EMERALD O’Hanrahan, who voices Emma Grundy in The Archers, is to play the title role at Chawton House library in Jane Austen at Home. 

This costumed solo recital-performance based on extracts from Austen’s letters, poetry, novels and juvenilia.

The piece highlights the variety and wit of Austen’s writings and shows much of her perceptive and often satirical observation of the social life of English country families in the early 1800s.

Jane Austen at Home is produced by Jeremy Musson, an author, broadcaster and historic buildings expert, and devised and directed by Stephen Siddall, who has directed for BBC2 and Cambridge Arts Theatre.

Jeremy said: “The mixture of extracts that we’ve selected from Jane Austen’s writings is very unexpected, as it splices up the real and the imagined and follows a line through Austen's life – the audience is moved to both laughter and to sadness.

“You feel you are with Jane Austen as she drafts or acts out these passages or writes or performs her juvenile writings for the amusement of her family, or drafts or reads the moving letters from key moments in her experience.”

The performance takes place on Saturday, October 4, with a matinee at 2pm and an evening performance at 6.45pm.

Refreshments will be served beforehand and are included in the ticket price.

Tickets priced £15, or £12.50 for students or friends of Chawton House Library, can be bought by calling Chawton House Library on 01420 541010.