Jane Austen’s Emma At Lighthouse Poole Review

DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mel S-W

2025 is Jane Austen season! Throughout the country you’ll see theatre companies travelling and performing Jane Austen classics in either their traditional or alternative formats. This all new 250th anniversary stage production has hit the Lighthouse stage and will be delighting audiences from 11th until 15th November. This new adaptation has been created by Ryan Craig. I have previously seen some of Ryan Craig’s productions, namely “1984” which I saw when it played Lighthouse Poole in 2024, that was a great adaptation so i was looking forward to how this compared.

The staging is simple. As we took our seats all we could see was a large wooden floor, two trees and an ornate ceiling. This always excites me as I know that I’m going to see a production that is all about the storyline. And it didn’t disappoint.

So, what of this Emma? The story of Emma has always intrigued me. Emma is a beautiful, high-spirited girl who is determined that she will never marry but loves to meddle in her friends’ and neighbours’ relationships. When her confidante and former governess, Miss Taylor weds her fiancé Mr Weston, Emma, having introduced the couple, takes credit for the marriage and decides that a future in matchmaking lies ahead of her. Love lives and matchmaker become entangled and more complex and the production follows her trials and tribulations. Emma is ahead of her time and completely unapologetic in her approach to her medalling and the fact that quite early on she has decided she doesn’t need a man in her life – You Go Girl!

India Shaw-Smith takes to the stage as the high spirited Emma Woodhouse who is determined that she will never marry and resorts to meddling in her friends and neighbours’ relationships. India was absolutely phenomenal in her portrayal of Emma and really embodied the matchmaker. Our other standouts were William Chubb as Mr Woodhouse and Ed Sayer as George Knightley. The chemistry between all the actors in the performance was superb, but the three noted were just outstanding. Mr Woodhouse’s conversation topics are just hilarious.

It’s great when you see a play and it tickles you afterwards, you remember little quotes and tit bits or remember just how seamless and comical even the set changes were. There were even two servants doing plies when moving furniture, both in time, a lot of times, and funny everything. The audience would laugh whenever they came on. This was a beautiful example of exceptional theatre and is a must-see.

You can see really modern themes coming through from this Jane Austen classic. From the matchmaking, to not relying on a man or the social mobility that marriage gave during the period, really showing that Jane Austen was ahead of her time. This adaptation had the audience laughing, hooked and I thoroughly enjoyed it. So much so … that I’m coming back again on Friday evening with my family to watch it again.

Rating: 5/5 such an amazing production, so elegant, so witty, a proper romcom.

Emma is at Lighthouse for a 6-day run with matinees available. Tickets prices start from £20.00. Tickets can be purchased for Lighthouse Poole here or call the Box Office on 01202 280000

The full address is Lighthouse, Arts and Entertainment, 21 Kingland Road, Poole, Dorset, BH15 1UG