2010 in Brontëland

Shall we take a look at what we can expect from 2010 in terms of Brontë? There are certainly things to look forward to.

2010 might or might not see the Brontës return to the big screen. There are a few projects in the works: the one that looks more alive - to us outsiders anyway - is Cary Fukunaga's Jane Eyre featuring Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender. Filming is supposed to start around March so we will soon see whether it's alive and well.

Peter Webber was recently rumoured to have abandoned the Ecosse Films' project of Wuthering Heights, which is a shame because they had already Heathcliff and Cathy, to be played by Gemma Arterton and Ed Westwick. We guess that some time in 2010 the project will either move on or simply be abandoned. Any bets?

These are the two safe bets when it comes to the Brontës, of course, but what about other - let's say it - more original projects? We recently heard about Dominic Murphy's idea of bringing to life the teen Brontës - and this is both original and supposedly appealing for Twilight fans, which might be a good boost to the project. If done nicely it might be a very, very good thing to see.

And what about the project to adapt Syrie James's The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë into a movie? As the author announces on her website:

The film rights to The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë have been optioned by Cool Hand Entertainment, a British production company, who plan to turn the book into a major UK/US theatrical film.

EDIT: The project has the provisional title of Brontë (do not confuse it with Angela Workman's script) and is produced by Simon Kelton and Luke G-Jones.

And of course there are projects passed down throughout the years: Angela Workman is back in the director's chair for Brontë, her long-term biopic project. And Shirley was once being written. We are willing to wait as long as they see the light someday. Anyone willing to undertake Villette with a ready-made script?

From where we now stand, this looks like a fairly quiet year on the book front, characterised, if anything, for being the year when we might expect? - dread? - the spoofs to be released: Jane Slayre by Sherri Browning Erwin and Wuthering Bites by Sarah Gray. The two safe bets we were talking about above as influenced by a mixture of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and the Twilight series. The genre, though, may be exhausted by release date.

A new prequel to Wuthering Heights - The House of Dead Maids by Clare B. Dunkle - is to be expected towards the end of the year. And a couple of retellings of Jane Eyre: Jane by April Lindner (a YA retelling) and maybe Sloane Hall by Libby Sternberg are scheduled for 2010.

Romancing Miss Brontë by Juliet Gael follows in the footsteps of the biofiction books seen throughout 2009.

Oxford University Press announces a new release of juvenilia of the four Brontë siblings edited and selected by Christine Alexander: Tales of Glass Town, Angria, and Gondal.Selected Early Writings, a paperback edition of the Margaret Smith selection of letters by Charlotte Brontë (with a new introduction by Janet Gezari) and a new edition (by Robert Inglesfield, Hilda Marsden and Sally Shuttleworth) of Agnes Grey.

And three much-awaited returns to conclude with our book section: Bedlam: The Further Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë by Laura Joh Rowland (sequel to The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë by Laura Joh Rowland, first published in 2008) will be released in May. The fantastic Classical Comics approach another Brontë novel: Wuthering Heights with script by Sean M. Wilson and artwork by John M. Burns and the second part of the French comic adaptation by Yann & Édith, Les Hauts de Hurlevent, is scheduled to appear in April.

For a complete list of releases - updated throughout the year - do check our sidebar.

At this point nothing much is known about theatre productions. Gordon & Caird's Jane Eyre the Musical (with or without the new reduced orchestrations), Polly Teale's Brontë trilogy and others will be for sure on stages all over the world. Northern Ballet's take on Wuthering Heights is still on tour, for instance with new dates for 2010. Do stay tuned to BrontëBlog to see if there's something Brontë going on near you.

However, we still wonder whether Canadian playwright Vern Thiessen will give birth to his own take on Wuthering Heights (Somewhere at Vimy)? And Sean Cannon's theatre play on the Brontë Irish origins?

And what about Frédéric Chaslin/P.H. Fisher's opera of Wuthering Heights? We know there will be at least three performances of the overture and other orchestral/chorus themes (directed or performed at the piano by Mr Chaslin himself) in Paris (January 12), Bologna (April 11) and Liubljana (June).

Clearly, a great way of making a Brontë year out of any year is travelling to the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth. The museum is closed in January but will re-open with a new exhibition focusing on Haworth and of course with the newly-acquired items on display. And Sex, Drugs and Literature - The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë, which began in 2009 continues throughout 2010.

Categories: Messages from BB