“We liked that Jane Eyre is an early story written in a first-person woman’s perspective,” says [Miriam] Suzanne, who wrote the adaptation. “It really follows Jane in her own words through a coming-of-age story. It’s a real mix of these tender emotional moments, bits of storytelling, and then these political asides where she talks about early feminist ideas. We found those layers interesting.”
Suzanne and [Julie] Rada also appreciate that the novel was originally published under Brontë’s androgynous pseudonym, Currer Bell.
“I think that the biggest conceptual change that people will notice is that looking back on the novel, things that at that point would’ve been read as close friendships between women — since both Julie and I are queer — read as very romantic. We decided to go with that and take that angle, even if it’s not the angle that was intended,” says Suzanne. “It’s not just a love story about Mr. Rochester anymore.”
In transforming such a prominent literary work into an intimate production, Suzanne and Rada were forced to shed a lot of the excess content, including peripheral characters and side plots. They also created an older Jane, who narrates the action, and a character representing Brontë herself. Actor Meghan Frank plays multiple characters, including Mr. Rochester and several women.
To pull off the production, Suzanne decided to incorporate one of her other artistic projects: Teacup Gorilla, a local indie-rock group that melds storytelling and poetry with music; Dameon Merkl of the Lost Walks also contributes original music to the project.
“The music allows us to be a little bit less literal," Suzanne says. "It’s not a musical, but the production is sort of interspersed with songs in a back-and-forth between theatrical scenes and scenes that are sung.”
Suzanne and Rada also had to figure out how to represent a character named Bertha, who was treated in ableist and racist ways in the novel, Suzanne says. Changing this representation was important to them, because ultimately they want to create socially positive art. (Sage Marshall)
Yorkshire Evening Post awaits eagerly the upcoming performances of the
Northern Ballet Company's Jane Eyre production in Leeds:
The ultimate heroine, Jane Eyre’s journey to overcome the odds is one of literature’s finest love stories and it will be brought to the stage in Leeds thanks to Northern Ballet. Orphaned at a young age and cruelly treated by her Aunt, Jane Eyre grows up knowing little kindness but goes on to become one of the most iconic heroines in literature.
With choreography by Cathy Marston, and music played live by Northern Ballet Sinfonia, Northern Ballet’s dance actors will bring this tale of romance to life.
Colour politics in
The Daily Star (Pakistan):
Moreover, the protagonist Jane fainting in a 'red' room in the classic novel Jane Eyre out of sheer fear of a ghost is a shout-out to the strong emotions associated with the colour. (Ramisa Haque)
The
New York Times reviews some new DVD releases, including Pedro Costa's 1994 film
Casa de Lava:
Mr. Costa, who wrote and directed the film, has said that he made it under the spell of the luridly titled Val Lewton B-movie “I Walked With a Zombie”(1943), itself inspired by the novel “Jane Eyre.” As in the Lewton film, a professional tending to a mysteriously bewitched patient is transported to a tropical island where, fascinated by the indigenous culture and colonial legacy, she strives to resolve her own sexual identity. (J. Hoberman)
Windy City Times interviews the writer
John Rechy:
Owen Keehnen: Speaking of, what writers most influenced you as a novice writer?
JR: A whole range: the classic writers, Greek tragedies, modern writers, Faulkner, Lorca, Styron, Carson McCullers ( Reflections in a Golden Eye is a tight masterpiece in which every character is despicable, and I love that ), Nabokov, Brontë, Thomas Berger, Proust, Joyce, Djuna Barnes, Flannery O'Connor. So many more. But I've been influenced by movie-serials, comic books; Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, Billie Holiday, Maria Ewing, Chuck Berry.
The poet Selina Tusitala Marsh describes in
The Guardian her experience writing and performing a
poem for Queen Elizabeth II on behalf of 53 nations for Commonwealth Day at Westminster Abbey:
Earlier, in the semi-empty abbey, I had wandered through the brass gates and up the stairs to the Henry VII Lady Chapel, sky-gazed at the pendant fan-vault ceiling – the orbis miraculum – milled round Poets’ Corner fingering Chaucer’s name (interred in 1556), tracing the Brontë sisters’ plaque, accidentally stepping on CS Lewis (it’s OK, his bones aren’t there). I needed to exit for a quick slice of sun after hours of being inside this most magnificent mausoleum of princes and poets. I remembered the passageway to the cloisters.
A
press release from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, Arts Council England, and Michael Ellis MP alerts of the possible exit from the UK of John Martin's painting
The Destruction of the Pharaoh's Host:
Martin’s mezzotints of Biblical subjects, such as The Destruction of Pharaoh’s Host published in 1833, were hugely popular and influential with admirers including Charles Dickens and the Brontë sisters who grew up with them on the walls of their father’s parsonage.
The
Riverside Dickens Festival events at
The Press-Enterprise:
Performers fill the streets and buildings to portray famous authors and other personalities, including Edgar Allan Poe, the Brontë sisters and Charles Dickens himself. Guests can have serious discussions with them, or simply take a photo or two. (Deanna Gomez)
The readers of
Eastern Daily Press recommend books for
World Book Day 2018:
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
As a teenager I was bewitched by the love story between Jane and the brooding, troubled Rochester. The whole story was tomb-dark lit only by the flickering flames of the fire that engulfed them and all that passion glowing in the embers! (Liz Coates, Great Yarmouth)
The Huffington Post (in French) reviews the Québec performances of
Hurlevents:
Hurlevents, la dernière création de Fanny Britt, porte bien son nom, et ce, au-delà du jeu de mots tiré du titre du roman dont elle est inspirée : « Les Hauts de Hurle-vent ». J'en suis sortie complètement étourdie, car fouettée d'un tourbillon de thèmes controversés dont souffre notre société. Et peut-être là mon seul reproche sur cette écriture brillante et modeste. (Marie-Claude Plourde) (Translation)
Tips (Austria) is excited about the upcoming
performances in Gmunden of Jane Eyre. The Musical:
In seinem vierten Jahr zeigt der Musical Frühling in Gmunden die deutschsprachige Erstaufführung des Broadway-Musicals Jane Eyre, nach dem gleichnamigen und mehrmals verfilmten Roman von Charlotte Brontë. (...)
Elisabeth Sikora spielt die Titelheldin: „Jane Eyre ist eine der schönsten Rollen der Musical-Literatur. Eine spannende Figur, eine starke Frau, die für Freiheit und Selbstbestimmung kämpft. Dazu diese wunderbare Musik – es ist jede einzelne Nummer so schön!“ Yngve Gasoy-Romdal, der den geheimnisvollen Mr. Rochester mimt, freut sich schon auf die Produktion: „Eine tolle Geschichte und tolles Team, Markus Olzinger und natürlich Caspar Richter, mein alter Dirigent vom Musical Mozart in Wien. Ich freue mich auf Österreich!“ (Daniela Toth) (Translation)
Le Devoir (in French) talks about the writer
François Blais:
François Blais se souvient d’avoir longtemps potassé la bibliothèque familiale de son père prof de français et de sa mère infirmière, une collection « assez fuckée », qui abritait à la fois de la science-fiction, des Agatha Christie, du Boris Vian et du Réjean Ducharme. Une absence de hiérarchisation entre culture savante et populaire trouvant son miroir dans les émois culturels désordonnés de ses personnages, lecteurs des soeurs Brontë et de Stephen King, amateurs de cinéma d’auteur et de jeux vidéo débiles, sur qui le poids de l’actualité littéraire ou des « livres-qu’il-faut-absolument-avoir-lus » n’a aucune emprise. (Dominic Tardif) (Translation)
Libreriamo (in Italian) lists books to read if you are in love with someone already engaged:
Un libro che racconti un amore travagliato come quelli di Heathcliff e Catherine in Cime tempestose di Emily Brontë è il suggerimento di Emanuela Isola. (Translation)
Maybe the above-mentioned someone should have read this
Actitud Fem (in Spanish) list of books you should read before you marry:
Cumbres Borrascosas - Emily Brontë
Una historia de amor que sufre los peligros de la mente humana, el amor, la locura, la venganza, el odio y la frustración.
Heathcliff llega a las Cumbres Borrascosas para desatar una serie de emociones que se van revelando a través de una historia de amor. (Translation)
Finding
Wuthering Heights on both lists is a bit confusing.
Levante News (Italy) presents a curious theatre production:
La radio racconta at the Sori Teatro:
Martedì 27 febbraio, alle ore 21.00 al Teatro comunale di Sori, “La radio racconta”. Anteprima nazionale.
Di e con Gian Luca Favetto e Marino Sinibaldi
Produzione Teatro Pubblico Ligure (...)
Dal palcoscenico i due protagonisti della serata sveleranno i segreti nel lavoro di autori, conduttori, tecnici e registi, ripercorrendo la nascita di alcuni programmi culto del canale Rai, di cui si ascolteranno sigle e voci, divenute negli anni veri e propri marchi di fabbrica evocativi di un tema: il cinema per Hollywood Party, i libri per Fahrenheit (inventata da Sinibaldi), l’attualità per Tutta la città ne parla, la lirica per La Barcaccia, la storia delle religioni con Uomini e profeti, il teatro con Piazza Verdi proseguendo con Radio3 Scienza, Radio Tre Suite, le splendide letture ad alta voce (in questo periodo Anna Maria Guarnieri legge Cime tempestose di Emily Brontë). (Translation)
The rise of bibliomemoirs in
Financial Times including Samantha Ellis’s
Take Courage: Anne Brontë and the Art of Life. Country Living lists positive quotes about life including one by Charlotte Brontë.
Englishable talks about the 'romance' in
Wuthering Heights.
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