New Jersey Stage Issue 68 | Page 91

Believing herself an expert in the field of match-making, Emma takes mousy teenager Harriet (a charming Mia Goth) under her wing, attempting to transform her into Emma’s idea of a per- fect Georgian lady and find the young lass a male suitor. Emma’s snooty and snobbish ways are frowned upon by her brother-in-law, George Knight- ley (Johnny Flynn), who has just moved into the sprawling man- sion she shares with her doting NJ STAGE - ISSUE 68 and doddery father (Bill Nighy). George and Emma are at odds with one another from the start, but could their animosity be masking their true feelings? You don’t need to be a scholar in Re- gency literature to know the an- swer to that one. As written by Austen, the char- acter of Emma is deeply unlike- able, a borderline sociopath, and that’s the approach De Wilde, Taylor-Joy and screenwriter  Eleanor Catton have steadfastly INDEX NEXT ARTICLE 91