”, we knew that we were not going to experience a dry evening of PowerPoints but far from it, be taken, for a few hours, to Austen’ s world.
After a musical introduction by Mrs Denley and friends, we began with the entrance of the matrons of the College – the Society of Jane Austen Matrons, that is – dressed for a ball, accompanied by the Mozart of the Headmaster, EAS, whose trills rang with splendid clarity. Following EACR’ s – to whom many congratulations are in order for the event – introduction, we were met by a host of dons and pupils putting on display in various languages the famous first line of Austen’ s Pride and Prejudice,“ It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” First interrupted by KFF in French, soon we had all languages from Chinese, Arabic and Russian to Latin and Old English. Among those which received the most attention from the crowd were Enya Yu’ s( A, 2024-), Anthony Wong’ s( K, 2020-), who delivered his line in a cone-shaped straw hat, and ECM’ s, whose dress was periodperfect. It made for an entertaining opening, symbolic of the endless extent of Austen’ s novels across the world.
Following this, we watched the world premiere of BB C5’ s film, Slide and Precipice. Jack Le-Men( F, 2020-) and Imogen Millar( F, 2023-) became Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle as they reenacted famous scenes with absolute accuracy in acting, attire, and jumping into the water, down to the white horse, with our own green grounds becoming Hertfordshire; BB C5 should certainly consider seeking
sponsorship and taking on greater projects. The still-soaked Mr Darcy came onto stage to exchange a few last lines with Elizabeth.
The audience then erupted into cheering as JA, with a golden locks that kept falling before his eyes, came on stage, and engaged in romantic conversation with the too-relaxed Silas Meredith( F, 2020-) as Mrs and Mr Bennet, where“ you are so handsome” was met with“ my dear you flatter me”, narrated by Max Ingram( F, 2020-). It was the first example of many that night of the skill with which the cast was able to adapt, so well, a section of a novel to a dramatic reading, followed immediately by another. SJ was the verbose Mr Collins, the“ hapless suitor”, a role he fulfilled with great character, proposing to the Headmaster, whose repeated interrupting“ Mr Collins …” was fresh and funny each time.
We then turned to BHGC, who told us about the important role which music played in Austen’ s life, and her family’ s. He then played an extract of Handel’ s water music, which Austen had copied out in its entirety. I think there was a sense in which we could hear the parallel between the music she loved and the novels she wrote, with its careful“ micro-repetitions”, as SGM would term them in a few minutes, and the way that the subtlety of the moment is reflected in the structure of the larger work.
SEM, MBL, Imogen Millar and Edward
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