Living in a 'tiny Yorkshire bubble'

Actor Tom Hiddleston speaks about his character in the film Crimson Peak and his background in The Wall Street Journal.

“We talked about Rochester in ‘Jane Eyre,’ we talked about Bluebeard, and this idea of the Byronic hero,” Mr. Hiddleston says of his conversations with the director about the varied models for Thomas. “There were archetypes we needed to present, to create expectations which we could subvert and confound,” he says. (Caryn James)

Broadway World interviews Gavi Singh Chera of The National Youth Theatre REP season, which currently has a Wuthering Heights adaptation on stage.

Tell us about the REP Season and the roles you're taking on. Do you have a favourite? We are alternating between three plays in REP, Consensual by Evan Placey, The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare and an adaptation of Wuthering Heights by Stephanie Street. I play schoolboy-bully Rhys in Consensual, charming Lorenzo in The Merchant of Venice and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights.
I have a lot of fun in all of the shows so it's hard to pick a favourite but I studied Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights for my English A Level and it is the only "classic" of that era I enjoyed reading - I remember really connecting to the intensity of the love, jealousy and passion Cathy and Heathcliff had for each other - it is as if all their feelings for each other were so much more concentrated because of the tiny Yorkshire bubble they lived in, which reminded me a lot of my childhood and my first love.
Stephanie Street has also beautifully connected the Hindu belief of karma and reincarnation, with the cyclical foundations of the universe - in the sense that energy is neither created nor destroyed, but transferred. (I urge anyone reading this to google Hindu Cosmology - it will utterly blow your mind!). The chemicals in our earth, that make up our universe, are seen in a similar vein to our characters and their choices - for instance, the abuse Hindley inflicts on Heathcliff as a child leads Heathcliff to want to seek revenge later in his life - that is Heathcliff's slow-burning "chemical reaction" to Hindley.
Our rehearsals, with director Emily Lim, have been so freeing and fun - we experimented a lot with the materials such as the soil in our play, and created little moments of theatre for each of our characters and then shared them with the group - it was so amazing seeing people make little discoveries about their characters through this explorative rehearsal period.
It is a true privilege to play such an iconic, Byronic hero, shrouded in mystery and enigma. I really enjoyed "filling in the gaps" of Heathcliff's past with my fellow actors, and making discoveries about his journey, particularly his relationship with his mum - as the novel is very much about absent mother figures. My Heathcliff watches his past unfold before him with the spirit of Cathy, played by the wonder that is Francene Turner, and by the end of the play, I believe both Cathy and Heathcliff reach a state of enlightenment - and being able to go on that journey with Francene is a true pleasure. (Carrie Dunn)

Big Issue North has broadcaster Melvyn Bragg speak about his future projects.

Also in the pipeline is a ten-part BBC Radio 4 series Bragg is planning about the north of England. “I want to test the idea that the north has a special place in the history of this country,” he says. “There’s a lot to talk about, whether it’s mystery plays, Emily Brontë, The Beatles or Ted Hughes, because if we can think of anything called English culture, and I think we can, it started in the north.
“There’s also history, like the great battles, and we’ll go right back to look at the Romans, who settled the north in a completely different way from elsewhere. Then there’s the landscape, of course, and the industrial revolution. I mean, we were the workshop of the world in the north of England and it enriched the whole country.” (Roger Ratcliffe)

Speaking of the north, AOL UK is giving away a stay at a Bingley hotel, close enough of course for a quick trip to Haworth and the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

According to L'express (France) actress Virginie Ledoyen in a Brontëite.

Je reviens aussi souvent à Marguerite Duras et à la littérature anglo-saxonne du XIXe siècle. Je pense en particulier à Edith Wharton, qui est l'une de mes écrivaines préférées. Mais aussi à Henry James et aux soeurs Brontë. Et Charles Dickens, bien sûr! (Estelle Lenartowicz) (Translation)

The London Review of Books has an article on the Piers Gaveston Society:

A couple of years later, after my finals, I went to a Piers Gav rave again. [...] His party was excellent though, more Salammbô than Wuthering Heights, with hookah pipes and upholstery everywhere and a massive bowl of LSD-spiked punch. (Nick Richardson)

Dallas News reviews the play Fix Me, Jesus:

Annabell loves to read and a conflict is raised when the bulk of her books, all classic literature choices, meet with her grandmother’s disapproval. But what does Wuthering Heights have to do with the rest of the story? It’s all part of a jumble of thoughts, as twisted as the dresses Annabell discards on the floor. (Nancy Churnin)

The Brontë Sisters has a guest write about a recent trip to Banagher. ReReading Jane Eyre is giving away two copies of Luccia Gray's All Hallows at Eyre Hall.

The Brontë Society has just released the new contemporary arts programme for October 2015 - February 2016 - don't miss it!