A Wuthering Heights moment - not for Ed Westwick

The Irish Times reviews the stage production of Jane Eyre at the Gate Theatre in Dublin:

There is a striking moment in Alan Stanford’s new production of Jane Eyre , where three incarnations of the heroine stand in a row like Russian dolls; warped reflections of each other. At the front of the stage stands the determined orphaned child (Lisa Lyons), behind her the forthright young woman (Andrea Corr), and towards the rear, with a stoic smile on her face, the resigned older woman (Deirdre Donnelly), finally content in her happy ending.
The linear narrative of Charlotte Brontë’s book is rendered strange in this clever image, as the three different Janes momentarily haunt each other. The unease is easily dispelled, however, by the entrance of Mr Rochester (an orotund Stephen Brennan), who ushers in the unconventional romance at the heart of Brontë’s bleak, but ultimately uplifting, novel.
There are occasional lapses in the present-tense narration that frames director Alan Stanford’s stage adaptation, but for the most part Jane Eyre is a fluently episodic stage version of the book. [...]
Andrea Corr makes for a fierce and earnest, if perhaps too pretty, embodiment of plain Jane, the governess at Thornfield Hall, as she struggles to control her passion for her evasive master.
[...]
Despite a problematic vertiginous tilt, Bruno Schwengl’s blue-grey set evokes the cold emotional severity of Jane’s early years and the spartan austerity of Victorian poverty. It also provides enough of a blank slate to enable James McConnell to bring more radiant touches to the atmosphere in the final scene and Deirdre Donnelly utters the infamous final lines – “reader I married him” – with certainty in the audience’s goodwill.
Ultimately, this a faithful, feel-good, family-friendly stage translation, and more than enough to inspire a new generation of readers. (Mary Leland)

Remember when Ed Westwick was supposed to be playing Heathcliff on-screen? Back then he 'couldn't wait' to start work on the movie. Then Peter Webber left the project, Andrea Arnold took over and we had this statement in the open casting call announcement:

Due to the departure of Peter Webber, the two actors originally cast for the two lead roles (Gemma Arterton, Ed Westwick) are also being replaced during these open casting calls.

However, Music Rooms now quotes Ed Westwick as recently saying,

“I was going to do it, but it turned out to be a bit of a sh*t project so I stepped away,” he told Company magazine.

Whatever the case may be, whether he really stepped out or whether he was replaced, we find it in really bad taste to be bad-mouthing a production that is currently being filmed without him.

LA Weekly reviews Dracula in Love by Karen Essex.

If the recent raft of horror genre mash-ups — Jane Slayre, Android Karenina, Wuthering Bites — is any indication, you never want to retell a classic unless you can bring something new to the party. Historical novelist Karen Essex's contribution to the literary potluck, Dracula in Love, retells the bloodthirsty count's tale from his victim (and No. 1 crush) Mina Murray's perspective. Essex's book, however, owes more to the elegant, postmodern tradition of Wide Sargasso Sea than to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. (Gendy Alimurung)

Sarah Freeman - author of Brontë in Love - writes in the Yorkshire Post about the new website Our Uplands, which aims to bring awareness to their resources and usefulness as well as to invite people to share their pictures, experiences, etc.

As one early contributor to the site puts it, the uplands are a "place to have a Wuthering Heights moment – followed by a nice packed lunch"

Coincidentally, Flickr user Warren D has uploaded a nice picture taken on the Haworth moors.

It was clear enough when they did their cover of the song, but interviewed by Female First, the Puppini Sisters can't hide their admiration.

What song do you wish you’d written?[...]
Marcella: Wuthering Heights.

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