On 14-16 July 2023, BUEDG performed Jane Austen's Emma, adapted for the stage by Sandra Fenichel Asher.

Jane Austen famously said about Emma that she was a heroine “whom no one but myself will much like”, and while we disagree, well, Emma is harshly criticised.

“Better to be without sense than misapply it as you do”, Mr Knightley tells her, and calls her a “spoiled child”. Rightfully so. Convinced of her own superiority, she meddles in other people's business, trying to make matches between all the people around her. All but herself.

But her own feelings are not the only ones she is blind to. And so, what follows is an entertaining series of mishaps: Emma’s plans continuously go awry, leading her to clash with and hurt her friends in the process.

In this adaptation, Jane Austen herself leads through these lively events at Highbury and thus proves her own words wrong as the audience watches Emma stumble but grow, so that everyone could find their happiness in the end!