Shared Experience's Brontë revival tour

Today, March 24, is the premiere in Oxford of the revival of Polly Teale's Brontë by the Shared Experience Company:

Brontë
A Shared Experience/Watermill Theatre production co-produced by Oxford Playhouse
24 March - 11 June 2011
by Polly Teale, directed by Nancy Meckler
Image from the 2010 production by Robert Day

It is 1845. Branwell Brontë returns home in disgrace. Plagued by alcohol and drug addiction, he has been dismissed from domestic service following an affair with the mistress of the house.
As their brother descends into alcoholism and insanity, bringing chaos to the household, the sisters write... Brontë beautifully evokes the real and imagined worlds of the Brontës, in a production in which their fictional characters come to haunt their creators.
Directed by Nancy Meckler and written by Polly Teale, whose previous plays for the company include the highly-acclaimed Speechless, Jane Eyre and After Mrs Rochester.

Designer Ruth Sutcliffe
Movement Director Liz Ranken
Composer Peter Salem

The trailer can be seen here.

Tour:

Oxford Playhouse  24 Mar - 2 Apr

The Tricycle, London 5 - 30 Apr

The Richmond Theatre 10 - 14 May

Theatre Royal Bath 17 - 21 May

West Yorkshire Playhouse 24 - 28 May

Glasgow Citizens Theatre 1 - 4 Jun

Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford 7 - 11 Jun

The Oxford Times has more information:

“I was looking for something I could do with a fairly young company, living and working together at The Watermill,” Meckler explained when we met. “I wondered what it would be like if I had a go at Brontë. Because of that, I’ve read a lot about the Brontës, and enjoyed finding out about them.”
Meckler is hardly the first person to be hooked by the lives and works of the three sisters.
Why, I asked her, do we have such an enduring interest in them?
“I think most people only know about Emily and Charlotte, don’t they? They don’t know that much about Anne. But it’s interesting you say that, because I’ve recently read several times that Chekov had this family in mind when he wrote The Three Sisters.
“It’s remarkable that Jane Eyre, and particularly Wuthering Heights, have remained archetypes, haven’t they? Heathcliff and Cathy in Wuthering Heights have been an inspiration to so many people over the years — people who haven’t read the book.
“Whereas with Jane Eyre, I think an awful lot of people have read the book. When something lasts for so long, and seems so timeless, clearly the writers have hit on something universal that will always have an appeal.” (Giles Woodforde)

Categories: Theatre