You really get a feel for those ladies

The Evening Leader reviews last Friday's Patricia Hruby Powell's performance of A Time with Jane Austen, Emily Brontë & Emily Dickinson in Celina, Ohio:

The College Community Arts Council (CCAC) brought artist Patricia Hruby Powell to the area for a week where she performed for local elementary school students in Auglaize and Mercer counties. Acting as Artist in Residence, Powell shared the power of story telling with the students. During her week in the area, Powell also presented a portrayal of 19th century women writers, Jane Austen, Emily Bronte and Emily Dickinson to the public. In each vignette, Powell gave the women authors life and breath with her portrayal. In the one woman show, Powell used the vignettes of each writer to explain the struggles and triumphs of women of the Victorian era.
Friday, she presented “A Time with Jane Austen, Emily Bronte & Emily Dickinson” to the Junior Scholar’s Program at the Wright State University Lake Campus in Celina. (...)
He told the students Friday’s performance was “ a little bit of history.” They learned a history from the presenter but they themselves were a part of history of the Lake Campus since they would be the last people to see a performance in the auditorium. (...)
The juniors and seniors that participate are those that are usually in the top 5 percent of their class. Lake Campus Librarian Alex Pittman caught Powell’s show earlier this week and stopped by Friday morning to greet the artist.
“You really get a feel for those ladies, even though they were born so many moons ago,” Pittman said.
CCAC President Sue Pittman introduced Powell to the students and took a moment to invite them attend another CCAC event, the Denison Blue Grass Performance on Thursday. The performances are made possible by funds from the Ohio Arts Council.
Dressed in a simple, long white dress evocative of the era of the women writers, Powell began by telling the students about the options women had during the Victorian era. They could get married, they could be governesses or they could be companions for rich people traveling to Europe.
She also talked about London being the center of the English world at the time, but noted it was not a clean city. Women with there long skirts, hired little boys for a penny to sweep a path clean before them as they walked to keep the filth as much as possible from the hems of their dresses. Coal fires were also prominent and filled the air with soot.
“These women could do what they did because their father could support them,” Powell said of Austen, Bronte and Dickinson. (...)
Powell’s portrayal of the three writers was created from their histories and was filled with the women’s attitudes and personalities. Powell interspersed each history with pieces of the women’s literature.
Waynesfield-Goshen High School juniors Jesselyn Winegardner and Elizabeth Miller were in the audience Friday. They both said they found Powell’s performance interesting.
“It is really unique, really interesting.” Winegardner said, noting she has read some the writer’s works. (Kay Louth)

The Daily Dorset Echo talks about Martin Baum's new book To Be Or Not To Be, Innit and reminds us how Martin Baum discovered Wuthering Heights:

"When I went to see Cliff Richard doing Heathcliffe I had never read Wuthering Heights but seeing that show gave me an interest in the story and made me want to read the Bronte book." (Jeremy Milnes)

Finally, we have this Wuthering Heights mention in an article about Martin Waddell in BBC News. He talks about the 'Wuthering Heights effect' but we may be a little obtuse today because we don't really know what he is talking about:

Owl Babies and the Little Bear series had been very popular. He talked about the "Wuthering Heights effect" - tapping into exactly the right emotion for a child. It has to be significant to them without being explained. (Nuala McCann)

On the blogosphere, a couple of posts celebrating Charlotte's birthday: The Wingéd Elephant and Justine Picardie.

Mission Verdopolitian has uploaded another of his/her undecipherable videos: Brontë Recoilections. Anselmo Family posts about The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (movie and novel). Catholic Commentary has visited Haworth and posts some pictures.

Categories: Haworth, Humour, References, Theatre, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Wuthering Heights