Jane Austen Festival Australia (JAFA) 15-18 April 2010

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Jane Austen Festival Australia bookmark designed by Aylwen Garden

A Fashion Cake.
Mix a handful of flour with a pint of good cream, half a pound of beef suet, melted and sifted, a quarter of a pound of sugar powder, half a pound of raisins stoned and chopped, dried flowers of orange, a glass of brandy, a little coriander and salt; bake it as all other cakes, about an hour, and glaze or garnish it.
[Every Woman her own House-keeper …. John Perkins, 1796]

 

 

 

Mansfield Park, chapter 6: "and then we could all return to a late dinner here, or dine at Sotherton, ... and have a pleasant drive home by moonlight."

Jane Austen SilhouetteJane Austen Festival of Australia 15-19 April 2010

 


 

Please Note: this program is under progress and events may be subject to change. Please note that tickets are limited and are starting to sell out. "- closed" means this event has sold out, and we are sorry if this disappoints you. There are still other exciting events you can book in to. Do make sure you join our mailing list for next year as tickets go on sale in November.

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* Morning or Afternoon Tea is provided during these sessions
# Lunch is provided during this session
^ Dinner is provided during this session
^^ Supper is provided during this session

Tea, Coffee and fruit cordials will be available for self-service during the whole festival

Thursday 15 April 2010
  • Historic Homes Day Bus Tour [extra costs involved]
  • Opening Night:
    Light refreshments & glass of wine
    An ideal opportunity, over light refreshments and a glass of wine, to meet up with old friends or make some new ones particularly if this is your first festival. Musical accompaniment during the course of the evening, will be provided by Charlotte Fletcher on violin and Stephanie Moss on keyboard. Regency costume welcome but not essential.
    "All is Safe with a Lady Engaged" [play]

    A one-woman show based on the life of Jane Austen. At the age of 27, Austen received a proposal from the younger brother of her friends, the Bigg-Withers. At first, she accepted this offer, then, after a night of deliberation, she changed her mind and refused. This show takes place in that night, after Jane has accepted and works towards her refusal.
Friday 16 April 2010
  • Dressing Jane Austen Fashion Exhibition
    Featuring the private collection of John & Aylwen Gardiner-Garden, the "Dressing Jane Austen" exhibition will cover the period 1770 to 1830 and will include fashion, prints, drawings and decorative arts, with a focus on English womens dress from the early 19th century.
    Tickets are valid for the duration of the exhibition, but as there will be speakers using the room at various intervals, below is a list of viewing times:
    Friday: 9.15-10.30; 11.00-12.15; 3.15-5.00
    Saturday: 9.15-10.30; 2.45-4.30
    Sunday: 1.30-4.30
    Monday: "Friends of the Jane Austen Festival" only, interior inspections of costumes, Yarralumla

  • Regency Hand Sewing Workshop - closed
    Build your basic skills by learning running stitch, back stitch, combination stitch, plain hemming, rolled hems and thread buttons (also known as Dorset buttons). Includes a kit with fabric, thread & needle. Student should bring own scissors, thimble, and other sewing tools (and eyeglasses/magnifiers) as desired.
    [9.15-10.30am, Aylwen Gardiner-Garden]

  • Country Dances from Jane Austen's Day
    Learn lots of fun flowing longways-for-as-many-as-will dances, the mainstay of every Regency ball.
    [9.15-10.30am, John Gardiner-Garden]

  • Sense and Sensibility: Behind the Scenes*- closed
    Why are the Dashwood ladies left penniless by Mr Dashwood’s death ... or are they really? Why does Edward Ferrars stick to his engagement to Lucy when he obviously loves Elinor? What actually happens between Marianne and Willoughby to make her so ill? What is this difference between Sense, and Sensibility, and why is it such an issue? Find out the answers to these and other questions ... and bring some of your own! [10.30-11am, Julia Ermert]
  • Turban Workshop- closed
    Turbans were another option for headwear, both during the day and for evening wear – depending on which style of turban and what fabric. In the workshop we will discuss several varieties of turbans, and all have a go at doing a Regency wrapped turban/bandeau. Please bring a long headscarf, (and/or a 2-3m length of light weight material) if you have one, though some will be available in the class to borrow.
    [11am-12.15pm , Lynne Cook]
  • Cottilion Dances from Jane Austen's Day (dance workshop)
    Learn some of the playful French imports which Jane Austen wrote about enjoying so much.
    [11am-12.15pm, John Gardiner-Garden]
  • The Men from Sense and Sensibility # - closed
    This paper explores Jane Austen's sophisticated and varied characterisations of men in this novel. It will examine how 'Sense and Sensibility' can be considered as reforming ideas about masculinity celebrated in the courtship romance novel and examines Willoughby, Edward and Colonel Brandon in relation to early nineteenth-century ideas about the desirable man.
    [12.15-1.30pm, Sarah Ailwood]
  • Bonnet Workshop - closed
    Participants will create their own uniquely festooned Regency Era style bonnet and learn a bit of head covering history. The complete kit supplied for each Gentlewoman shall include everything required, save their own modest sewing skills.
    [1.30-2.45pm, Aylwen Gardiner-Garden]
  • Waltzes from Jane Austen's Day (dance workshop)
    Learn the scandalous Regency era waltz, with its different steps and knotty arm interlacings.
    [1.30-2.45pm, John Gardiner-Garden]
  • Jane Austen in the 21st Century - closed
    This panel will look at recent ‘reinterpretations’, parodies, or sequels inspired by Jane Austen’s works, looking particularly at The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet by Colleen McCullough, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith, and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters.
    [1.30-2.45pm, Chair: Rachel McGrath-Kerr]
  • Dressing Elinor Dashwood *
    Regency period talk providing a general overview of the dress of the period and an explanation of all the layers and why they were worn. With reproductions, fashion plates, illustrations and a small handout.
    [2.45-3.15pm, Aylwen Gardiner-Garden]
  • Jane Austen's Craft - closed
    Jennifer will take us on a journey through Regency women’s crafts including knotting, netting, embroidery and plain work. Based on Jennifer’s best selling book, Jane Austen’s Sewing Box, she will illustrate the crafts with examples from Jane Austen’s novels and letters and her own historical research.
    [3.15-4.30pm, Jennifer Forest]
  • Dances from Jane Austen Movies (dance workshop)
    Enjoy the dances you’ve seen in screen adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels.
    [3.15-4.30pm, John Gardiner-Garden]
  • Jane Austen and Regency Re-enactment
    [4.30-5pm, Laura Carroll, Lecturer, English Communication, La Trobe University]
  • Friday Evening Formal Event:
    "Dinner with the Dashwoods", a full traditional English roast dinner ^; and includes:
    Jane Austen's Music
    After the success of Jane Austen’s music in the 2009 Festival, Gillian Dooley (soprano) and Fiona McCauley (piano) present a new program of songs and piano pieces from Jane Austen's family collection held at her house in Chawton, Hampshire. The program will include Italian arias by Gluck and Paisiello, Scottish songs such as ‘The Yellow-Hair’d Laddie’ and ‘My Love She’s But a Lassie Yet’, and English songs by composers such as Charles Dibdin, Thomas Arne and the Duchess of Devonshire. Works for the piano will include ‘The Dying Christian to His Soul’ by Harwood, and variations on ‘My Ain Kind Dearie’ by Corri. Links to Austen’s writings will be featured with a selection of short readings.
    The felicities of dance
    A taste of Regency era dancing, for ‘when the felicities of rapid motion have once been, though slightly, felt--it must be a very heavy set that does not ask for more.’ (Jane Austen, “Emma”)
Saturday 17 April 2010
  • Dressing Jane Austen Fashion Exhibition
    Featuring the private collection of John & Aylwen Gardiner-Garden, the "Dressing Jane Austen" exhibition will cover the period 1770 to 1830 and will include fashion, prints, drawings and decorative arts, with a focus on English womens dress from the early 19th century.
    Tickets are valid for the duration of the exhibition, but as there will be speakers using the room at various intervals, below is a list of viewing times:
    Friday: 9.15-10.30; 11.00-12.15; 3.15-5.00
    Saturday: 9.15-10.30; 2.45-4.30
    Sunday: 1.30-4.30
    Monday: "Friends of the Jane Austen Festival" only, interior inspections of costumes, Yarralumla
  • Evening Headwear: - closed
    There were a number of different options for headwear for evening events such as Balls. In this workshop we will make what was termed in period as a Diadem or Tiara. An ancient Greek style headdress, most suited for the classically simple gowns of the period. They were made of a variety of materials, but the one made in this workshop will be of wired buckram covered in fabric. As with previous hat workshops, the wire can be sewn on by hand or with a sewing machine. Kits containing pattern buckram and wire will be available to purchase. You will need to supply covering fabric and decorations. A list of materials will be sent to you once you’ve booked.
    [9.15-10.30am, Lynne Cook]
  • More Country Dances from Jane Austen's Day: (dance workshop)
    More easy fun flowing period longways-for-as-many-as-will dances.
    [9.15-10.30am, John Gardiner-Garden]
  • Neither musical, nor affecting to be so: the question of musical taste in Sense & Sensibility *
    Musical taste and proficiency is a common attribute of many, but not all, of Austen’s heroines. Marianne is musical, Elinor is not. What does this tell us about the difference between them? Taking into account 18th century discussions of aesthetic taste and its relationship with morality, this presentation will examine the way Austen uses music and musicianship in Sense and Sensibility to delineate the characters of her two heroines.
    [10.30-11am, Gillian Dooley]
    - closed
  • Basic Embroidery: - closed
    All gentlewomen learnt how to embroider – be it to decorate your dress (including menswear: embroidered braces or slippers were a suitable gift for a young lady to give her intended) or to decorate your home (bedlinen, workbags, chair seats, anything you get a needle into). This workshop will cover 6 basic stitches that you will enable you to decorate to your heart’s content. Satin Stitch, Daisy Stitch, Stem Stitch, Bullion Stitch, Chain Stitch and Feather Stitch. A kit containing threads, hoop and ground fabric will be available to purchase, or you can bring your own
    [11am-12.15pm , Lynne Cook]
  • Quadrille Dances from Jane Austen's Day (dance workshop)
    Learn the sets that were all the rage at Regency Assemblies in Bath and London.
    [11am-12.15pm, John Gardiner-Garden]

  • Austen: Page to Stage & Screen # - closed
    An examination of the issues, decisions and problems confronting the writer when adapting for the stage and screen. A director with over 20 plays to her credit and a playwright of eight major works (and many smaller ones), Deborah Mulhall has had an award winning play run off Broadway and had two works optioned for film. The resident writer and dramaturg for two theatre companies, Deborah has also been a passionate devotee of Austen since 16 and indoctrinated her daughters with the same love for Austen’s wit and life observations and lessons.
    [12.15-1.30pm, Deborah Mulhall]

  • Regency Card Games: - closed
    When reading a Jane Austen novel or watching the film version of a classic novel, it’s often fun to imagine what it would be like to pass the time as her characters did? They read. They gossiped. The women did needlework. The men hunted. They went on walks. They wrote letters. They also played games like Whist or Piquet. “Do you prefer reading to cards?” said he; “that is rather singular.” (Pride and Prejudice)
    [1.30-2.45pm, Elizabeth Warren & Lynne Cook]

  • Reels & Footwork from Jane Austen's Day: (dance workshop)
    Learn the fancy footwork the connoisseurs would display, and the latest crazy from Scotland.
    [1.30-2.45pm, John Gardiner-Garden]
  • Regency Day Cap: - closed
    Are you trying to achieve an early19th century impression with a 21st Century hairstyle? The solution: Cover it with a day cap! Construct a white muslin day cap suitable for the Regency era.
    [1.30-2.45pm, Sharon Doig]
  • Jane Austen's country estate dinner * - closed
    Gillian Polack will talk you through a Jane Austen country estate dinner from recipes to table settings.
    [2.45-3.15pm, Gillian Polack]
  • Historical Fencing: - closed
    Display from the Finesse Academie of Fence (Canberra). Details to be confirmed.
    [3.15-4.30pm, Finesse Academie of Fence ]
  • Turban Workshop - closed
    Turbans were another option for headwear, both during the day and for evening wear – depending on which style of turban and what fabric. In the workshop we will discuss several varieties of turbans, and all have a go at doing a Regency wrapped turban/bandeau. Please bring a long headscarf, (and/or a 2-3m length of light weight material) if you have one, though some will be available in the class to borrow.
    [3.15-4.30pm , Lynne Cook]
  • Undressing Mr Darcy - closed
    What it is that makes a Gentleman? Is it the perfect cravat bow or his frock coat? Every item of male attire reveals a great deal about the wearer. Is he a Rake, a Beau or a `Pink of the Ton’? (Nearly) all will be revealed as our historical costume expert takes off the layers before your very eyes!
    [4.30-5.00pm, Aylwen Gardiner-Garden]
  • From 5pm
    we are allowing time for guests to prepare for the ball. You will need to make your own dinner arrangements.
  • Saturday Evening Formal ^^: - closed
    A Grand Regency Ball
    After the huge success of the 2009 ball, we are delighted to bring this event to you again in 2010. We very much look forward to seeing all of our regulars again, and welcoming along all of you newcomers, the sight of over 100 people in Regency costume is quite a sight to behold. As usual dress code is Regency so everyone will need appropriate costume. You will enjoy a light Regency supper later in the evening, dancing of the era, card games and generally have lots of Regency fun! As anyone who has attended this ball in previous years will, we think, vouch, there is nothing quite like seeing everyone in the glorious clothes of this era in such a beautiful setting and venue.
    Augmenting Austen - The untold Austen
    with ImproACT, a small Improvised Theatre company in Canberra, that was set up five years ago to tell stories and create characters that are completely unrehearsed and concocted on the spot.
    Entertainments & Regency Desserts
Sunday 18 April 2010
  • Dressing Jane Austen Fashion Exhibition
    Featuring the private collection of John & Aylwen Gardiner-Garden, the "Dressing Jane Austen" exhibition will cover the period 1770 to 1830 and will include fashion, prints, drawings and decorative arts, with a focus on English womens dress from the early 19th century.
    Tickets are valid for the duration of the exhibition, but as there will be speakers using the room at various intervals, below is a list of viewing times:
    Friday: 9.15-10.30; 11.00-12.15; 3.15-5.00
    Saturday: 9.15-10.30; 2.45-4.30
    Sunday: 1.30-4.30
    Monday: "Friends of the Jane Austen Festival" only, interior inspections of costumes, Yarralumla
  • Costumed Promenade: starting at 10.30am
    Meeting at Historic Blundells Cottage and promenading in costume to the National Carillion, a nice gentle walk for everyone.
  • How to Talk Regency with William Steed
    How is Jane Austen's English different to the English we speak today? What accents would they have had? What slang words were being spoken in the streets? Hear how Jane Austen's English is not correct by your grammar books say.
    [this talk will take place during the promenade]
  • Picnic Lunch on the lawns (bring-your-own)
  • ‘…they hastened away to the Crescent to breathe the fresh air of better company.’ (Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey, Chapter 5)
    Come and join us - bring your own picnic and a rug to sit on - whilst we all have lunch and chat together.
  • Regency Dance Manuals
    Viewing of regency era dance manuals - including several antique originals. Learn about who wrote them, how they were used and how important they were in the days of Jane Austen.
    [1.30-2.00pm, John Gardiner-Garden]

  • Creating your own Regency look
    Over the weekend you've seen wonderful outfits and you're inspired to create your own. How do you turn a standard pattern into an individual outfit worthy of Regency London? We'll look at historical and contemporary sources of inspiration, and how to document your journey with a costume diary.
    [1.30-2.00pm, Melanie Green]

  • Afternoon Assembly in the Regency Manner (dance)
    We’ll conjure the atmosphere of a Regency assembly with lively unplugged playing and participants proposing and leading dances.
    [2.00-5.00pm, Earthly Delights & John Gardiner-Garden]
  • A Regency Tea *
    Details to come.
    [3.15-3.45pm, Jenny Bowles and Elizabeth Walpole]
  • From 5pm
    we are allowing time for guests to make their own dress and dinner arrangements.
  • Sense & Sensibility: a stage play
    Elinor and Marinne are two daughters of Mr. Dashwood by his second wife. They have a younger sister, Margaret, and an older half-brother named John. When their father dies, the family estate passes to John and the Dashwood women are left in reduced circumstances. Fortunately, a distant relative offers to rent the women a cottage on his property. The play follows the Dashwood sisters to their new home, where they experience both romance and heartbreak. The contrast between the sisters’ characters in eventually resolved as they each find love and lasting happiness. This leads some to believe that the book’s title describes how Elinor and Marianne find a balance between sense and sensibility in life and love.
    [7.30pm-10.00pm, Adapted by Jodi McAlister, who received a CAT nomination in 2009 - Best Original Work for adaptation of novel for the stage, Sense and Sensibility]


Monday 19 April 2010


 

 

All taking place in Canberra, the capital city of Australia.

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