The Watsons

Description

What happens when the writer loses the plot? Emma Watson is nineteen and new in town. She's been cut off by her rich aunt and dumped back in the family home. Emma and her sisters must marry, fast. If not, they face poverty, spinsterhood, or worse: an eternity with their boorish brother and his awful wife. Luckily there are plenty of potential suitors to dance with, from flirtatious Tom Musgrave to castle-owning Lord Osborne, who's as awkward as he is rich. So far so familiar. But there's a problem: Jane Austen didn't finish the story. Who will write Emma's happy ending now? Based on her incomplete novel, this sparklingly witty play looks under the bonnet of Jane Austen and asks: what can characters do when their author abandons them?

Laura Wade's plays include Posh (Royal Court Theatre and West End); Tipping The Velvet (Lyric Hammersmith); Alice (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield); Kreutzer vs. Kreutzer (Globe Theatre, Sydney Opera House and Australian tour); Other Hands (Soho Theatre); Colder Than Here (Soho Theatre and MCC Theatre New York); Breathing Corpses (Royal Court Theatre); Catch (Royal Court Theatre, written with four other playwrights); Young Emma (Finborough Theatre); 16 Winters (Bristol Old Vic Basement) and Limbo (Crucible Studio Theatre, Sheffield). Films include The Riot Club. Awards include the Critics' Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright, the Pearson Best Play Award and the George Devine Award. Laura Wade's plays have been performed in the UK, USA, Australia, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands and Mexico.