Math Problems with Chickens

Financial Times presents a new and quite singular adaptation of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall that will open next April 24 in Bristol:

A grand piano stands centre stage. A woman sits at the keyboard and launches into one of Mozart’s sonatas for violin and piano. It looks like an ordinary concert, except for one thing: the violinist is Awol. Whenever the pianist plays a phrase of the sonata, she is answered by an actor, who, through tone of voice and physical gesture, mimics the emotional contours of the missing violin part. The result is both an unusual piece of theatre and an unusual take on Mozart.
This is The Tenant, a new work set to arrive at London’s National Portrait Gallery, as part of a UK tour, in late April. Its narrative comes from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Brontë’s novel about a woman’s struggle under the domination of her alcoholic, dissolute husband. Its artistic format has no precedent. This is more than a play with incidental music, or music with a dollop of drama: Concert Theatre, the company behind the show, aims to be a perfect amalgam of both art forms. (...)
Her choice of Scriabin for The Tenant, similarly, shines new light on Brontë’s text. “Many people who have read the novel probably won’t remember that the heroine is an artist: it isn’t mentioned much,” says Chang. “But in my opinion it’s very important, because painting gives Helen some independence from her husband. Using Scriabin’s music, which is so strongly influenced by colour, helps me to make this the focus of my interpretation.” (Hannah Nepil)

Keighley News talks about the latest settlers at the Haworth Parish Church graveyard: chickens.

Haworth Parish Church bosses have cried fowl about the latest visitors to their graveyard.
They are far from egg-static the cemetery has been invaded by a flapping flock of hens and cockerels, with up to 30 of the feathered ‘fiends’ setting up home only yards from the historic Brontë Parsonage Museum.
They have made nests in shrubbery around St Michael and All Saints Church, laying eggs and even hatching chickens.
The batty birds run in and around the ever-present tourists, easily evade capture by church members and have even disrupted weddings.
Parochial Church Council member, Sarah Kirk, said the problem is certainly nothing to crow about. (David Knights)

Spin Magazine talks about Kate Bush's Coachella controversy:

While Kate Bush’s live productions are seemingly ornate enough to take up the space of the Coachella stage, her first ever American show would no doubt be best served by a more hermetically sealed viewing experience: just you and Kate inside a medium-sized concert hall or (dare I suggest) an arena, the live music and stage scenery recreating all the visions conjured by listening to “Wuthering Heights” on a loop. (Maybe some alcohol, too.) (Jeremy Gordon)

The Dorset Echo presents the We Are Brontë performances in Dorchester:

A ‘mad-cap’ reimagining of the Brontë myth is coming to Dorchester.
We Are Brontë , described as “Morecambe and Wise meets David Lynch,” will be at Dorchester Arts centre on Friday, April 21, at 8pm.
The play is presented in an irreverent and playful style by Publick Transport Theatre Company. Taking the real and imaginary worlds of Yorkshire's literary siblings as their inspiration, two performers combine “rigorous physical theatre with anarchic comedy, deconstructing not only gothic themes of love, madness and revenge, but also themselves.”
Part play, part enquiry into the act of putting on a play, this performance promises to be “no ordinary Brontë adaptation.”

McSweeney's has a list of math problems for English majors.

If, on Monday, two Brontë sisters fancy the same Byronic hero, then by Sunday, how many Brontë sisters will be happy? Will it be the same number of Brontë sisters who were happy before Monday? (E. Smith)

Candy Magazine talks about the remake of the Pinoy classic film Hihintayin Kita sa Langit 1991:(including a blunder)

Remake of: Hihintayin Kita sa Langit (Carlos Siguion-Reyna, 1991)
This classic stars Richard Gomez and Dawn Zulueta as lovers from different classes. Probably most known as an adaptation to Charlotte Brontë's (!!) Wuthering Heights, it's the perfect time for KathNiel to maintain their status as one of the top premier pairings in the country in this tragic drama. After all, they have proven their chops already from their last offering Barcelona: A Love Untold. (Nicole Latayan)

The Times Fashion column talks about gingham monochromes, the new black:

Take Shrimps’s full-skirted Hermione dress, which manages to look a bit Jane Eyre and a lot hipster at the same time and is therefore suited to glam and grungier tastes (£450, matchesfashion.com). (Harriet Walker)

FranceInfo, CulturoPoing and Le Suricate (in French) reviews the film The Young Lady:

"The Young Lady", drame historique entre "Lady Chatterley" et les sœurs Brontë. (...)
Dans "The Young lady", Katherine, 19 ans, est mariée à un hobereau rustre et dominateur de deux fois son âge, qui lui interdit de mettre le nez dehors, l'astreignant à sa seule compagnie, celle de son beau-père et des domestiques. Elle, telle une héroïne des sœurs Brontë, n’aspire qu’à battre la campagne, traverser la lande, et les bois. (Jacky Bornet) (Translation)

Ne vous fiez pas à la texture romantique des premières images de The Young Lady, à cette impression de pénétrer dans un univers familier, à la fois sensible et mélancolique. Car si le film a pour cadre une maison perdue au beau milieu de la lande, s’il évoque dans ses premières minutes la relation fusionnelle d’une jeune fille à la nature, le parallèle avec les Hauts de Hurlevent s’arrête là. Drame social, fait-divers macabre, chronique de l’ennui et de la désillusion amoureuse, The Young Lady est en réalité plus proche de Madame Bovary que du romantisme exalté des sœurs Brontë. (Sophie Yavari) (Translation)

S’il fait penser, dans un premier temps, à la tentative d’Andrea Arnold d’adapter Les Hauts de Hurlevent dans un style moderne, à grand renforts de caméra virevoltante et de travail sur le son, ce Lady Macbeth se révèle finalement beaucoup plus classique, ou tout du moins plus cadré. (Thibaut Grégoire) (Translation)

DeMorgen (in Flemish) and Le Vif ( in French) review the same film:

Regisseur William Oldroyd werpt zich met dit sterke debuut meteen op als een grote belofte. Hij durft de empathie van de kijker op het spel te zetten, en kiest resoluut voor een moderne aanpak – de film doet in al zijn ruigheid meer denken aan Andrea Arnolds Wuthering Heights dan aan pakweg Pride and Prejudice. (Lieven Trio) (Translation) 

À rebours de la traditionnelle débauche de moyens des films d'époque, le réalisateur fait le pari du dépouillement et de l'austérité, soulignés par la rigueur ascétique de sa mise en scène. Un parti-pris radical venu renforcer la force d'une oeuvre évoquant le Wuthering Heights d'Andrea Arnold, et transcendant comme ce dernier son cadre et son époque. (Jean-François Pluijgers) (Translation)

Il Piacenza (in Italian) reviews the book Il Sindaco Provvisorio by Mauro Pisani:
"Il sindaco provvisorio" - Blog
„

“Ogni riferimento a persone esistenti o a fatti realmente accaduti – evidenziano le pagineiniziali- è puramente casuale, tuttavia la postfazione narra che nel 1848 Charlotte Brontë, dopo avere pubblicato con lo pseudonimo di Currer Bell quel capolavoro della letteratura mondiale che è Jane Eyre, alla domanda "Do you like London, Miss Brontë"?" rispose "Yes and no", scandendo le parole con lentezza e gravità.
Non per fare ignobili paragoni –scrive il nostro autore - non sono piccolo, non sono donna e soprattutto non ho scritto un capolavoro- ma a chi mi chiedesse, come già è accaduto, se i fatti raccontati sono veri oppure no, dovrei ricorrere alle stesse parole della scontrosa Charlotte: "Yes and no", aggiungendo, come scrisse il sommo Poeta: "... e più non dimandare". (Renato Passerini) (Translation)

Lanza Digital reviews the theatre play Funeral y pasacalle by Francisco Nieva:

Cierto que es una comedia que se convierte en tragedia, sin concesiones y con tintes euripídeos. El oso viene a resultar un deus ex machina, que resuelve fatalmente el destino del héroe. Pero el héroe es Grandío, no Ermelina. Él es quien incurre en la Hamartía trágica al presentarse como lo que en realidad es, un gitano romántico (vid. v. gr. un precedente en Cumbres Borrascosas, de la tonante Emile Brontë ) , y quien, a consecuencia de la anagnórisis, que en este caso sería el reconocimiento de la verdadera naturaleza de su amada y de la sociedad en general, sufre un proceso de transformación que lo lleva finalmente a la muerte. (Martín-Miguel Rubio Esteban) (Translation)

La Vanguardia interviews Rodrigo Fresán, author of La Parte Soñada

Ahora llega La parte soñada (Literatura Random House), la segunda entrega, un recorrido por esa especie de zona sucia que es a la vez un inventario de sueños y de aforismos entorno a la idea del insomnio, y a su vez, de escritores insomnes, y también un delicioso y enciclopédico zambullirse en la historia de las hermanas y el hermano Brönte (sic). Dicho de otro modo: la historia de un puñado de niños condenados a tratar de vivir en otro mundo, a imaginar, a partir de una colección de soldaditos de madera, sagas literarias ambientadas en tres universos paralelos, y después, la historia de un éxito y de algunos fracasos, y de la envidia entre hermanos, y, finalmente, de la desdichada muerte de la más brillante de los cuatro: Emily. (...)
En La parte soñada, el eje alrededor del que todo pivota es Cumbres borrascosas, la novela de Emily Brontë, una suerte de pesadilla, una novela «no de vampiros», como especifica Fresán, «sino de vampirizados», «una novela sonámbula» que el autor relee «una vez al año». En ella encuentra, dice, «un profundo desprecio por la realidad» que comparte con Vladimir Nabokov, el otro motor de la novela. «Podría decirse que la novela se divide en tres partes, que corresponden al sueño -en la primera, cuando se relata todo el asunto de Onirium, la empresa que compra sueños-, el trance -la segunda, dedicada a Cumbres borrascosas- y el insomnio -la tercera, en la que reina Nabokov, un Nabokov perseguido-. (Laura Fernández) (Translation)

Milwaukee Rep on Tumblr reviews the Cincinnati performances of Polly Teale's Jane Eyre.