Kentucky Shakespeare Excelled with Kate Hamill’s “Emma”

By Elizabeth Voss, Arts Angle Reporter

Louisville Collegiate School, Class of 2027

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If you looked too fondly at the person seated next to you in Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Pamela Brown Auditorium during the recent production by Kentucky Shakespeare, the meddlesome Emma Woodhouse likely match made you before intermission. “Emma,” Kate Hamill’s brisk and witty adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel, transported audiences to the English Regency period with a distinctly 21st-century sensibility. The production ran at Actors Theatre of Louisville from Jan 9 through 18.

Brittany “BeeBee” Patillo and Mollie Murk in Kentucky Shakespeare's production of "Emma" by Kate Hamill, based on Jane Austen's novel. Photo by Bill Brymer. Courtesy Kentucky Shakespeare.

As patrons took their seats and glanced at the stage, rose and violet hues washed over the geometric set, meticulously built by Kentucky Shakespeare and designed by Eric Allgerier. Its floating windows and crown molding resembled a disassembled home: an elegant abstraction of the carefully controlled world Emma inhabits. The lovely, intricate work of costume design by Donna Lawrence-Downs was prevalent in the Regency period puffy sleeves, floral detailing, and comically large bonnets, drawing patrons deeper into the setting.

See Arts Angle Newsroom reviews of Kentucky Shakespeare's Emma in LEO Weekly.

Like Austin’s character in the novel, Emma, portrayed with confident charm by Brittany “BeeBee” Patillo, is wealthy, clever, and entirely convinced of her own perceptiveness. Having successfully orchestrated one marriage, she turns her attention to the romantic lives of those around her, particularly the wide-eyed Harriet Smith (Sasha Cifuentes), her own puppet in the circus of love. As Emma’s assumptions harden, misunderstandings multiply, propelled by exaggerated poetry of Mr. Elton (Zachary Burrell), gleeful asides to the audience, and actors that lean fully into Hamill’s comedy.

Director Amy Attaway’s scene transitions flowed seamlessly through choreography, monologue, and shifting projections, designed by Philip Allgeier. Specifically, projected scene synopses signaled changes in time, setting, or action, guiding the audience in following the narrative without interrupting the rhythm of the performance.

Shakespeare references, modern musical cues (like the instrumental of Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect”), and running jokes including Emma’s father’s obsession with gruel, lent a humor that never fully broke its period frame.

Crystian Wiltshire and Brittany “BeeBee” Patillo in Kentucky Shakespeare's production of "Emma" by Kate Hamill, based on the Jane Austen's novel Photo by Bill Brymer Courtesy Kentucky Shakespeare.

However, beneath the comedy laid a sharper edge. Moments of sincerity punctured it, particularly in the heightened moment where Emma breaks, expressing her anger of the confined nature of women’s choices in a patriarchal society and greater world. Director Attaway balanced these tonal shifts skillfully, allowing serious social commentary to emerge without stalling the momentum.

This “Emma” succeeded not by reverently preserving Austen’s prose, but by translating her insights into a language modern audiences readily understand: fast, funny, and knowingly theatrical. The result was a production with charm while quietly reminding us that even the most confident builders of romance may be blind to their own hearts.

True to Emma’s guiding refrain, Kentucky Shakespeare surged “forward, onward, upward” with this production, never looking back.