"The Brontës were obviously too busy writing their books to keep the place up to scratch"

A reader of The Independent comes to Southey's rescue after his most quoted 'advice' to Charlotte Brontë was again mentioned in an article some days ago:

Katy Guest is wrong to suggest that Robert Southey defined the Poet Laureateship in relation to women when he told Charlotte Brontë that "literature cannot be the business of a woman's life" ("The people's poet", 3 May).
In this often-quoted letter of 1837, Southey uses the word "business" in the sense of "profession" or "source of financial support". The advice he gave Brontë was the advice he gave every young, aspiring writer: "It is a difficult as well as a delicate task to advise a youth of ardent mind and aspiring thoughts in the choice of a profession;" he wrote in 1817, "but a wise man will have no hesitation in exhorting him to choose anything rather than literature..."
None of this meant, for Southey, that women had no business writing, however. In fact, as his letters show, Southey actively encouraged women's writing across a wide range of literary genres. (Dr Dennis Lowe)

This interpretation is, of course, legitimate but hardly concilable with the rest of Southey's letter:

The day dreams in which you habitually indulge are likely to induce a distempered state of mind; and, in proportion as all the ordinary uses of the world seem to you flat and unprofitable, you will be unfitted for them without becoming fitted for anything else. Literature cannot be the business of a woman's life, and it ought not to be. The more she is engaged in her proper duties, the less leisure will she have for it, even as an accomplishment and a recreation. To those duties you have not yet been called, and when you are you will be less eager for celebrity. You will not seek in imagination for excitement, of which the vicissitudes of this life, and the anxieties from which you must not hope to be exempted, be your state what it may, will bring with them but too much. (Robert Southey to Charlotte Brontë, 12 March 1837)

Again, though, in Southey's defence the next paragraph in the letter is somewhat redeeming. And it is should not be forgotten that - ironically or not - Charlotte wrote on the envelope, "Southey's advice - to be kept forever'.

Robert Hewison writes a brief review of Tamasha's Wuthering Heights performances at the Lyric Hammersmith in The Times:

Deepak Verma’s adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel for Tamasha theatre takes us a long way from the wet and windy wilds of Yorkshire. We are in the hot deserts of Rajasthan, and have exchanged gothic-novel gloom for the reverses of fortune of the Mahabharata and the colourful conventions of Bollywood. Songs are prerecorded by other singers with a 50-piece orchestra, and lip-synched by the actors. But the distance between a Bollywood movie and a play for 11 actors is a stretch too far, and, just as we get only half the Brontë story, there is song, but little dance. Pushpinder Chani, as the Mumbai street boy Krishan (Heathcliff), and Youkti Patel, as the socially aspiring Shakuntala (Catherine), become cartoon characters in a popular entertainment that plays with all sorts of archetypal patterns of sibling rivalry, frustrated love, blighted marriage and tragic revenge. Once the slum boy becomes rich, and his true love has married someone else, the tale acquires some bite, yet there is so much more to Hindi culture and language that would have added depth as well as song and colour.

And Louise Winter in UK Theatre reviews the Northern Ballet Theatre production of Schönberg & Nixon Wuthering Heights ballet:

The strong, dramatic opening scene, where Heathcliff rages upon the moor, tormented by memories, is utterly compelling and sets up the rest of the ballet; the passion and anguish of this scene runs throughout the two acts and is never far below the surface.
It is rather unfair to single out performers as NBT’s are all excellent but Kenneth Tindall is superb as Heathcliff. He expertly portrays brooding jealousy, sexuality, love, tenderness, the loss and the pain felt by his character. He is not only a strong, powerful dancer but an engaging actor. Opposite him as Cathy, was Keiko Amemori, who matched Tindall in all aspects of her performance. Amemori is also a beautiful dancer and actor and well able to portray the expression and emotion needed for the character of Cathy with conviction and honesty.
This is indeed one of the traits of NBT; the artists are fully rounded performers. Too often in ballets or operas, performers may be skilled in their discipline but unable to deliver the story. NBT has artists of the highest calibre, which enables the company to powerfully deliver these engaging, narrative works.
All the artists embrace Nixon’s choreography which demands athleticism and strength. Overall it has an energetic and dynamic structure; there are several one armed lifts for Heathcliff and a great deal of fast paced and complicated entwinings between Heathcliff and Cathy, and briefly between Heathcliff and Isabella. Where the brilliance of the choreography is most noticeable though is in the transitions between the young Heathcliff and Cathy, superbly played by Ben Mitchell and Ayana Kanda, and the more mature pair. These moments are beautifully arranged and bring to light the contrast between the two pairs.
In fact the whole production is one of contrasts; between young and mature; between innocence and experience; between the passion of Heathcliff and Cathy, and the rather more sedate relationship of Cathy and Edgar; between the desolation of the moor and Wuthering Heights, and the opulence and grandeur of Thrushcross Grange.
Enabling these contrasts is not only the music and the choreography but also the staging and the scenery, which are stylish and effective; quite minimal mostly and positivly sparse in places the focus is on the narrative and the artists – as it should be.
This beautiful production vividly brings to the stage an emotional and romantic story with drama, and indeed melodrama at times; with energy, integrity and vibrancy. A solid production in all areas and highly recommended.

The Sunday Times (Colombo, Sri Lanka) presents an upcoming educational and theatrical event at Bishop's College, Colombo:

A festival of English theatre is always a treat to be a part of because it is not a competition and gives you the chance to be a part of the true essence of drama.
And it was with this idea in mind, that Bishop’s College, Colombo will be organising the Inter School English Drama Festival.
Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Hendrik Ibsen and Anton Chekov are the dramatists that these young theatre enthusiasts have to choose from. And they will have to present a 25 minute excerpt.
Mr. Peiris said that there will be an exhibition prior to the performances, at the foyer. “It will be based on the life and works of their respective dramatists and will be assisted by the British Council,” he said, adding, “This will enhance the knowledge of all the participants about their respective dramatists along with their lifestyle and works.”
The Inter School English Drama Festival hosted by Bishop’s College, will be held at the Bishops College Auditorium on May 22 and 23 at 7pm. Ticket will be available at the auditorium. The event will be sponsored by Interocean Energy and Ishuē International while the media sponsor is The Sunday Times. (Natasha Fernandopulle)

The Telegraph celebrates Alan Bennett's 75th birthday and quotes a very funny anecdote which took place at the Parsonage:

Critics have seen the glorious absurdities of Bennett's work as a defence against his life-long dread of embarrassment. The world he grew up in was one where nothing could be worse than the vicar calling unexpectedly to find the kitchen untidy and the toilet ponging. He recalls his prim "Mam" taking him on a visit to Haworth parsonage, where, upon viewing with alarm the dusty floors and decrepit furniture, she complained that the Brontës were "obviously too busy writing their books to keep the place up to scratch". (William Langley)

Of course though, and as relayed by many visitors to the Parsonage in the Brontës' time, the Brontës - and/or their servants - kept the place spotlessly clean.

Shotgun Review reviews Mardi Washington's Dark Mirror exhibition (more information on previous posts) and discusses its Brontë influences:

If one has trouble repressing a sick joy with Washington's delightfully macabre imagery while reconciling it with her larger mission of speaking to the more specific terroir of implied political, economic, and social decline, there is no need to fret. She assures us of the correlation: "Through the metaphors of the haunted house, the ancestral curse, and cannibalism/vampirism, I am exploring America's relationship to it's [sic] own past as well as that of imperial England as a haunting, a curse, and an ideological infection." Although not specifically a product of the Edwardian twilight, Washington cites Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (published in 1847) as an influence. One particular character in the book is the raving, blood-thirsty lunatic Bertha Mason, whose husband has locked her in the attic and who Jane Eyre compares to a vampire.
What I think Washington is trying to get at with this--and in her specifics, only slightly off the mark--is the notion that Victorian writers like Brontë used supernatural motifs in their stories as metaphors for the degrading effects of a repressive and ultimately decaying social order. While it was more likely that the popularity of Romanticism and its attendant relationship to Neo-Gothicism accounted for the spooks and specters peeking out from the shadows of nineteenth-century England, Washington still has a point. It's just that the moral lassitude characterizing Edwardian England was of a much different vintage than that of the dour and skittish outlook that has characterized the past six months of the twenty-first century. (Brady Welch)

Briefer mentions: Kate Mosse's crazy theory of why Wuthering Heights is on many best books lists in The Independent and an article about the Chicago Bears begins with a Charlotte Brontë quote in The Bleacher Report.

The blogosphere brings a post about Jane Eyre in How How How!, a review of Wuthering Heights in The Cat's Pajamas and today's Poem of the Day is Emily Brontë's No Coward Soul is Mine.

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Charlotte Brontë, Dance, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Music, References, Theatre, Wuthering Heights