Emma @ The Cleveland Playhouse 3/6/10

"People - their hopes, their dreams, their aspirations - there I am an expert." ...NOT!

These words, at least the ones in the quotes, are Emma's own words, and she shows us how untrue they really are in Emma, the world-premier adaptation by The Cleveland Playhouse's Artistic Director, Michael Bloom. In this indulgent performance, made alive with active staging, luxurious costuming, and proper period accents, Emma reveals how she does not even know her own hopes, dreams and aspirations, and how being unaware of her shortcomings effects those around her.

The Saturday afternoon performance was preceded by a pre-show discussion focusing on the topic of creating adaptations from a novel. While Jane Austen's Emma would be impossible to stage in its entirety, the discussion brought out the need for an adaptation to preserve the milestones in a well-known story, so the audience will recognize what attracts them to the performance, while cutting away the pieces that are, in the adaptor's eyes, not essential. Each adaptation turns out very differently, as we have seen demonstrated recently in Masterpiece Theater's Emma and the movie Clueless. Obviously, a stage performance and a rich movie setting can take advantage of different aspects of the original novel to tell the same story. The lush English countryside settings and the time to delve into characters and relationships are an advantage of a screen adaptation like the one produced by Masterpiece Theater, while a stage adaptation such as this one can be a much more personal experience, focusing on key individuals and their physical interactions.

This performance of Emma is a generous feast of entertainment. The witty dialog at first demands your concentration to understand the style of speech and accent of the upper-class English of Emma's time period, but once past the learning curve, the characters absorb you into their affairs. The captivating visuals have you marveling at the sets that drop, swoop, and even sink on and off the stage. The elaborate costumes fight for your attention, and you find yourself torn in concentration between studying their attire or their dialog.

I think we fall in love with Emma, in spite of her misguided meddling, because she reminds us of something in ourselves. Our well-intentioned efforts to bring about good things for those we love, and our bewilderment when it does not turn out as expected. We especially revel in the outright exuberant joy when, after so many failed attempts to find happiness for her friends, Emma, this proper English upper-class woman, gleefully bounds across the stage in jubilant pleasure upon finding her own true love.

Emma can be seen, and thoroughly enjoyed, at the Cleveland Playhouse through March 21, 2010. http://www.clevelandplayhouse.com

Carol Drummond has been a professional designer for 25 years. Prior to starting her award-winning graphic design studio 15 years ago, Drummond Design, she graduated from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, worked at a graphic design studio, a video production company, and a consumer products company. She has been an art docent for Mayfield City Schools and currently serves on the COSE Arts Network Advisory Committee. http://www.DrummonDesign.com