Villette: not a bonnet in sight

Yorkshire Post reviews the stage production of Villette at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Part of West Yorkshire Playhouse’s Brontë season, this bold reimagining of Charlotte Brontë’s final novel may not appeal to the purists – there isn’t a bonnet in sight – but as a piece of powerful new writing it certainly gets my vote. [...]
The play remains true to many of the themes of Brontë’s original – isolation, longing, unrequited love – and here Lucy’s social awkwardness is neatly explained by the fact that she is a clone, the sole survivor of three ‘sisters’. (In a nod to the grief-stricken state in which Charlotte wrote Villette, following the deaths of Emily and Anne, the clone siblings are called ‘Esme’ and ‘Ashe’). Laura Elsworthy’s eye-catching central performance – at turns forthright, watchful, hesitant and vulnerable – conveys Lucy’s inner turmoil brilliantly and a strong ensemble cast – Philip Cairns, Nana Amoo-Gottfied, Amelia Donkor and Catherine Cusack – lend excellent support. Mark Rosenblatt’s accomplished production draws the audience in to an engaging narrative that contains enough references to events and characters in the novel to add a satisfying extra layer for those who have read it and may well inspire newcomers to the story to seek it out. (Yvette Huddleston)

Inspired by this production, The Guardian discusses the 'relocation' of classics.

I’d be surprised if there’s a more unlikely attempt to update a classic text this year than Linda Marshall Griffiths’s take on Villette at West Yorkshire Playhouse, which relocates Charlotte Brontë’s novel to an archaeological dig in the future and recasts Lucy Snowe as a clone. If some reimaginings are mere nudges, this is an almighty kick. Marshall Griffiths’s attempt to reinvent a 19th-century novel that seems firmly set in the past may not quite come off, but it’s part of an honourable theatrical tradition.
As Simon Stone observed in the programme for his own updated version of Yerma at the Young Vic: “There’s a moment, about 100 years after the work of an artist, when you can either say, ‘You are now condemned to the ranks of a footnote’ or ‘We are going to make you the centre of an international culture by keeping on telling your stories.’” Stone suggested that it is in the act of reinvention that “you liberate someone from their original cultural context and elevate them to the level of myth-maker”. It was a point explored in Anne Washburn’s brilliant Mr Burns, which asks what might endure in a post-apocalyptic world: Homer? Or perhaps Homer Simpson, from the TV series that itself so cleverly steals from everything from Shakespeare to B-movies? (Lyn Gardner)

Spenborough Guardian has a letter from a reader on the closure of the Red House Museum.

I paid a short visit on Saturday to the Scarecrow festival held at St Mary’s Church in Gomersal. But my main purpose was to find the grave of Mary Taylor who is buried in the grounds of the church. Mary was a feminist, successful businesswoman and a very close friend of the novelist Charlotte Brontë, whom she first met at Roe Head School in Mirfield. The Taylor family built the Red House in Gomersal in 1660 which the family owned until 1920. In 1969 Spenborough Corporation acquired the house and turned it into a museum. Whatever the future holds for the museum, it is imperative that the building is preserved as it represents a very important part of history in the Spen Valley. John Appleyard, Liversedge

Evening Standard discusses the unmasking of Elena Ferrante and quotes John Mullan and his book  Anonymity: A Secret History of English Literature.

In the 18th and 19th centuries publishing anonymously was considered “good manners” by some, according to Mullan, “to try to keep the gap between your life as an author and the rest of your life. It wasn’t just women: Sir Walter Scott was the best-selling novelist in Europe but went to great lengths to keep his identity concealed.”
Mullan sees “an echo of Charlotte Brontë in Ferrante”: “Brontë wanted to avoid anyone thinking her novels were autobiographical — or even particularly ‘feminine’. Even when her identity was known, she wouldn’t play the author.”
“Curiosity about the authorship of a book is always good for its sales,” adds Mullan. There has been a spike in Ferrante’s sales, along with the spotlight going on the Rose Theatre Kingston, which is showing the first adaptation of the Neapolitan novels next year. (Susannah Butter)

Left (Italy) also has an article on the subject.

Meno misteriosi, invece, sono rimasti i nomi scelti dalle sorelle Brontë per la pubblicazione dei loro primi libri: Charlotte, l’autrice di “Jane Eyre”, ha scelto Currer Bell, Emily di “Cime tempestose” ha scelto Ellis Bell e la più giovane Anne, di “Agnes Grey”, Acton Bell. Il segreto è durato poco più di un anno, perché le sorelle hanno dovuto, dopo poco, convincere l’editore di essere persone diverse. (Viola Brancatella) (Translation)

And Bustle has selected '15 Author Pseudonyms That Show There's A Long Literary History Of Using Pen Names' including of course

3. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë a.k.a. Curror, Ellis, and Acton Bell
The Brontë sisters published some of their poetry under male names in order to avoid sexism aimed toward their work. (Melissa Ragsdale)

Première (France) recommends watching Jane Eyre 2011 before The Light between Oceans.

Jane Eyre (Cary Fukunaga, 2011)
Michael Fassbender en héros romantique ? La dernière fois, c’était dans cette étrange adaptation du roman de Charlotte Brontë par Cary « True Detective » Fukunaga.
"Pas vu non plus. La vérité, c’est que je ne regarde pas beaucoup de films contemporains. Des documentaires de Wiseman ou Oppenheimer à la limite. Je trouve la vie tellement plus intéressante… Quant à Michael Fassbender, j’ai surtout l’habitude de le voir jouer des types très cérébraux, toujours en contrôle. Quand il fait Magneto dans X-Men, je n’ai aucun mal à croire qu’il arrive à tordre du métal par la pensée ! C’est pour ça que j’avais envie de le voir jouer avec son cœur, qu’il montre sa vulnérabilité. C’est l’histoire d’un homme qui fait un choix par amour, mais est ensuite torturé par sa raison. Ce conflit entre l’amour et la vérité, je crois bien que c’est le sujet de tous mes films." (Frederic Foubert) (Translation)

Encore claims that,

Jane Austen, George Elliot and the Brontës all wrote what would now be considered variations on the romance novel. But their books continue to capture the human imagination and express part of the human experience that is accessible, I think, mainly because of the form the story takes. We need to recognize ourselves on the page because that is how we find context for our own experiences. (Gwenyfar Rohler)

ABC (Spain) reviews La casa del reloj, a novel by Álvaro Pombo.

Es una trama que adopta la forma truculenta de las novelas inglesas del XIX, con fincas rurales, herencias y odios familiares, que representó Jane Austen en «Orgullo y prejuicio» o, mejor aún, Emily Brontë en «Cumbres borrascosas» (por momentos Alfonso me parecía Heathcliff). (José María Pozuelo Yvancos) (Translation)

Hull Daily Mail features the  Beverley Literature Festival which opens today.

The festival is celebrating the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Brontë's birth with a number of events, including the Beverley Big Read with Rachel Joyce, and New Responses, a project between Beverley Literature Festival, Ilkley Literature Festival and Off the Shelf to commission three new writers to produce new work inspired by the remarkable Bronte family. Award-winning poet Andrew McMillan, singer-songwriter Nat Johnson and playwright Zodwa Nyoni will be putting their own individual spin on classic works – who knows what they'll come up with? (T Davidson)

Los Angeles Review of Books features Aldous Huxley and mentions, in passing, his script for Jane Eyre 1944. Tish Farrell tries to find the real life locations of some of Jane Eyre's most memorable scenes. English Symphony Orchestra/English String Orchestra interviews John Joubert on 'opera and Jane Eyre'.