LENOX â Very little is conventional about Emma Woodhouse, the eponymous would-be matchmaker heroine of Jane Austen's fourth novel; the last to be published in her lifetime.
Before she began writing "Emma," Austen famously described her as a heroine "no one but myself will much like."
Austen was wrong. Emma Woodhouse is one of Austen's more popular characters. "Emma" has been adapted for the movies â eight times; and multiple times on television, the stage, YouTube. Now, it's playwright Kate Hamill's turn.
Hamill's "Emma," a new play-in-development, will be presented by Shakespeare & Company in a free virtual costumed staged reading this weekend and next. The performance can be accessed at 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and again Jan. 2 and 3 through the Shakespeare & Company website â shakespeare.org.