Jane Hair tells the story of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, re-positioning them as hairdressers who are struggling to get their writing out to a wider audience.
On Saturday the performance was at the birthplace of the Brontës, Thornton, where Jane Hair was held at De Luca Hair Boutique in a sold-out show. (...)
The play has been created by actor Kat Rose Martin, from Bierley, who also plays Emily, and writer Kirsty Smith, who grew up in Haworth and now lives in Ilkley, as a way of bringing the work of the sisters to the attention of more young people.
The title was inspired by the name of a hair salon in Crossflatts.
Jane Hair transforms Emily into a poet who posts her “poetry slams” online, Charlotte into a playwright and Anne into a blogger. They work in the salon with their brother Branwell, a frustrated painter and gambling addict, but dream of making a living from their writing.
Miss Smith said previous events she had been to that discussed the Brontës had been fairly dry, and this was an effort to make the family more relevant to modern, and younger, audiences.
She said: “The idea is to get more younger people involved in the Brontës’ work.
“I thought there wasn’t a great deal of ownership of them locally. People all over the world have this ownership of them, but we wanted more people in Bradford district to know more about the amazing story of these sisters who achieved something absolutely massive.” (Alistair Shand)
Also in
Keighley News an alert for next month at the Parsonage:
Children's author Chris Riddell will be in Haworth on February 13 to lead two special events tied in with the Brontë bicentennial.
He will lead an illustration workshop specially designed for teenagers, title, entitled Everyone Can Draw, at the Brontë Parsonage Museum.
This will be followed by An Evening With Chris Riddell entitled The Doodler, which will aim to give fans an insight into how he works. (...)
Chris will be at the Brontë Parsonage Museum from 2.30pm to 4.30pm to lead the Everyone Can Draw workshop.
A spokesman said: “Chris, who has illustrated more than 150 books, believes that everyone can draw, and we’re thrilled to offer the perfect opportunity to learn from someone who has mastered his craft.
“All you need, according to Chris, is a notebook and a stub of a pencil, so sign up and join in with your notebook and pencil in hand.”
The two-hour workshop is devised especially for teenagers.
An Evening With Chris Riddle, “The Doodler”, will be in the Old School Room in Haworth at 6.30pm. (Jim Seton)
British Weekly interviews Kathrine Bolger Hyde, author of
Bloodstains with Brontë:
“For the last twelve years I’ve spent a week every summer at a writing retreat in Rockaway Beach,” says Bloodstains with Brontë author Kathrine Bolger Hyde. “A fictionalized version of that town seemed like the perfect setting for a mystery series. With the tiny permanent population, who would all know each other well, plus the transient holiday people, who would provide plenty of options for killers and victims. Also, the weather there can get pretty wild in the colder months. That seemed perfect for a book based on the Brontës.”
The book opens as Emily and Katie host a murder mystery dinner on Halloween night to benefit the local clinic. Emily Cavanaugh inherited Windy Corner on the wildly beautiful Oregon coast in the first book in the series, Arsenic with Austin. Emily is remodeling, preparing to host writer’s retreats. Sheriff Luke Richards is the love of Emily’s life.
Emily’s housekeeper Katie is a young single mother. The murder mystery dinner turns into a real murder mystery when Katie is found standing over a body with a bloody knife in her hand. Emily doesn’t believe Katie killed anyone, although the sheriff does. To save Katie, Emily must find the real killer. All through the book Emily is reading books by the Brontës. (...)
Bloodstains with Brontë is the second book in a series that inhabits a different classic author in each book. The series titles proceed alphabetically, first Austen then Bronte. Hyde wants to use women authors as much as possible.
“The Brontës were a natural choice,” says Hyde. “I’ve always loved their work and been fascinated by them as people. In fact, it was reading a biography of Charlotte Brontë that inspired me to pull my old dream of writing novels off the shelf, after years of working and child-rearing, and finally get started. Charlotte’s dedication and perseverance in the face of nearly overwhelming obstacles helped me believe that I could overcome the much smaller obstacles in my own life.”
Hyde’s favorite Brontë novel is Jane Eyre. “It’s a groundbreaking book in terms of its heroine, a woman who appears conventionally meek and mild on the surface but underneath is independent, strong-minded, and determined to make a better life for herself. I also love the fact that she has strong principles that she won’t sacrifice, even for the sake of an overpowering love. And the scene where Jane hears Mr. Rochester calling to her across the many miles that divide them is one of the most powerful in all literature. It gives me shivers just to think about it.” (Gabriella Pantera)
In
The Guardian, Genevieve Fox writes about her book
Milkshakes and Morphine: A Memoir of Love and Loss:
Being an orphan is shameful partly because you are different, and no child likes that, and because parents and family confer status and safety. Not having parents is like being on the run. You’re an outsider. You do things your way, because there is no other way. Think of the literary orphan Jane Eyre. Proud, fiery and shamed by her lowly status, she secures herself a governess job. Had Charlotte Brontë lived later, she might have had her heroine advertise her services in The Lady, the weekly magazine that has provided posts for household staff since 1885. In 1972, after my own guardian was unable to look after my brother, sister and me, a classified advertisement was placed in it for someone to care for us. “Three recently orphaned children,” ran the ad, “need kind, loving, cheerful and intelligent lady (can be single, divorced or widowed) or married couple in 30-50 age group to make a home for them. All three bright and very rewarding. Boy (15), shy, articulate, bookish, girls (10 and 9), musical, interested in horses, gardening, sophisticated for age. All at Sussex boarding schools.”
The Sunday Times' weekly records include a revival:
Kate Bush
The Kick Inside
Rhino
Forty years old next month, this remains one of the most remarkable debuts in pop history. It was released when Bush was just 19, and many of its songs were written when she was even younger. The utterly alien Wuthering Heights was the first No 1 single written solely by a female artist (a shocking detail in itself). Her audacity, steely self-confidence, complete originality, operatic vocals and gothic lyrics paved the way for contemporary pioneers such as Björk, Lorde and St Vincent. (Dan Cairns)
College Candy talks about a NY bar with a strict grammar-policy:
Despite the fact that even Charlotte Brontë used the word “literally” to mean “figuratively,” using the word in a hyperbolic or figurative way is a practice that many grammar lovers resent. Now, one East Village bar is taking grammar-policing a step further, banning the word “literally” from its premises altogether.
Dive bar Continental posted a sign in its window this week reading: “Sorry but if you say the word ‘literally’ inside Continental you have 5 minutes to finish your drink and then you must leave. If you actually start a sentence with ‘I literally’ you must leave immediately!!! This is the most overused, annoying word in the English language and we will not tolerate it. Stop Kardashianism now!” (Molly Thomson)
A local library recommends books in
The Newton Bee:
“Mr. Rochester by Sarah Shoemaker is a great read for anyone who loves Jane Eyre. It’s a retelling of that tale from the perspective of Edward Fairfax Rochester, who starts out as a sensitive, open-hearted boy, and what happens to form the mercurial personality whom Jane meets at Thornfield,” said Lucy Handley, in Adult Programs. (Andy Hutchinson)
The Irish Times interviews the restaurateurs Marco Pierre White and Geraldine Fitzpatrick:
Favourite destination to visit?
Marco: I like visiting Ireland because I like the weather. I don’t like the sun, because I’m a Yorkshire boy, you see. We like wind and rain, cold, snow, damp, frost, mist. I can’t cope with the sun every day. I like damp weather and anywhere that’s green.
Geraldine: Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff stuff.
Marco: The moors. Dry stone walls, sheep, dark pubs with low ceilings, pints. That’s what I like. I like the winter when the evenings come in early.
Deccan Herald on 'bad boys':
I think the whole concept of good and bad has been turned on its head for quite some time and this isn't even new. Remember Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities? Or even Heathcliff? Then again, the kids I ask this question to, have no clue who these 'bad' guys are. To them, most of the bad guys are misunderstood and yet, very cool. One of my younger participants called out from the audience once, saying, "They have powers and they're not afraid to use them!" (Andaleeb Wajid)
Aargauer Zeitung (Switzerland) recommends reading Elena Ferrante:
Ferrante erzählt, als Kind sei sie überzeugt gewesen, ein gutes Buch müsse einen männlichen Protagonisten haben. Es störte sie, und doch blieb sie lange der Meinung, die grössten Autoren seien Männer und wer gut erzählen wolle, müsse schreiben wie sie, wie Defoe, Flaubert, Tolstoi oder Dostojewski. Die Bücher der wenigen weiblichen Vorbilder, Jane Austen oder die Schwestern Brontë, schienen ihr zu dünn.
Später erkannte sie, dass die Bedeutung dieser Autorinnen darin lag, eine weibliche Tradition überhaupt erst einmal zu begründen. Feministisches Gedankengut hat sie, wie sie sagt, «erwachsen» gemacht und sie dazu geführt, von ihrem eigenen Geschlecht und dessen Verschiedenheit zu erzählen. Um dabei aber mindestens so gut wie Männer zu sein, ist sie überzeugt, braucht es Authentizität, tiefes Eintauchen in das eigene, innere Erleben und grösstmögliche Nähe. (Anne-Sophie Scholl) (Translation)
Trishajennreads reviews
Jane by Aline Brush MacKenna and Ramón K. Pérez.
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