Emma in Essex: New stage spin on Jane Austen classic puts heroine in a sweaty nightclub with dating apps

Jane Austen's Emma is getting a contemporary makeover on the stage in Kingston, London. Ava Pickett's new adaptation relocates the action from Regency Surrey to 2025 Essex, swapping society balls for sweaty nightclub scenes and matchmaking for dating apps. The production, currently at the Rose Theatre in Kingston, stars Amelia Kenworthy in the title role and reimagines Emma Woodhouse as a first-generation Oxford student who has returned home for the summer after failing her exams.

According to the Rose Theatre, the show swaps drawing room duets for dance floor fillers and invites audiences on a ride of matchmaking and mischief that warms the heart. Pickett, who wrote the adaptation after director Christopher Haydon asked her to take on Emma, told the BBC she hadn't read the novel before taking on the project. The writer said she identified with Emma in that she was young and sure of herself, yet still navigating the cusp of adulthood.

Harriet, Emma's best friend, plays a larger and more central role in this version. Unlike the original, where Harriet is a supportive sidekick, the play foregrounds their friendship as a focal dynamic and explores how female bonds endure or fracture in a modern setting. Pickett noted she loves writing female friendships, which she described as wonderful but brutal and difficult, and she hopes the contemporary version will attract new audiences.

Dating in 2025 is described by Pickett as shaped by dating apps, which she calls addictive and capable of inflating self-worth based on matches and likes. Ghosting, she says, can be cruel, and the gendered pressure that resonates through the platform also affects men. The adaptation uses these modern pressures to illuminate Emma's flaws and growth, while keeping the core of Austen's examination of jealousy and love.

Pickett cites Clueless, the 1990s reboot set in California, as a touchstone for how the new Emma has been updated for a different era while maintaining a playful rom-com sensibility. The production also nods to Austen's 250th birthday year, as Netflix prepares a new adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, produced by Dolly Alderton and Euros Lyn and starring Emma Corrin. Netflix executive Mona Qureshi said the project aims to bring Austen's beloved romance to a global audience while honoring fan expectations.

Emma is on at the Rose Theatre in Kingston, London, through Oct. 11, 2025. The production's focus on a 2025 setting, the expanded role for Harriet, and the emphasis on social media dating culture are part of a broader yearlong celebration of Austen's work, which includes new screen adaptations despite the enduring popularity of the novels.

In addition to the stage version, 2025 marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth, a year that has seen renewed attention to her works with new screen projects. The Rose Theatre's Emma sits alongside a Netflix Pride and Prejudice adaptation that began production in July this year, with Emma Corrin set to star; while release dates have yet to be announced, producers say the project aims to reach a global audience and honor Austen's enduring appeal.