Introduction to Emma
You are in a sweaty night club in Essex, hammered, and your intrusive best friend tries to clarify your love life. It’s Jane Austen’s Emma, but not the way you know it. The novel from 1815 follows the enchanting life of the protagonist in Regency England as she interferes with the relationships of her friends, or matchmaking, depending on the point of view.
A Fresh Adaptation
In Ava Pickett’s fresh adaptation, staged in the London Rose Theater, Emma Woodhouse still has all the striking characteristics of the original heroine – she is clever, quick-witted, interfering, lively, and occasionally cruel. However, instead of navigating the balls and dowries of society, Pickett’s modern Emma puts her nose into the online dating profiles of her friends after returning home from Oxford University.
The Author’s Inspiration
Pickett, who comes from Clacton in Essex, was also one of the first in her family to go to university. Although she ended up dropping out, she said that she "felt like a failure" and then became "defensive" when she went home and couldn’t find any work. This experience "manifested itself as rather opposite and cocky, as if I knew how everyone else should live… and how I had to be," she says. "And so I think that a lot is involved with Emma."
A Successful Writer
At 31, Pickett is making a name for herself as one of the most productive and talented young writers in Great Britain. She has written scripts for TV dramas, including Sky’s Brassic and the BBC’s Ten Pound Poms, staged her debut in the London Almeida Theater, and is writing a film about Joan of Arc with Baz Luhrmann.
Austen’s Timeless Appeal
Austen is definitely having a moment, with this year marking the 250th anniversary of her birth. In recent years, we’ve enjoyed the BBC TV series Sanditon, a film adaptation of Emma starring Anya Taylor-Joy, and the unsuspecting musical of the West End (based on the cult 90s teen film adaptation of Emma, which Pickett refers to as a "masterpiece"). There is also a new adaptation of Pride and Prejudice starring Emma Corrin coming to Netflix.
Toxic Dating Apps
Pickett says she wanted to do a contemporary adaptation of Emma and not a period version after "talking to many of my friends about how they felt about dating, and I started to recognize Emmas in my life." This Emma (played by Amelia Kenworthy) and the other main characters spend their free time in the pub or local night club, swiping through dating apps, and trying to navigate their love lives.
The Chaos of Dating Apps
Pickett explains that dating apps can be "brutal" because they can become addictive, with people’s self-worth coming from the number of likes and matches they get. "It’s a kind of game… and a large part of their self-worth comes from a number on their screen," she says. Kit Young, who plays George Knightley, adds that technology is only another lens of confusion, and that having more facility for communication doesn’t mean people communicate better.
Female Friendships
Pickett loves writing about female friendships because she thinks they are "wonderful but brutal and difficult." Nobody teaches you at school that it’s work to stay friends for a long time, she says. In her version, Emma’s long-term best friend Harriet (Sofia Oxenham) plays a broader and more important role than in the novel.
A Timeless Message
One of the most famous quotes from Austen is when Emma says to Harriet, "You must be the best judge of your own happiness" (before she ironically talks her into rejecting a proposal from Farmer Robert Martin because of her own snobism). Pickett says she really wanted to immerse herself in this idea, as it’s something Emma has to learn. The writer hopes that the universal attraction of Austen will translate more than 200 years after the audience was first published. "The human condition is still the same in many ways. Jealousy is jealousy. Love is love."
Performance Details
Emma is on at the Rose Theatre in Kingston, London, from September 17 to October 11, 2025.
