My day playing Catherine Earnshaw

MY DAY PLAYING CATHERINE EARNSHAW

FOR HEARTBREAK PRODUCTIONS

By Theresa Roche

Catherine Earnshaw, the bewitching but destructive heroine from Emily Bronte’s passionate novel “Wuthering Heights”, is a character that any actress would jump at playing. So when Heartbreak Productions, the Leamington Spa based theatre company which tours nationwide, asked me to pose as Cathy for their publicity shoot in the autumn of 2007, I leapt at the chance. Indeed I quite literally ended up jumping all over the ironstone hills of Burton Dassett Country Park in South East Warwickshire.

On a golden but delightfully blustery September day I arrived for the photo shoot. I then met Peter Mimmack, a director of Heartbreak and I also met professional photographer, Andrew King, who specialises in photography for the performing arts.

The Burton Dassett hills corrugate across a 100 acres and the scenic view is breathtaking. This rugged backdrop provided an ideal setting for our shoot and was all the inspiration I needed as I tried to capture Cathy’s wildness and her love of the elements. There was even a soaring lapwing on the day - the bird that Cathy makes Heathcliff swear never to kill. I hoped to portray a number of key moments from the book including Cathy’s desperate search for Heathcliff after he has run away from Wuthering Heights upon overhearing her say to Nellie Dean “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff”. By contrast I also aimed to show her joy and exuberance as she cavorted across the moors with Heathcliff when they were children together.

Andrew King’s job must have been as difficult as photographing moving wildlife for although I stopped in certain poses I deliberately tried to show a great deal of energy and a sense of movement in my characterisation of Cathy.

Nestled away in a shady nook among the hills is the arcane All Saints Church the dappled walls of which look as if they could reveal even greater stories of human lives than “Wuthering Heights” itself. This 12th century church, began in Norman times and added to in the 13th and 14th centuries, is surrounded by the intriguing graves of the long departed whose names and histories have been mostly consigned to anonymity by erosion and the growth of fungus and lichen. A veritable treasure trove of mystery lies here begging for the historian to open it! Among the very few legible headstones there was testimony to the high incidence of child mortality historically. Likewise, there was sad evidence of a number of young women who had died giving birth.

Then it was time for the second stage of our shoot where suitably, I was now to pose as the ghost of Cathy. My aim for these shots was to portray Cathy’s agony at Heathcliff’s question “Why did you betray your own soul”. I wanted to sympathise with Cathy whilst at the same time portray her self-absorption which destroys the happiness of other people by its consequences. I also wanted to look like a tortured soul unable to rest and unwilling to let anyone else rest either.

The interior of the church boasts amazing pillars which have mythical creatures upon them and there is evidence of a mural on the walls too. A large stone sarcophagus proved ideal for me to pose as Cathy looking down on her own grave while afternoon sunlight filtered through the tall medieval arched stained glass behind me.

The Norman windows inside the porch, heavily laced with cobwebs, were perfect to replicate the moment at the beginning of “Wuthering Heights” where Mr Lockwood thinks he feels the ghost of Cathy knocking on his window and her savage fingers reaching in and drawing blood from his wrist.

Outside the church I held my black cape aloft and tried to look like a ghost which had just materialised from the earth. I also posed with a sad expression among the headstones. The churchyard is surrounded by imposing trees some of which must be a thousand years old. The lush Lincoln green of the foliage awash with a hazy ochre light of late afternoon formed a vivid colour contrast with the stone walls of the church and also with the mottled headstones of the graves.

At the end of our shoot I felt as if this area of scenic countryside, 666 feet above sea level and offering a view that spanned as far as Coventry on the clear day we were there, was a rare discovery. For fans of country walks or for folk who’ve never tried a country walk before, the Burton Dassett Country Park is an absolute joy providing an ideal opportunity for picnicking, dog walking, visiting country pubs and taking children to learn how to fly a kite. For any film producer Burton Dassett simply screams out as being ideal for a filming location.

I felt immensely privileged that Heartbreak Productions, which tours Britain with its outdoor theatre in the summer months, used me to promote their indoor winter theatre production and so fulfilled my life long wish to play the part of Catherine Earnshaw.

© Copyright Theresa Roche - January 2009– Strictly No Plagiarism – Use of this article or any part of it must bear my name as author.

© Photos are copyright of Andrew King photographer who kindly granted me his permission to use these photos on condition his name is attributed as photographer.

Visit: www.heartbreakproductions.co.uk for details of their performances.
Email Heartbreak on: info@heartbreakproductions.co.uk
Telephone Heartbreak on: 01926 430 307

EDIT: The complete set of pictures can be found here.

Categories: Theatre, Wuthering Heights