Jane Austen's Emma gets a new adaptation by Bench Theatre at The Spring Arts Centre, Havant

David Penrose, a regular on stage with Bench Theatre, is taking the reins for the troupe’s new adaptation of Jane Austen’s much-loved classic Emma.

Emma is Austen at her lightest and wittiest. The brilliant and beautiful Emma believes herself to have an unerring gift for matchmaking. But nothing ever works quite as she planned it. Could it be because she claims herself to be impervious to love?

This joyful comedy is played out by 16 actors, directed and adapted by David, with professionally choreographed dances and music especially recorded for them by Green Ginger, renowned experts in historical dance music.

David says: ‘Our company did Pride and Prejudice in November ’19 and it was a big success. The director, Fiona, and the company said that they'd all like to do another one. She said she'd like to do Emma, “but as far as I know there isn't a good adaptation...” So I said, probably a couple of drinks in: “Oh, I'll do that, then!” Little knowing when I'd do it, and little knowing that lockdown would be the answer because it was the perfect lockdown project.

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‘I'd adapted a couple of things before – back in the ’90s I adapted Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit for the company. And I did some stuff for the drama department when I worked at Havant College, some stories and novels and things for the students to perform. It's something I enjoy doing, but I couldn't write an original play to save my life. The blank page scares me to death, but when you've got someone like Jane Austen on your side, obviously you've got a massive body of work to work from.

‘I set off initially doing it for Fiona to take this project on. I hadn't directed a play for 22 years – I used to direct a lot, but in 2002 I got a new job as vice principal at the college and I knew I wouldn't have the head space to direct as well. But the more I worked on this Emma, the more I thought it would be daft not to take this on myself because I know it inside out. Fiona wasn't worried, she was perfectly happy for me to do it. So here I am and I'm having a ball, I'm loving it. And the cast are all terrific – I've got an absolute gift of a cast and I'm really enjoying working with them.’

Adapting the whopping three-volume novel to a two-hour play was a monster task, but David says he had two guiding prinicpals. ‘Firstly, to be as accurate and fair to her character of Emma, who is a much-loved character in literature, as possible – she's attractive, gorgeous and deeply frustrating in equal measures because she makes so many decisions on instinct and then gets them wrong. She is the most error-bound heroine you can imagine. I knew I had to get that right. I've had a lot of people say: “Oh, that's my favourite book”, and I thought, oh no, that means you're going to come and see it and you won't like it...! And secondly, to make it funny because it is a glorious social comedy,’

Music and dance play a key role in the play and David was keen to make the most of that aspect in his adaptation. ‘ For the incidental music I use in the show, I've deliberately not gone for music of the period. I’ve gone for more contemporary takes on music of the period – it's all 20th century or even 21st century music, in the spirit of the past.

‘But for the dance it had to be the real thing. In Pride and Prejudice we used a wonderful group of semi-professional dancers, The Duke of Wellington’s Dancers, so I went back to them. We had great workshop with them where we were taught by them. I was getting a bit picky with the company about the music they danced to – it's a very small scale ball in Highbury, the invented village of Emma. It's not like the big ball that's more familiar in Pride and Prejudice, it's a rundown hotel in a small place, so I didn't want a big band, just one or two violins would be it. I put that to the team who run the dance workshop and they said, well we have a house band called Green Ginger, we'll see if they can record something for you, and that's exactly what they did.’

Emma is at the Spring Arts Centre in Havant from November 17-19 and 23-26. On Thursday 17 there is a ‘buy one, get one half price offer. Go to thespring.co.uk.