Miniatures and Jokes

The New York Times publishes a review of the Alloy Theater's revival of William Luce's Brontë. Portrait of Charlotte in the off Broadway:

Mr. Luce is a thoughtful writer, Ms. Linehan a skillful actress and “Brontë” a handsome enough production, directed by Timothy Douglas. But the show rarely sparks the imagination. It’s missing the one thing it needs: a sense of the genius of Charlotte Brontë.
Instead we get biography.  (...)
There’s something rigorously ordinary about Mr. Luce and Ms. Linehan’s Charlotte. She’s amiable, forward thinking, witty and even tempered. Her goal: to find some comfort in love. What’s absent is a sense of the weirdness in the ordinary, which Charlotte understood as a writer. That makes this stage Charlotte sympathetic and pleasant company. But you never believe she’s the woman who wrote “Jane Eyre.”  (Rachel Saltz)

The Edinburgh Festival List highlights another Brontë presence in this year's Fringe: The History Girls.

Wuthering Heights meets Missy Elliott in this Pythonesque sketch comedy show. (...)
Their sketches are unashamedly silly, drawing on the well of British tradition and sending it up in giddy, Pythonesque style. Their targets are all women held up as paragons in history and literature, from Guinevere to the Brontës. In the process, they demystify these normally seriously-regarded people and make them great figures of fun. (...)
Throughout, there’s a sense that if you don’t get the reference, you won’t understand the humour, and it often feels like half the audience is left out of the jokes. But the threesome are brilliant, charismatic performers -- Vanessa Faye-Stanley’s Anne Brontë is particularly funny – who deliver a slick, smart routine.
Assembly Hall, 623 3030, until 27 Aug (not 13), 7.45pm,

The Irish Times pays tribute to the sportswriter Con Houlihan, recently deceased:

And then he would swerve and he could find the Wilfred Owen line that made perfect sense. Or he could write a sentence that made the ghost of Dylan Thomas sit up and have another whiskey. Or he could talk about the Brontë sisters and the deep dark soil that they came from. Or sing about the river Strule with Benedict Kiely. Or find the grace in a discarded poem. (Colum McCann)

Also in Ireland (in Cork, more precisely) we found a curious initiative at the Skibbereen Arts Festival: The Museum of Miniatures (this week only). One of the pieces on display is (as published by West Cork Times):

‘Wuthering Heights’, which is a picture inside a matchbox, by Theresa Gaughan, an exhibit at the Museum of Miniature, Skibbereen, part of the Skibbereen Arts Festival 2012. Picture: Perry O’Donovan

British Weekly reviews Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling:

 “I did a lot of reading of the kinds of books I wanted Charlotte to aspire to, such as Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and Jane Eyre,” says Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling author Michael Boccacino.

Berner Zeitung (Switzerland) reviews a local production of The Secret Garden (just !Geheim! though):

Die Story, die Regisseurin Rosetta Bregy erzählt, ist eine eigenwillige Mischung aus «Sturmhöhe» (es gibt ein Familiengeheimnis im Schloss), «Heidi» (Heimweh und Genesung durch die Natur) und grimmschen Elementen (verbotener Garten, sprechende Tiere). (Helen Lagger) (Translation)

Joanna Campbell Slan, author of Death of a Schoolgirl (The Jane Eyre Chronicles is all over the net today, publishes a guest post on Lesa's Book Critiques, the book is reviewed on Dana's Jewilry Designs, Vibrant Nation and is interviewed by Bookish Whimsy and Coffee with a Canine. The author herself contributes with a contest on Killer Hobbies.

Writing Amid Used Books posts about her fascination with the woodcut Eichenberg illustrated editions of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights; The Briarfield Chronicles vindicates Anne Brontë; Dear Book (in Portuguese) traces a profile of the Brontës;  En Secret... (in French) and partsofspeaking post about Jane Eyre; Gals, Very Smart Gals reviews The Flight of Gemma Hardy; mundo-do-cinema (in Portuguese) and  
Chef indienne, styliste pour moustaches, dresseuse de loutres. Et en plus elle lit (in French) review Jane Eyre 2011; Feasts and Festivals posts about Scarborough (including a mention to Anne Brontë's tomb); Lucky Books posts about April Lidner's Jane.