Perfectly chaotic Brontës

CBS New York features the Charlotte Brontë exhibition at the Morgan Library.

Curator Christine Nelson created the “Charlotte Brontë: An Independent Will” display  for the anniversary of the author’s 200th birthday.
The exhibition opens with the famous blue floral print dress Bronte wore just a few years after publishing the classic novel “Jane Eyre” in 1947.
“I wanted to have that dress be the first thing visitors see as they enter the exhibition because it reminds us of the human being who inhabited it,” museum curator Christine Nelson told WCBS 880’s Jane Tillman Irving.
Brontë was a small-framed woman, standing only 4’9″ tall with an 18-inch waist. But in “Jane Eyre,” her voice is huge, assertive and stunning. 

On the other side of the pond, Impact reviews the stage production We Are Brontë at Lakeside Arts Centre in Nottingham and gives it a 9 out of 10.

This weird, wonderful and hilariously awkward comedy presents a mash-up of the lives and stories of the Brontë family through two actors’ very clever use of physical theatre. The sequence of short sketches, at once poking fun at and simultaneously celebrating the Gothic tradition, was beautifully simple and brilliantly original.
We are Brontë was perfectly chaotic: the wigs fell off, the actors died at the wrong moments, and at one point the two actors attached books to their faces before dancing round the stage.
Sarah Corbett and Angus Barr skilfully acted out two clownish, bad actors that try to put on a production on all things Brontë. As might be expected, their attempt at a ‘serious’ play came across more like a series of overdramatic scenes, entirely ridiculous but, for me, great entertainment. [...]
Perhaps it could be said that the play-within-a-play lacked a real sense of plot development and the end came at a rather unexpected moment. Was I to have gone, as many do, with a real expectation of watching something as heavily plotted as, say, a Brontë novel, I might have come away feeling a bit baffled by how absurd the play had been. Nevertheless, I found that the ingenuity of the physical theatre throughout, as well as the pure entertainment value, more than compensatory. The only flaw for me personally was that, at my old age of twenty-one, it was sometimes hard to see exactly what was going on when smaller props were used from the back of the theatre.
We are Brontë was a superbly acted comic homage to the Brontë family and their work, and a fabulous evening that’ll get you belly-laughing. (Anna Seton)

Kien y Ke (Colombia) reviews Sally Cookson's stage adaptation of Jane Eyre.

Consigue la directora Sally Cookson entregarnos una versión teatral “resumida” de tan extensa obra. La versión original tenía una duración de 7 horas, reducida posteriormente a algo más de 3 horas para una mejor llegada al público. Es increíble hazaña que tan largo libro, pletórico de detalles y multitud de circunstancias, haya podido ser adaptado en corta extensión, sin que haya una amputación notoria o molesta. La buena noticia, y en ello radica su brillantez, es que la directora y sus actores consiguen con gran lucimiento abarcar lo esencial de la obra; detalles fueron suprimidos o acortados sin que ello fastidie o estropee la obra. Convirtiendo la novela en una versión teatral de gran placer, en donde cada instante es significativo, simbólico y atrapador.
Una sobria y original escenografía de armazón de madera y metal, en moderno minimalismo, permite efectuar muy originalmente las múltiples transiciones de circunstancias y lugares; sin duda, un esfuerzo sobresaliente de concisión y abstracción. Cuenta la producción con una orquesta en directo, música instrumental acertada, así como una cantante lírica, un estupendo diseño luminotécnico, sorprendentes efectos visuales, y un elenco de diez idóneos actores. Encontrarán contento tanto quienes hayan leído la obra, como quienes se enfrenten por primera vez a ella, en ello radica la maestría de esta excepcional puesta en escena.
Mi recomendación con énfasis para presenciar esta nueva versión de “Jane Eyre” que atinadamente nos presenta Cine Colombia en sus salas, por muy pocos días infortunadamente, y que nos muestra una historia de gran interés literario y de feminismo constructivo, del que enaltece a la mujer y la desencadena de opresiones falócratas. (Fernando Fernández) (Translation)

Derbyshire Times has an article on the local elements which may have inspired Charlotte Brontë when writing Jane Eyre.

Charlotte Bronte knew the Peak District well, as in 1845 she stayed there when she visited a friend Ellen Nussey, at the rectory in Hathersage. Ellen’s brother Henry was the vicar there. She arrived at The George Hotel coaching inn and during her visit the history and buildings of the area started her creative thoughts flowing. Eyre is a common name in these parts and when Charlotte was here she visited North Lees Hall, on the outskirts of Hathersage, which was owned by the Eyre family at that time. No doubt she also frequented the beautiful old Hathersage Church too, where many Eyre gravestones populate the churchyard. Thornfield Hall – Mr Rochester’s home in the story – is very likely to have been based on North Lees Hall. ‘Thorn’ is an anagram of North and ‘lees’ means pastures or fields. Jane’s description of Rochester’s place in the novel fits North Lees too: “Three stories high, of proportions not vast, though considerable – a gentleman’s residence, not a nobleman’s seat – battlements round the top gave it a picturesque look.” When making this epic tale into film and television adaptations, many nearby locations have been used. The 2011 film version used North Lees Hall, as well as Chatsworth House, Darley Dale, Froggatt, Stanage Edge, Hathersage Moor and White Edge Lodge. This version used Haddon Hall as Thornfield Hall. In Charlotte’s story, Rochester’s house is burned down by his secret wife hidden in the attic. To portray Thornfield Hall after the fire, Haddon had a ‘stunt double’ in the film – the ruins of Wingfield Manor. So maybe you can decide for yourself where you can most picture Jane and Rochester succumbing to Cupid’s darts – Haddon or North Lees? Both are certainly settings made for romance.

Jane Eyre is one of the '20 Books Every Twenty Something Should Read' according to Career Girl Daily.

11. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Jane Eyre was one of my idols as a teenager. She is one of the most famous and memorable heroines of all time – Jane will teach you about the importance of passion but also restraint and wisdom. It’s also one of the greatest love stories ever written. (Larissa Scotting)

Daily Express asks journalist and presenter Joan Bakewell to list five things she can't live without. One of them is reading.

When I was growing up we didn’t have many books at home as they were so expensive, so my local library was a real lifeline. I still love going to the library and it really saddens me to see so many closing.
If I am sitting still I have to read. In fact, one of my greatest pleasures is going on a long train journey, armed with a selection of magazines, newspapers and books.
My favourite authors of all time are the Brontë sisters and Dickens. At home I have so many books that I have had to stack some in my bathroom.
Every now and then I put a few boxes of old books outside my home for passers-by to pick up and it delights me when someone finds something they’ve been longing to read. (Lucy Benyon)

The New Yorker discusses the work and life of Shirley Jackson.

Her stories take the figure of the imprisoned “madwoman,” as found in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” or Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane Eyre,” and make her the warder of her own jail. (Zoë Heller)

A local historian has come across a century-old blunder in a French article on a Keighley shell factory during the First World War. As reported by Keighley News.

Mr Walkden found a rare reference to the factory while scouring Keighley News copies from 1915 as part of his volunteer work for the Men of Worth Project.
He said: “While researching the names of the fallen I noticed an article dated November 27, 1915 with the heading Keighley Shell Making: Seen Through French Eyes.”
Mr Walkden said he transcribed the article “with some amusement”, and discovered the original French newspaper had taken a very patriot stance during the First World War.
He added: “In World War Two the paper followed a very right-wing line which supported the Nazi occupation. It eventually folded in 1944, possibly before retribution could take place.”
The writer, Monsieur Jean Cruppi, described Keighley as a village that was “far from anywhere”.
He wrote: “Keighley is situated in the heart of Old England in the romantic valley of the Worth.
“The people are somewhat unpolished: they are tall, vigorous English folk, serious of mien and even a little morose, but on the least pretext laugh like children.
“It would need the pen of Charlotte Brontë (who was born in Keighley) to draw the portrait of the place, gaitered gentlemen, enthusiastic, Francophile over head and ears.
“The inhabitants without exception – men, woman, and children – are working for the war. The majority of the young men are already at the front.
“The old men, the women and the children are busy in various workshops turning out shells.” (David Knights)

Heavenali reviews Samantha Ellis's How to Be a Heroine. AnneBrontë.org has a post on her 'Enduring Love Of The Sea'.