Forte Musical Theatre’s Austentatious: A fresh, fun take on Pride and Prejudice
By Ansharah Shakil, April 17 2025—
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice remains a classic, but Forte Musical Theatre’s Austentatious, coming back to Calgary after 15 years from April 8-19, is certainly not a straight-forward adaptation of the novel.
Austentatious follows the Cochrane Ranche Amateur Players as they attempt to stage a new adaptation of Pride and Prejudice — attempt being the operative word here — with a cast of chaotic, comic characters that includes long-suffering stage manager Sam, who ends up falling for David, the production’s Mr. Darcy. Sam is played by UofC alumni Jessica Jones, a role which she said has been a fun challenge.
“I’ve played a lot of characters that are very big and bold and yell-y maybe, loud and brash and energetic, which is very me,” Jones said with a laugh. “Sam is a lot more level-headed. I don’t think that she’s somebody who shows really big emotion without a lot of preamble to get there. She’s someone who’s rather reserved because she needs to be, with her role, and I think that personally as an actor that’s really helped me expand my horizons.”
Jones is a fan of all of Austen’s novels and the many adaptations. Her favourite novel is Sense and Sensibility for the characters and the quirky humour, something this production shares in common with the novel.
“The characters struggle to put together a great show while everyone has their own interpretation of what that means. And the character Sam is just doing her best to keep everything together and get the show on the stage essentially,” she explained. “It’s really funny, really endearing, lots of heartfelt moments and you get a look behind the curtain as to what goes into a show behind the set.”
20 years ago, Calgary’s Joe Slabe wrote Austentatious with four classmates and since then, it has achieved considerable success around the world in multiple different cities before coming back to Calgary for its humour, unique qualities and clear love for theatre as an art form.
“It’s really funny. I struggle to not laugh when I’m on stage because the show is just hilarious,” Jones said. “[And] the music is absolutely stunning. I’m a big music person, I studied music in university as well and it’s just the most gorgeous and unconventional music, it doesn’t sound like anything you’ve heard before.”
Jones first discovered a love for theatre in high school, which she was able to continue to pursue at UofC and through community theatre.
“The biggest advice I would give is to just don’t give up and have faith in yourself […] all of the things that make you special and make you unique are things that are really valued and really important,” she said to students interested in theatre. “The most important advice that I could give is just go for it, give it everything you got.”
One of the interesting aspects of the show to Jones is how diverse the characters and the cast are.
“I think that this show is a wonderful masterclass in all of the different aspects of acting and what acting can look like for you,” Jones said. “This is a really good example to show you that the options are endless and you don’t have to be a certain type or look a certain way or behave in a certain way in order to be successful. There is a place for you.”
More information about the production and Forte Musical Theatre can be found here.