Heathcliff is awkward, northern and a c*** ~ BrontëBlog

Charlotte's desk which will be auctioned in Sotheby's in a few days is the main reason for this article in the London Evening Standard:

Charlotte Brontë's desk, where she wrote Jane Eyre at the family parsonage in Haworth, is up for auction next week. Sotheby's has put an estimated £10,000 price tag on its spindly legs and delicate frame. (...)
I hope the Brontë desk finds a good home but I wouldn't mind betting that it won't be a writer who bids.
To sit in Charlotte's shadow really would make you wonder at the significance of your own efforts, and that might put you off. (Olivia Cole)

We hope that Charlotte's desk will return home, that is to the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

The PICT Theatre production of Jane Eyre (in Pittsburgh) is reviewed in th

e Tribune-Review:
Picture Source: Alison McLemore and David Whalen. (Philip G. Pavely/Tribune-Review)

Bringing "Jane Eyre" to life onstage is no small task.
Like Dickens' works, Charlotte Bronte's 1847 novel was written when the Victorian reading audience had more time and patience to savor multiple characters, locations, plot twists and revelations.
Fortunately, Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre has experience with distilling these big, unwieldy projects down to a manageable size.
Earlier this year, the company staged a three-actor version of Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment" that retained the essentials without making you feel like you were consuming a reduced-calorie version.
Alan Stanford's stage adaptation of "Jane Eyre" does similar service, offering the essential conflicts and plot points so that newcomers can follow the story easily. (...)
Stanford's adaptation and Scott Wise's crisp direction do a superb job of keeping the action moving and attention high for what is a long drama -- two hours and 30 minutes -- filled with a great deal of talk and an abundance of narrative.
The downside is that many of the story's most dramatic moments happen -- as they do in the original novel -- offstage. We experience them only in the retelling. (...)
Some of these ensemble performances work better than others: Kate Young injects comedy and warmth as Mrs. Fairfax and Hanna, and Larry John Meyers creates two delightfully grumpy Victorians as Brocklehurst and Briggs.
The character of Jane is shared by three actresses. Jenna Lanz plays the blunt and honest Child Jane. Shelley Delaney plays Jane Senior, who observes the action and acts as occasional narration to the story and emotional support to her younger selves.
The core of the story and the charm of the production fall to Allison McLemore and David Whalen.
As the middle Jane, McLemore, who looks a lot like Audrey Hepburn, nicely balances strength and vulnerability, reason and emotion. She's a woman who knows what she wants and, more importantly, what she doesn't want.
Whalen's Rochester is a man in possession of dark secrets, unhealed emotional wounds and a conspicuously hideous wig. Whalen makes him appealing by emphasizing his ability to listen and talk with Jane as an intelligent equal. That Whalen the actor can deliver highly romantic and flowery lines with authenticity and honesty also is a big plus.
Production values are high.
Douglas Levine has composed some musical interludes that he performs as pianist along with clarinet player Mary Beth Malek.
Costume designer Diane Kubasak Collins clothes the show's nearly 30 characters with some truly lovely outfits, most notably middle Jane's gray gown.
Scenic designer Gianni Downs provides a shallow but practical playing area that eliminates set changes and maintains a cinematic flow. But I did get a little tired of the rocks that served as seating areas for both interior and exterior scenes.
The result is a production that honors the spirit and feel of Bronte's novel while making it enjoyable to a contemporary theater audience. (Alice T. Carter)

The Edmonton Journal reviews the Robert Johanson adaptation of Jane Eyre performed at the Harry Ainlay High

School:
Picture Source: Young Jane Eyre (Katherine Famulska) endures cruelty at the boarding school. (Greg Southam, The Journal, Freelance)

In the realm of high school theatre production, there are few plays as daunting as Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.
The dialogue is distinctly different from today's modern way of speech, the plot and characters require more than just adequate acting, and the Victorian-era costumes may be harmful to school drama department budgets. On top of all that, its 2-1/2-hour running time requires cast-wide focus and stamina.
However, the cast and crew of Harry Ainlay's production of Jane Eyre stood up to the challenge with all the strength, determination and heart that Jane Eyre herself possessed. The play is the first-person account of Eyre's life, from unwanted child to young, enamoured governess to wise, independent woman in Victorian England. It is an adaptation by Robert Johanson of Charlotte Bronte's famous novel.
Reverie and despair were instantaneously conveyed to the audience thanks to the haunting fog and lighting effects. Cool blues, fiery reds and warm amber washes complemented scene after scene, adding suspense and energy to the intimate show space. The lighting design(An Nguyen, Mitchell Semple, Jasen Zielinski and Niall Topfer)was not only innovative and evocative, but it was also appropriate and never overdone for the sake of showing off.
The storm sequence was much more subtle than standard high school storm effects, and was actually much more realistic, thanks to the well-timed sound cues. Scene transitions, accompanied by sound and a blue wash of light, were efficient and swift, never causing the audience to break from the world of the play. From the rainstorm to the depiction of eternal hellfire to piano keys smashing, every light cue, scene change and sound cue seemed to be executed with utmost care, skill and precision beyond expectations for a high school production.
This is all without even mentioning the quality of the acting!The poised, calm manner of the Victorian era was rarely broken by most actors, transporting the audience into that time period.
Many featured roles stood out, among them the strict school teacher (Nasra Adem), heartless Mr. Brocklehurst (Ben Fitzpatrick) and the lunatic Bertha Mason/Mrs. Rochester (Jasmine Naqvi), contributing to the realism and interest of the play in a charming(or wonderfully wretched) way.
Attention must be paid to the lead actress, Natasha Brocks. Her portrayal of Jane Eyre was that of a professional-level actress and her commitment to her character, even while out of the spotlight, showed amazing focus and stamina. Facial expressions and the subtle, steady evolution of her character made Jane believable, realistic and relatable to the audience. She never asked for sympathy, and this is what won the audience over.
Tangible chemistry between her and her co-star (Reid Fink as Mr. Rochester) drove the plot forward and kept the audience engrossed in their scenes together.
The communication of meaning from the actors as well as the extraordinary technical precision and co-ordination made Harry Ainlay's production of Jane Eyre a thoroughly enjoyable, exemplary show. Congratulations on a fluid opening-night performance! (Lauren Boyd)

More reviews can be read here. EDIT (9/12/09): More pictures and a video here.

The Scotsman interviews Ruth Wilson and of course her role as Jane Eyre crops up several times:

Ruth Wilson is still at that stage in her career where you look at her, in this case across a crowded bar at the Young Vic in London, and think two words: Jane Eyre.
The 27-year-old played Britain's most beloved governess with such strength, measure and barely contained passion two years ago in the BBC period drama that with one waggle of those perpetually arched eyebrows she made English literature's great Romantic heroine her own. Samantha Morton, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Joan Fontaine – Wilson was as good at becoming Jane as any of them. What's more, she was only a year out of drama school.
Today there isn't a bonnet or middle parting in sight but still I see Jane Eyre before I see Ruth Wilson. There's that pouting mouth with its pregnant overhang of upper lip that one reviewer unkindly described as Donald Duck-ish. Or what about those quizzical eyebrows taking flight up her forehead like the wings of a bird? Even though Wilson looks a bit like someone who's rolled out of bed, wriggled into some skinny jeans and charged out the door without brushing her hair (which, I learn, is pretty much the case) she is beautiful in an extreme way. Much more striking than she was as Jane Eyre. (...)
When she tells me that getting her big break playing a clever-not-pretty heroine has had its frustrations, it's clear she isn't taking it personally. Or lying down, for that matter. "I remember someone saying to me, 'Oh you're brave doing Jane Eyre,'" she says, rolling her eyes. "You know, because of the look. It's very plain Jane. I wore hardly any make-up and my hair was disgusting. The industry is very narrow-minded and a lot of people couldn't see beyond that." (...)
Queenie [her role in Small Island], in some ways, is not unlike Jane Eyre. They are both strong, solitary figures, women ahead of their time who feel deeply but never allow their heads to be ruled by their hearts. (...)
She seems entirely unimpressed by awards and says the best part of being nominated for a Bafta and a Golden Globe for Jane Eyre was getting the phone call rather than "the event and waiting for four hours to find out you haven't won. It's not that important." (Chitra Ramaswamy)

Chris Cox in The Guardian feels like Jane Eyre is certainly a classic, but in his opinion not one that rocks the boat:

There are two kinds of classic novel. The first are those we know we should have read, but probably haven't. These are generally the books that make us burn with shame when they come up in conversation: from Crime and Punishment to Jane Eyre, we know they would do us good if only we could get around to reading them. (...)
The second kind, meanwhile, are those books that we've read five times, can quote from on any occasion, and annoyingly push on to other people with the words: "You have to read this. It's a classic."

Publishers Weekly reviews Rat by Fernanda Eberstardt which will be published next April:

Eberstadt invokes the heroines of Charlotte Brontë and Cynthia Voigt to create Rat, who moves forward out of grim determination to protect Morgan, and though Vanessa could be less opaque, Eberstadt creates a sympathetic figure in Gillem, whose artistic crisis takes a backseat to the demands of new fatherhood.

Alex Trebek chooses Haworth as his favourite holiday destination in USA Today:

Q: What's your favorite vacation spot?
A: Haworth in Yorkshire, the home of the Brontë family. My wife Jean and I have visited a number of times. We've been up farther north to the Lake Country, Scotland, Wales and Southern England. We love England first of all because of the history. (Kelly Carter)

It has been a while since we quoted Cathy Salter, from her column at the Columbia Daily Tribune: Notes from Boomerang Creek:

And “Jane Eyre” — in a “Masterpiece Theater” production that I can practically recite verbatim — won our three hearts, just as the novel does every time it is read again.

More Brontëites: writer Darlene Marshall aka Eve Ackerman in New Voices:

NV: Who are your literary heroines?
EA: Jane Eyre is one of my heroines. She overcomes incredible adversity.

And Erin O'Riordan interviewed on SORMAG's Blog:

One book that you have read more than once[?]
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

The Times reviews BBC4's Mark Lawson Talks to Alan Bennett and quotes Alan Bennett using the C-word and Heathcliff in the same sentence:

He said it. I rewound to make sure. Alan Bennett said the C-word on television. Context is all, of course, and I should add that Bennett was quoting his partner, Rupert Thomas, and the insult was hurled at Bennett himself. But he still said it. Thomas had been watching (presumably the most recent) Wuthering Heights on television and when it ended compared Bennett to Heathcliff. Flattered, Bennett wondered in what way. “You’re awkward, northern and a c***,” came the reply. Thus and in a single sentence did the playwright free himself from the shackles that he described in Saturday night’s documentary Being Alan Bennett, shackles fashioned, he explained, not by his artistic reputation but by “the notion the public have of me as a nice person”. (Andrew Billen)

Blogs for today: My Porch reviews The Brontës Went to Woolworths, Unackowledged Legislators of the World is reading Wuthering Heights and FU-FMA writes about the book, Life According to Maddie reviews Villette, The Upstager posts pictures of the party after the premiere of Jane Eyre in Durham, Lulla Lullaby uploads a nice original illustration for Jane Eyre, Gay Mystic considers the Brontës forerunners for today's struggles for gay equality, pippin06 reviews Wuthering Heights 1939 and thomasenqvist has posted on YouTube the ending of Michael O'Neill's talk at the Brontë Society Conference 2009.

EDIT: We have received word from an alert in Reims, France with possible Brontë content.

Concerts de Poche
MOTS D'OÙ ?
Concert poétique d'ici et d'ailleurs
le 08 Décembre 2009 à 20h00 ,
Maison de Quartier des Arènes du Sud
Espace Verrerie
14, rue de Couraux
REIMS (51100)

A.GUILLOU : baryton
E.MAGDALENA : comédienne
V.SERAFIMOVA : percussions
P.A.BRAYE-WEPPE : piano

According to L'Union: