"Emma" at the Guthrie Theater

It's summer at the Guthrie, and there's a big fun show on the thrust stage for the first time since 2019 - a world premiere new adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma. Playwright Kate Hamill is adapting all of Austen's works for the stage; Emma is her fourth and was commissioned by the Guthrie Theater, its 2020 premiere postponed two years due to the pandemic. But somehow, now seems just the right time for what is my favorite Kate Hamill play to date. All of her adaptations are true to the source but bring something fresh, modern, and feminist to the story. The themes of Austen's work are timeless, stories of smart young women determining their own destiny despite societal limitations, and Kate makes these themes even more relatable to a modern audience. Emma strikes the perfect balance between the source material, modern social relevance, and delightful silliness; a summer confection as delicious and juicy as the red ripe strawberry on the cover of the program. See it now through August 21.

"Frankenstein - Playing with Fire" at the Guthrie Theater

The Guthrie Theater is opening their 56th season (my 16th as a subscriber) with a play they commissioned 30 years ago. Minnesota playwright Barbara Field (who also provided the adaptation for the Guthrie's first A Christmas Carol, that they used for over 30 years) adapted Mary Shelly's famed novel Frankenstein as Frankenstein - Playing with Fire, premiering in 1988. About her work she says, "the animating spirit of this play is a hunger for science and knowledge that motivates the questions these two old men ask each other." One big long conversation between two people about science, philosophy, life, and death is a play that's right up my alley (bonus: mathematical equations!), especially when so beautifully designed and acted as this.