A new Heathcliff

Theatre Weekly, Broadway World, The Stage and others all share the same press release announcing that there will be a new actor playing Heathcliff in Wise Children's production of Wuthering Heights.

Wise Children today announce that Liam Tamne joins the company as Heathcliff for the world première production of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights on 15 March, completing the run at the National ahead of the UK tour.

Adapted and directed by Emma Rice, the show is a co-production with the National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic and York Theatre Royal.

Tamne joins Lucy McCormick as Cathy, and Sam Archer (Lockwood/Edgar Linton), Nandi Bhebhe (The Leader of the Moor), Mirabelle Gremaud (Zillah), Stephanie Hockley (Ensemble), TJ Holmes (Robert), Craig Johnson (Mr Earnshaw/Dr Kenneth), Jordan Laviniere (John), Katy Owen (Isabella Linton/Linton Heathcliff), Tama Phethean (Hindley Earnshaw/Hareton Earnshaw) and Witney White (Frances Earnshaw/Young Cathy), with music performed by Sid Goldsmith, Nadine Lee and Renell Shaw.

After completing performances at the National Theatre on 19 March, the production tours to Hall for Cornwall; Norwich Theatre Royal; The Lowry, Salford; Sunderland Empire; Brighton Festival; Kings Theatre Edinburgh; and Eden Court, Inverness.

The Reviews Hub gives 3.5 stars out of 5 to Jane Hair, summing it up as 'Joyous, Quirky, Feminist'.

Charlotte, Anne and Emily Brontë are not just successful writers – they’re joint owners of a bustling hairdresser’s in the heart of Haworth. The sisters burst onto stage scrapping and fighting with brooms. In the first scene we get an amusing insight into daily life at the salon as they bicker, dance to pop blaring from the radio and roll their eyes at customers on the phone.

Jane Hair: The Brontës Restyled focuses on the budding careers of the writers and celebrates their work in a new and refreshing way. It’s a feminist, quirky reworking that brings each sister instantly to life and makes them equally loveable and flawed.

Elizabeth Gaskell, or “Lizzie G”, has written an article which reveals the real women hiding behind the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Furious at being exposed and slated, the sisters close their salon and focus on getting revenge by writing their own response.

Smith and Martin plunge the sisters right into the modern day as though they were always meant to be here, making this the perfect introduction for those who aren’t familiar with the famous works, while throwing in plenty of in-jokes for keen fans. Charlotte has signed a deal with Netflix, Anne flicks on her iPad when she’s meant to be listening and Bramwell flogs personalised art on Etsy – including tea towels with his own face on.

As the women bicker, share inside jokes and lovingly tease their hometown, their sisterly bond is thoroughly believable. Joelle Brabban is great as quick-to-anger and fiercely defensive Emily, Stephanie Rutherford ensures no one will forget or underestimate passionately feminist Anne in the future, and Keeley Lane captivates as Charlotte, the overprotective older sibling buckling under the pressure of keeping the family afloat. Charlotte’s insecurities about her crooked teeth and “plain” looks are heartbreaking, and seeing her continuously check her wrinkles and angles in the mirror is a touching detail.

Kevin Jenkins’ salon set design is stunning and inventive, with its purple neon sign and pink shampoo bottles. The sisters’ “towel-ography” is thoroughly entertaining and at one point, Charlotte and Emily blast Anne’s face with hairdryers so that her tresses flutter while she gives a rousing speech about women’s liberation.

Mid-way through the show, though the sisters become so engrossed in writing their rebuttal to Gaskell, there are few reminders of where the play is set besides the illuminated mirrors in the background. It’s a shame there wasn’t more of the hair dye mixing, floor-sweeping and customer-bashing that was so engrossing at the beginning.

It’s thrilling to watch the sisters’ genius brains whirr with new ideas. When the lights turn scarlet as Charlotte begins to describe the red room her new character Jane is locked in, the audience has goosebumps, and when the sisters whoop and cheer at a new idea it’s difficult not to join in. The play carries a heartwarming message; that they simply couldn’t have done it without each other, and that each sister equally deserves to be remembered. (Alice Hiley)

The York Press recommends going to see it:

Salon appointment of the week : Buglight Theatre in Jane Hair: The Brontës Restyled, York Theatre Royal, Studio, Thursday, 7.45pm

Sibling rivalry meets literary debate one explosive evening when stylists Anne, Emily and Charlotte Bronte cut, colour and style while sharing their hopes and dreams in Bradford's most creative beauty salon.

Buglight Theatre writers Kirsty Smith and Kat Rose-Martin offer this chance to meet the modern-day versions of three determined young women from Yorkshire who set the literary world on fire. For returns only, ring 01904 623568. (Charles Hutchinson)

An article in The Telegraph on 'Why Yorkshire is the new Cotswolds'.

Many of my London colleagues viewed a trip to Brent Cross as quite northern enough, thank you very much. I guess we Yorkshire folk are a bit weird, nibbling cheese with our apple pie and favouring a parkin pig over its southern counterpart, the gingerbread man. Yet I’d had a wonderful free-range childhood in the West Yorkshire village of Goose Eye. We’d been six miles from Haworth and the surrounding moors, where the Brontë sisters had gleaned their literary inspirations. [...]

Six miles along the coast, buzzier Scarborough is also enjoying a bit of a moment. Although its image leans towards kiss-me-quick, it was the UK’s first seaside resort – established in the 17th century – and now boasts excellent schools and decent transport links (70 minutes to Leeds by rail, and 45 minutes to York). Its recently refurbished Market Hall and Vaults is a labyrinth of quirky independent shops, while other delights include a medieval castle, fabulous Victorian architecture, a funicular railway and two sandy bays.

As one of Yorkshire’s more affordable areas (last year’s average house price was £181,104), the town lured author Rowan Coleman and her family of four children and a stepson from Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire. “I first fell in love with West Yorkshire six years ago, while researching my Brontë Mysteries novels [written under the name of Bella Ellis],” she says. “Gradually, my family wanted to move north too, for a better quality of life and a bigger house. During the pandemic, prices shot up in West Yorkshire and we were starting to wonder if we could afford it. Then last year I was appearing at a literature festival in Scarborough, in the church where Anne Brontë is buried, and I was blown away by the stunning views and beaches.” (Fiona Gibson)

Countryfile lists the 'Best British rural romantic films':

Jane Eyre (2011)

Director: Cary Fukunaga

The classic gothic romance, Jane Eyre treads a fine line between love story and thriller, as our governess heroine falls in love with brooding Mr Rochester while simultaneously being terrorised by a strange presence that stalks the corridors at night and seems determined to see everything burn. This 2011 adaptation is ably supported by the cast: Mia Wasikowska is a contained and non-histrionic Jane; Michael Fassbender makes an intense and desperate Rochester; Judi Dench gives Mrs Fairfax a steadiness that helps ground the far-fetched aspects of the tale. The Derbyshire Dales feature heavily: Haddon Hall becomes Thornfield Hall; Rochester’s horse rears up in the woodland of Chatsworth House; and Jane flees in distress to the rain-soaked moors. Director Cary Fukunaga is loyal to the darkness of the novel, capturing its psychological grimness, and has said that the film’s location was key. “Northern England – Yorkshire and Derbyshire, the moors and dales – they look like they’re something straight out of a Tim Burton horror film. The trees are all twisted by the wind; the bracken and the heather on the moors have this amazing hue. And the weather is so extreme and it changes all the time. The house even, Haddon Hall, is just so steeped in history, the spaces, the galleries, they sort of just breathe and you feel the presence of the history.” [...]

Wuthering Heights (2011)

Director: Andrea Arnold

This 2011 adaptation of Emily Bronte’s classic dark romance stars Kaya Scodelario as Catherine and James Howson as Heathcliff, although the first half is dominated by their younger counterparts, Shannon Beer as young Cathy and Solomon Glave as early Heathcliff. The film is formidable in its raw earthiness, rich with foreboding shots of the moor and whipped through with a biting wind that seems to inform every scene. Artfully weighty shots of a dying rabbit or hung pheasant and beautifully bruising panoramics of the landscape accompany the mean, harsh existence of life at the farmhouse. Everything is raw and brutal, creating a savage and uncomfortable love story that seems wildly unsuited to the word ‘romance’. It is a hard, heavy experience, much like the life of its protagonists. Filmed in North Yorkshire, Cotescue Park in Coverham became Thrushcross Grange, while Moor Close Farm in Thwaite is Wuthering Heights. (Maria Hodson)

Le Suricate (in French) reviews the French translation of Lauren Owen's novel The Quick.

Au niveau des références, on peut constater beaucoup de liens avec d’autres auteurs. Comme Oscar Wilde dont le domicile familial est si proche de l’événement déclencheur du livre et qui est présent pendant la représentation de L’éventail de Lady Windermere à laquelle James assiste. Ou encore Charlotte Brönte (sic) et son héroïne Jane Eyre qu’on perçoit dans le personnage de Charlotte (le prénom de celle-ci serait-il d‘ailleurs un clin d’œil à l’auteure ?). On ressent également Charles Dickens et Le Mystère d’Edwin Drood dans le texte gothique très riche. Pour conclure, cet ouvrage pourrait s’apparenter à un mélange de Kim Newman et de Bram Stoker. (Louise Busseniers) (Translation)

El Periódico de Extremadura (Spain) recommends Jane Eyre among other feminist reads.

Jane Eyre (1847) - Charlotte Brontë

Considerado un clásico de la literatura inglesa, Jane Eyre narra la historia de una mujer que optó por tomar las riendas de su propia vida y decidir por ella misma en la Inglaterra patriarcal del siglo XIX. (Gema Gallardo Díaz) (Translation)

Lundagård (Sweden) on how Tinder clashes with Romanticism (in which Jane Austen and the Brontës are all lumped together).

Folk är så dumma. Bara jag förstår mig på det där med kärlek på riktigt, för jag läste tvångsmässigt alla Austen- och Brontë-romaner under gymnasiet och vet att förälskelse ska vara smärtsam, motvillig och djupt problematisk tills det på magisk väg blir bra till slut. Dejtingerans strömlinjeformade sökprocess, ofta resulterande i arbetsintervjuliknande screening för ”romantisk kompatibilitet”, erbjuder en jämförelsevis högst osexig intrig. Brontë-romansen har förstås den smärre baksidan att den tenderar fucka upp en till gränspsykotiska nivåer, men vilken bladvändarkvalitet! (Ebba Frid) (Translation)