Korean Heights and more

The Korea Herald informs of yet another Wuthering Heights-inspired choreography that it's going to be performed these days.

Song Hyun-ok, professor of acting at Sejong University and also wife of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, stages "Wuthering Heights," a theatrical drama that combines choreography with acting.
Based on the classic British novel of the same title by Emily Bronte, Song's new production shows off an unusual combination of contemporary dance and classical ballet coordinated with acting.
Like the novel, the drama tries to tell the story of passionate yet frustrated love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. The drama questions how this passionate love completely ruins both the lovers and the people around them.
"I think dance is a kind of poetry drawn by body... I will steadily produce theatrical dramas combining choreography in the future," said Song in an interview with Yonhap News Agency. "I put lines for parts that need intellectual thinking, but choreography seems more effective when evoking emotions."
Song, with the Sejong Theater Company "Hon (Soul)," has been quite active, directing a number of productions since 2002 and trying to solidify her style by introducing the fusion of acting and dance on stage. (...)
The drama "Wuthering Heights" hits the stage at Yesulmadang in Daehangno from today and runs through May 27.
Tickets are 15,000 won to 30,000 won. Call (02) 745-3304 for more information. (Cho Chung-un)

Wuthering Heights is also the favourite topic on the Brontë-blogosphere today. Particularly, Heathcliff:

Heathcliff's Headstone and For all intents and purposes devote posts to Heathcliff. Singing in Chains makes a defense of Wuthering Heights:

That’s what makes this novel so good: Cathy and Heathcliff are unlikeable. Why? Because they’re human. They have faults. Cathy lacks faith and patience. Heathcliff carries the baggage of his past wherever he goes. These two people are but two dark parts of a whole. Emily makes this clear as Cathy says: “Whatever our souls are made of his and mine are the same.” Some people who read the book hate them both. Some hate one more than the other. Some feel no sympathy for either. How can this be?

The WH fever spreads to other languages: Salomes Bücher also talks about Sturmhöhe aka Wuthering Heights in German and Mundoliteratura does the same thing with Cumbres Borrascosas, in Spanish.

And what about Jane Eyre? Mean Puppies, Inc posts a review of the book. The 1944 film version is the subject of this post on Scran Scribble:

As adaptation's go I thought it wasn't perfect but it was good. There's an awful lot of "Jane Eyre" to fit into one film. John Houseman, Aldous Huxley and director Robert Stevenson are responsible for the screenplay and they tackle the problem by cutting St John Rivers and his family and consequently all references to Jane's inheritance from the story. This works quite well, leaving behind a good old love story in any case. It's just a shame they didn't use all that time they saved to develop the characters a bit more subtly.

It's not the deepest dip into the life of Charlotte Bronte's brilliant heroine but this is an enjoyable movie. It's atmospheric and beautiful and it still made me cry at the end. (Kate O'Hara)

Categories: Dance,Jane Eyre,Movies-DVD-TV, Theatre, Wuthering Heights