Marion Johnson's Wuthering Heights in Toronto and more

1. A very special production of Wuthering Heights (adapted by Marion Johnson, recently premiered in the London Ontario Fringe Festival) opens today in Toronto:

The Glenvale Players present Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights"
adapted for the stage by Marion Johnson

The Glenvale Players, Canada's premier theatre company featuring blind and vision-impaired performers announce their production of Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights" adapted for the stage by award-winning playwright Marion Johnson. Performances will be held March 25 to 29 at the Palmerston Library Theatre, 560 Palmerston Avenue, Toronto.

Heathcliff, a waif found on the streets of Liverpool by the benevolent owner of Wuthering Heights, never really fit in as planned with the rest of the family. Now in his late thirties, his overwhelming resentment and hatred for those who mistreated him in his youth is combined with a frustrated love for Cathy, the woman who shunned him and whose ghost torments him to madness.

Playwright Marion Johnson's stage adaptation of Wuthering Heights provides a snapshot of the final year of Heathcliff's life, encapsulating his mad quest for vengeance, his goal of an intimacy with the long deceased Cathy, and the emergence of a new and possibly more peaceful generation.

Produced by: Kurt Thomsen
Directed by: Paulo Santos
Stage Manager: Heather Beaton
Featuring:
Angela Froese as Nelly Dean
Naomi Vondell as Cathy Earnshaw
Kelly MacDonald as Heathcliff
Nancy Gray as Catherine Linton
Rami H. Taha as Hareton Earnshaw
Akshay Sharma as Linton Heathcliff
Diana Czainski / Tomeko Cummings as Isabella Linton
Brad Salmon as Lockwood

Show Dates and Times:
Wednesday March 25 to Saturday March 28 at 7:30 pm
Saturday March 28 and Sunday March 29 at 3:00 pm

Location:
The Palmerston Library Theatre, 560 Palmerston Avenue, Toronto

For further information, please contact The Glenvale Players: Phone: 416-461-7253
E-mail: info@glenvaleplayers.org

More details about the play, here.

2. And an amateur production of Polly Teale's After Mrs. Rochester in Guildford, Surrey, UK:

After Mrs Rochester by Polly Teale
Performed by Guildburys Theatre Company at the Electric Theatre, Guildford.
BOX OFFICE 01483-444789
March 25-28 @ 7.45pm.

After Mrs Rochester is a powerful and compelling play which tells the story of writer Jean Rhys (1889-1979) who was the author of the acclaimed Wide Sargasso Sea – which tells the back story to Bertha, the first Mrs Rochester, and is the accepted prequel to Jane Eyre. Echoes from Jean’s life intertwine with those from Wide Sargasso Sea and from Jane Eyre.

Jean Rhys looks back on her life, watching scenes as they appear and disappear. The empathy Jean felt with Bertha Rochester created a life long obsession which culminated in the publication of Wide Sargasso Sea. Key moments, both real and imagined are played out, showing Jean’s desperate attempts to ‘belong’ to somewhere - or to someone.

When the outside world and her relationships become too difficult to handle, Jean escapes into scenes from Jane Eyre, played out as the gripping story of her life unfolds. The madwoman in the attic becomes Jean’s constant companion and her tormentor – a shadow visible and audible only to her and to us. The character of the first Mrs Rochester is both her demon and her muse as Jean tries to exorcise her through her writing.

Categories: Theatre, Wuthering Heights