REVIEW: Emma by Jane Austen, adapted by Ryan Craig, Chichester Festival Theatre, until Saturday, November 8.

Austen famously said “I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like.”

India Shaw-Smith delivers that heroine brilliantly in Ryan Craig’s adaptation of the book she was talking about, Emma. Even Emma’s own father warns people away: “If I were you, I’d run!”

Emma is haughty, bossy, manipulative and obsessed with social standing. She is also utterly convinced of her own emotional intelligence and of the necessity of its application to everyone around her.

She persuades herself that her meddling is aimed solely at making other people happy, but the project she conceives is disastrously misconceived. And she can’t even see her responsibility in the unhappiness which it creates.

And yet… and yet…

Shaw-Smith gives us an Emma who is actually quite appealing for all her failings – if only because she makes us sense that somewhere hidden inside is a rather nicer person just waiting to get out.

Opposite her and showing the kindness and decency she lacks is Ed Sayer as George Knightley, another fine performance as the man who won’t dance and who insists he won’t ever get married and yet has a much finer feeling for the people around him than Emma ever does.

William Chubb as Emma’s father, a man of a very nervous disposition, adds plenty of humour on the lightest of nights. If you’re wanting substance, this probably isn’t the play for you. But if you’re happy to be undemandingly entertained by a couple of hours of wit and charm, this is a production which will do nicely.

In the second half Rose Quentin as Augusta helps keep things lively with another excellent performance. A rather unlikely mugging jollies things along and soon they’re all dancing – a signal for new couples to start pairing off. The costumes are gorgeous, and the very simple but effective set adds to the elegance of it all. An enjoyable night in Chichester.