Jane Austen’s Love & Freindship [sic] at PBH’s Free Fringe @ CC Blooms Review

I never really liked Jane Austen as a teenager thanks to an English teacher forcing us to read Emma. But since I have grown to adore the Regency-era writer, so when the opportunity came to see a performance of a rarely produced piece of her work, I jumped at the chance.

Love and Freindship [sic] is told mainly in flashbacks of Laura to her “daughter”, when she met and married her husband, having to flee with him from his family to a friend’s house. Then having to flee that house up to Scotland. And then fleeing again, ending with dire consequences.

The cast is made up of six actors, mostly female, who take after the author in being well-rounded characters, even if a little dumb at times. This works particularly well for the character of Sophia, played by Beth Elthringham, who made me chuckle under my breath too many times to count and was the true highlight of the piece. 

What a lot of people don’t seem to realise is how comedic Austen’s writing is, and seeing it performed live proves that point even further, even with the underlying tropes that were so common in society, yet surprisingly exaggerated to absurdity. And with a very small stage, the physicality of the comedy was never lost, but do have to mention that a squeaky chair on stage was a bit of a nuisance on the ears and did pull me out of the scene a couple of times.

Jane Austen’s Love and Freindship [sic] from PBH’s Free Fringe at CC Blooms is a comedically well-paced production of the lesser known tale by the author as a teenager, and is a lovely addition to this year’s fringe.

Jane Austen’s Love & Freindship [sic] plays at CC Blooms with PBH Free Fringe until 14 August.

★★★

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Written by Kerry for Theatre and Tonic, August 2026.