Through Nov. 9 at the Wells, a crazy mix of matchmakers, suitors and young ladies — and a lot of fun, writes reviewer Page Laws.
Anna Crivelli, left, as Emma Woodhouse and Lea Zawada as Harriet Smith. (J. Stubbs Photography/Courtesy)
Mr. Knightly: “You can’t control everything, Emma.”
Emma, flirtatiously: “But isn’t it fun to watch me try?”
Emma: “Hush, Harriet, don’t trade in anachronisms, it’s cheap and reviewers just loathe it — don’t you, ma’am?”
— Jane Austen’s “Emma,” adapted by Kate Hamill
Jane Austen’s most famous novel adapted into a screwball stage comedy?
It’s a screwy idea and certainly not likely to please former English profs turned critics. Adapter Kate Hamill knew as much and teases us about it within the play itself (albeit saying “sir” and not “ma’am” in the proper script).
Why make Austen’s beloved novel into something like a “Real Bachelorettes of Highbury” and then insist, to boot, that it’s a pro-feminist interpretation? Why, oh why, Kate Hamill? Why, Virginia Stage Company? Have you not one ounce of shame between you?
Evidently not. But they do have hysterical laughter emanating both from patrons who worship Austen as the Mistress of Subtle Human Emotions and from those who think first of “Tarzan” when they hear the name “Jane.”
Yes, Hamill has vampire-like qualities in the way she sucks the narrative marrow out of classics by Austen, Thackeray, Alcott, etc., to make lucrative plays of copyright-expired classics.
But she gets away with it again and again. Why?
Because she’s often as irresistibly funny as she is literarily predatory.
So welcome to the world of overconfident wannabe matchmakers (Emma Woodhouse) and ineffectual popinjay suitors (Frank Churchill, Mr. Elton) and of silly, hapless young women (Harriet Smith and, then again, Emma herself).
Audrey Bird, left; Bethany Mayo, seated, as Mrs. Anne Weston and Mrs. Bates; Rishan Dhamija as Mr. George Knightley; and Anna Crivelli as Emma Woodhouse. (J. Stubbs Photography/Courtesy)
Hamill sends forth caricatures of famous characters, who in their Regency British costumes speak with slipping accents and tear around the stage as shamelessly as The Three Stooges. Her interpretive premise — that Emma does her foolish matchmaking because as a woman of some wealth she’s forbidden a true profession — is itself a bit bizarre. But a commitment to the notion by VSC’s producing artistic director, Tom Quaintance (here also directing), and a super funny cast list ripped from Austen’s pages, make the adaptation “sausage” not only edible but also delicious.
Here’s who and how this particular bratwurst hath been wrought.
First, create a commanding Regency-era uniset that can serve as all spaces: from mansion ballrooms to berry-picking fields (the latter is signaled by giant neon berry-shaped lights). Crown the proscenium with a giant tile sign reading “EMMA.” No one does this better than scenic designer Jo Winiarski and design director Jeni Schaefer (also the creator of quick-change suits and Regency ballgowns). Ryan Bible, sound designer, contributes utterly anachronistic rock songs (hilariously on theme) plus period-appropriate music for period and nonperiod fancy dancing. Again, no one does sumptuous set design and costuming better than Virginia Stage — not even the folks trucking in Broadway-derived sets for short runs at Norfolk’s Chrysler Hall.
Then add in your cast of characters (and yes, they are often caricatures in Hamill’s adaptations). Here’s how Hamill describes the characters she’s borrowing from Austen.
Our main girl, Emma Woodhouse (played by indefatigable comedian Anna Crivelli, one of five Actors’ Equity Association cast members, Yale master’s degree in drama), is funny in extremis. Here’s how Hamill describes her personal Emma: “Very educated, but is not allowed a profession and thus is a bit like a border collie without any sheep.” Well, yes, though I don’t recall that image in Austen’s original. Emma, in her search to resolve her sheepless herding instincts, repeatedly, funnily, turns to her audience (smashing the fourth wall) for help with her quandaries.
The closest thing Emma does have to a sheep is Harriet Smith (played to the hilt and way beyond by Lea Zawada, New York University-trained and nary a hair in place on her head). Zawada takes the acting honors for the evening, followed closely by her object of female adoration: Emma. Emma swears she’ll fix Harriet’s life for her by finding a suitable husband.
Julian Stetkevych, left, as Mr. Weston and Mr. Woodhouse; Bethany Mayo; and Anna Crivelli. (J. Stubbs Photography/Courtesy)
The man Harriet already loves — a groundskeeper named Robert Martin (Blair Heinz, a local Core Theatre regular who also doubles as Jane Fairfax and triples as one of the Mrs. Eltons) is initially deemed too lowly for Harriet by her new snobbery guide, Emma. More candidates for the title of “Harriet’s husband” must therefore be located, including Mr. Elton, the oversexed local cleric (local-to-us actor Greg Dragas, who also plays Frank Churchill and one of the bundled-up-beyond-recognition Mrs. Bateses). Having rejected poor, addled Harriet, Mr. Elton (who switches his amorous attentions to Emma only to be rebuffed) turns way too quickly to find a cackling Mrs. Elton, who apparently shares his hot-to-trot sexuality. (Mrs. Elton is sometimes played by Alana Dodds Sharp, who also makes a nice Miss Bates.)
We later have Emma advise Harriet not to chase after Mr. Knightly, for reasons every reader of the novel knows all too well (Emma unconsciously wants him for herself).
The rare logical, cool-headed individual in this mad lot is Mrs. Weston (the excellent Bethany Mayo, a drama teacher from the Governor’s School for the Arts and ODU). Julian Stetkevych plays her husband, Mr. Weston, as well as Emma’s gruel-as-holy-grail-pushing father, Mr. Woodhouse.
And this brings us back around to Mr. Knightly (Rishan Dhamija, who lends gravitas and a sense of fun to — spoiler alert — Emma’s fated main squeeze/future husband). Dhamija has two MFAs in drama and acts like it (that is, well). (I realize I’ve told you who Emma will end up marrying, but after all, we’ve all read the novel, right? Right?!)
See this riotous adaptation but do promise you’ll read the real novel as well, though they only faintly resemble each other. And don’t tell anyone that an old English professor sent you to this show. I could well suffer retroactive disbarment, making hundreds of innocent students’ diplomas not worth the sheepskins they’re printed on.
See how I’ve cleverly brought us back to the topic of sheep (with skins, but without border collies)?
And happy 250th birthday, Jane Austen (1775-1817)! You’ve survived plenty, and you’ll surely survive Kate Hamill, the VSC and even this reviewer’s indignities.
Page Laws is dean emerita of the Nusbaum Honors College at Norfolk State University. prlaws@aya.yale.edu
If you go:
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; more dates and times through Nov. 9
Where: The Wells Theatre, 108 E. Tazewell St., Norfolk
Tickets: Start at $15
Details: vastage.org/emma, 757-627-1234
Source: https://www.pilotonline.com/2025/10/28/review-emma-jane-austen-adaptation/