General knowledge and the Brontës

Lifeline's stage adaptation of Wuthering Heights opens on September 20th (previews start on the 10th) and a few websites are starting to reveal things about this production. From the Niles Herald-Spectator:

Actor Lindsay Leopold wants to shatter a popular notion about "Wuthering Heights."
Leopold, who stars in Lifeline Theatre's adaptation of Emily Brontë's classic, 19th-century novel, wants people to know it is not simply a story about romance.
"I would love for people who are not familiar with this story, but maybe kind of view it as something like that to come in and just really explode that notion and be like 'No, no, no. These people are dark. These people do have love for each other, but there's a violence to it and there's an anger to it and there's so much more there,'" said Leopold who plays Cathy Earnshaw, the female protagonist. [...]
"Heathcliff is the only one who understands her impulses and her thoughts and the way that she thinks and the way that she feels. There's a strong sense that the two of them kind of share similar qualities in that way," Leopold said. [...]
"It kind of develops into a classic love triangle and Cathy ultimately does make the decision to be with the man who can be very sweet and who can really give in to her every need and whim and doesn't particularly challenge her or engage her on the level I think that Heathcliff really does," Leopold said.
While many stage adaptations of "Wuthering Heights" end with Cathy dying, but before Heathcliff returns to exact his revenge on the second generation of Cathy's children from another man, Lifeline Theatre's adaptation features that revenge and violence prominently, said the show's director Elise Kauzlaric.
"The novel has so much violence and so many dark shades to it and our production is totally leaning into that," Leopold said.
"When people hear 'Wuthering Heights,' a lot of times their first reaction is that it's a romance and it's really not. It's a revenge story. And if you don't have the second generation story in it you really don't get that," Kauzlaric said.
She noted that "Wuthering Heights" is one of the most passionate stories that she has ever encountered. "And Heathcliff is a fascinating character to experience because you're at once repulsed by this behavior, but at the same time feel sympathy for him and that's always a fascinating look at a character for me."
She said the show will appeal to people drawn to British literature, but she also hopes to draw fans of the "Twilight" books, a series of four vampire-based fantasy romance novels by by author Stephenie Meyer as well.
"A lot of people read this book when they're teens and can identify with the angst," she said. She was curious to see whether a younger audience would be drawn to Lifeline's production.
The play also incorporates many physical elements, Leopold said.
"It's very much a play, but there are moments of heightened staged physicality that sort of resemble dance, just kind of heightened movement that I think you can't capture that with a book per se," she said. (Joanna Broder)

We are glad to see them highlighting the fact that it's not a Mills&Boon kind of romance.

Broadway World has a more general article on the production.

The Virginian-Pilot wonders,

What would "Gone With the Wind" or "Wuthering Heights" or even "Titanic" have been like with a happy ending? (Mal Vincent)

The actual ending of Wuthering Heights is ambiguous.

And here's a selection of why people need to read the Brontës more. First of all, the Herald (Ireland) writes about that age-old topic: things we learn in school and are supposedly good for nothing (except - most people forget this - for culture and knowledge, which are not such bad things, really. They don't hurt at all).

But then school has always been about teaching you things with zero practical relevance. I can't remember the last time anyone asked me to give one function of mitosis in multicellular organisms or prove Pythagoras's theorem. I've never had a promotion depend on how well I was able to comment on the effectiveness of Bronte's imagery and symbolism in Jane Eyre. (John Hearne)

That's quite short-sighted in our opinion, particularly coming from someone who seems to write for a living.

More of this kind of thing. Legalization Nation interviews novelist Mark Haskell Smith:

My whole thing is I think reading should be fun and I think a lot of times people read books that aren't that much fun because, I don't know, NPR told them it'll make them look smart. And then they go, 'Why don't kids want to read? Why won't they read Jane Eyre?' I was like, 'Cause it's fucking boring.' Why don't we give people something that's fun to read and it can still have some meaning. It can still have emotion and content and thought-provoking ideas and be fun. (David Downs)

What about the kids that discover what they like and what they don't like through school readings? No book will be liked by all, so you might as well try the classics which, if only, bring them in contact with new vocabulary.

Msnbc could also do with a little more research. Here's how they suggest a trip to the Lake District in England:

3. Lake District, England
Immortalized by great writers, like Keats, Tennyson, and Charlotte Brontë, who sought inspiration and solace along its spectacular shores, England’s Lake District is surely one of Great Britain’s most cherished destinations.

You'd think they'd mention Wordsworth, but oh no, they mention Charlotte Brontë who only travelled to the Lake District a couple of times - never particularly in search of inspiration - and who - as far as we can remember - never really 'immortalised' it. Wordsworth (and many others) certainly did, though.

All in all, we think all of the above should go to their nearest Oxfam shop, which according to the Telegraph, always has Brontë novels on their shelves.

"Everyone expects to find Shakespeare and the Brontës in Oxfam shops, but our shoppers are just as likely to pick up a book from the Twilight series or one of the Stieg Larsson trilogy. . ."

The Times, however, has done its homework and quotes from chapter XXVIII of Jane Eyre:

Through the ages, the immensity of the Universe has provoked wonder in the only species capable of apprehending it. From there, it has been for many a short step to perceiving the handiwork of providence. To Charlotte Brontë’s heroine Jane Eyre, “we know that God is everywhere; but certainly we feel His presence most when His works are on the grandest scale spread before us”.

See? General knowledge is painless (and gets you a job in The Times).

On the Jane Eyre 2011 IMDb board, megzorz claims to have read a 2008 version of the script and comments on it.

Escapemos en Vespas de colores writes in Spanish about Wuthering Heights and YouTube user 40LegsProductions has uploaded a short version of Wuthering Heights with finger puppets.

Categories: Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Theatre, Wuthering Heights