Panties and Bras and Brontës

Edmonton Journal reviews the Send in the Girls show at the Edmonton Fringe, A Brontë Burlesque:

A bizarre premise, but I was pretty taken with A Brontë Burlesque, a dark, sexy show featuring the Brontë sisters as burlesque dancers.
Yup, the 19th-century lit legends strip down to their lacy underthings in this musical production by Ellen Chorley, who plays Emily of Wuthering Heights fame. Delia Barnett plays forgotten sister Anne, and Andrea Jorawsky is Charlotte, the bossy one (and author of Jane Eyre). Charlotte is being haunted by her dead siblings, including boozy brother Branwell, played by Evan Hall. (...)
The crotch flashes were at times a bit overwhelming, and while no boobs fell out of bras, I’m pretty sure the aeriola flash in the finale wasn’t intentional. And disappointing, frankly, that Bran kept all his clothes on. So much for equality. (...)
In a way, this show contradicts itself. We’ve got three female writers pushing the gender envelope by publishing their writing in a literary world owned by men, at first using male noms de plumes. But they’re also dancing around in their panties and bras, making themselves sex objects.
Or maybe the stripping is a metaphor. The Brontës, baring their most vulnerable selves to the world, as writers, as women. I’m probably overthinking it.  (Elizabeth Withey)

Los Angeles Times talks about tuberculosis, which is far from being an illness of the past:

Once known as consumption, the killer disease that claimed Emily Brontë and Frederic Chopin, tuberculosis is now viewed as a bygone threat by many in developed countries.
But the illness remains widespread in poorer countries and still surfaces in the United States in places like Los Angeles, with large and diverse immigrant communities. "It's still a fatal disease," said Alvarez. "It needs to be taken still very seriously in terms of public health and safety."  (Erin Loury)

The Boston Globe discusses fan-fiction:

In modern times, John Updike gave us “Gertrude and Claudius,” a “Hamlet” prequel, while Jane Smiley and Geraldine Brooks have won Pulitzers for novels based on “King Lear” (“A Thousand Acres”) and “Little Women” (“March”). If lack of originality is the crime, all these works are guilty.
Yes, the vast majority of fan fiction falls woefully below such lofty standards. But so does most original writing, particularly the self-published kind — and some fan-written stories would hold their own against much professional fiction. (Granted, “Fifty Shades of Grey” is appallingly bad, but then “Twilight” is no “Jane Eyre,” either.) (Cathy Young)

The Times has an article on the model and actress Agyness Deyn:

Recently, she said that she’d love to play Jane Eyre. “I think I’m attracted to a role that is literally saying, like ‘This is who I am’ — there’s strength in that  . . .”

Examiner reviews the 1953 film The Maze:

This in spite of the fact that Hayley Mills and the New Christy Minstrels couldn't lighten up the place. Thanks to either Menzies direction and production design (or Daniel Ullman's screenplay, based on a story by Maurice Sandoz), Craven Castle would've given Emily Brontë bad nights.

A Brontëite in Reading-North Reading Patch; Flavorwire recovers the talk between Phoebe and Rachel from Friends about Wuthering Heights; London Calling has visited Haworth; Tyldesley Family History posts about Branwell Brontë's interest in the story of the Tyldesley family, a reference to whom is included in his poem Morley Hall; On the Record posts about the Brontës; Sur ma table de nuit, tu trouveras... (in French) and Scarlet Raviere (in Portuguese) post about Jane Eyre; Leitura de Ouro (in Portuguese) reviews Wuthering Heights;  Kuuvalo (in Spanish) compares Jane Austen and the Brontës; Lou y es tu? (in French) posts about Jane Eyre 2011; @skateanderson and @ghostspics pretty much hated the new Wuthering Heights 2011 but @DanBerlinka disagrees. Finally @bug_hugs makes the following observation:

Am I the only one who doesn't understand why Helena Bonham Carter was never cast as Bertha in any of the 37,000 film adaptations of Jane Eyre?