Every time I hear someone describe Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights as a “romance,” I die a little inside. It’s a portrait of dysfunction, abuse, codependency, and revenge. Which, sure, I guess is romantic in its own way, but c’mon: Heathcliff and Catherine are the Sid and Nancy of the moors. (Maybe too many people got suckered in by Kate Bush’s diaphanous sinuosity in her video for “Wuthering Heights.”)Emma Rice’s adaptation (which she also directs) for Britain’s Wise Children in this Chicago Shakespeare WorldStage presentation leans unapologetically into the wildness and rage of the feral lovers. [...]Over nearly three hours, Rice’s kinetic ensemble breathes life into these doomed figures, aided by a chorus known as the Moors, replacing the narrative function of housekeeper Nelly Dean in the original. (Jordan Laviniere, the leader of the Moors, is a particularly hypnotic figure.) It’s a smart choice, letting us know that the wild land itself keeps the secrets of the doomed humans who trod upon it.Vicki Mortimer’s set and costume designs capture the paradoxical starkness and wildness of the landscape; Laviniere’s chorus leader wears bright colors and a headdress of blossoms and brambles, but the action is set against a dark stage with minimal scenery, except for flats representing Wuthering Heights and the Linton estate of Thrushcross Grange. (The closed doors and windows suggest the suffocating poisonous air trapped inside.) For furniture, there’s mostly just a sculptural pile of chairs—reminders of the people who are no longer alive to occupy them. The three-piece band (with occasional assists from other ensemble members), led by Pat Moran, delivers composer Ian Ross’s original music with gusto.There is a void at the heart of this pitiless tale, and the production, despite skillful use of whimsical puppets and clever props, leans into the nihilism, harshness, and brutality of the story right until the glimpse of hope at the end. But Rice’s staging also leavens the proceedings with moments of absurdist grim humor. (Whenever TJ Holmes’s harried doctor shows up, you know there’s going to be another name on a chalkboard. Which, come to think of it, isn’t so much absurd as it is realist, given the tubercular times.)Most importantly, she never lets us forget that the love of Catherine and Heathcliff, no matter its roots in childlike innocence, grew tangled and toxic, strangling all in its path. At the performance I saw, understudies Katy Ellis and Ricardo Castro played the roles with more passion than tenderness. It’s the right choice in a production that, underneath its postmodern concept, understands Emily Brontë’s near-pitiless story to its bones. (Kerry Reid)
As I left the theater after a marathon of almost three hours trapped within the walls of Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights,” I heard a few audience members grumbling that it was supposed to be romantic. They had read the book; it read as a romance, not a tragedy. This is, in a nutshell, why I hate the book “Wuthering Heights.” Brontë’s work was taken as a love story when it’s a more complex narrative about trauma. For over 150 years, this story, like “Phantom of the Opera,” has been thrown around in popular culture as if it were a love for the ages between Catherine and Heathcliff. In reality, Heathcliff is repugnant, Catherine clearly has post-traumatic stress disorder, and ninety-five percent of the characters are insufferable.All that said, though I will forever loathe the book, this is an inventive and gorgeous retelling. [...]At the performance I attended, several cast members were replaced with understudies. Although we had a different Catherine (Katy Ellis) and Heathcliff (Ricardo Castro), the cast as a whole was impeccable. As a play with music, the entire ensemble had to be gifted storytellers. Rice’s direction allowed each cast member to play to their individual talents, transforming this story from page to stage. For none is that more true than Georgia Bruce, whose portrayal of both Isabella Linton and Little Linton stole the show with every scene. Bruce’s comedy was exactly the levity this play needed. Frankly, it could do with a bit more self-deprecation, like the first song in act two, and take itself less seriously.Brontë knew what she was doing when she named her novel “Wuthering Heights.” The winds are a character in themselves throughout this play though the real tempests are the relationships within. If you’re looking for a love story, you’re looking in the wrong place. If you want a thorough examination of trauma, toxic relationships and cycle-breaking, come pay a visit to “Wuthering Heights.” Or if, like me, you detested the book, give this show a try. Perhaps you’ll walk away with a deeper appreciation for Brontë’s work—or at least for the astounding performances. (Amanda Finn)
[WHAT BOOK] …left you cold?It’s hard when there’s a classic novel that everyone loves, and then you try it and really struggle. Mine is Wuthering Heights. They do say that it all depends what age you are when you read a novel, what your circumstances are when it enters your imagination. For me, I loved Jane Eyre, and probably always will.I prefer its relative restraint and sense of progress and intimacy with the main character, compared with the unremitting gloom and madness of Wuthering Heights. Everyone is so over the top and it’s so bleak. It was a bit of a trudge for me.
has some very lovely gothic vibes as it is partial set in Yorkshire. You’ll definitely be feeling like you’re in Wuthering Heights, except you can expect a Happily Ever After for this couple! (Nicole Bossio)
11. Emily (Frances O’Connor; Feb. 17)A highlight at TIFF, about which Christopher Schobert said in his review, “Emily, the directorial debut for Mansfield Park and A.I.: Artificial Intelligence star Frances O’Connor, is one of the more remarkably assured first efforts in recent memory. Shot with breathtaking beauty and acted with extraordinary emotion and grace, this exploration of the life and development of Emily Brontë is tremendously enveloping. Emily looks deep into Brontë’s life story for evidence of what that really means. While it is unclear how much of the film is historically accurate and how much is conjecture, O’Connor’s account of the author of Wuthering Heights feels respectful and well-reasoned.” (Jordan Raup)
. . . the 10-day event, which gets underway Friday with a gala screening of the Emily Brontë biographical drama, Emily.Festival director Kathy Kay said she expects to hear raves about the literary-themed film by Golden Globe nominee Frances O’Connor, as champions of the festival have always supported films from the U.K., she said. “We never have an over-arching theme for the festival, what we try and do is talk to our audience about what has been successful here and what people really enjoy. We steer along that way.” (Mike Devlin)
4. She once visited Haworth, home of the Brontë family.In 1904, Woolf, aged 22, took a trip to Haworth, the West Yorkshire village where Charlotte, Emily, and the other Brontës spent their formative years. Though the family home itself wouldn’t become a museum until the late 1920s, the Brontë Society had been running a museum in town since 1895; and Brontë fans had been making pilgrimages to Haworth even while Charlotte was still alive (she died in 1855).Woolf wrote about her visit in an essay published in The Guardian, an early draft of which is featured in the NYPL exhibition. In it, she interrogates the merits of literary tourism, deeming that “The curiosity is only legitimate when the house of a great writer or the country in which it is set adds something to our understanding of his books.” She decided that Haworth fit the bill: “Haworth expresses the Brontës; the Brontës express Haworth; they fit like a snail to its shell.” (Ellen Gutoskey)
Everyone loves a hero character, a protagonist that is relatable yet extraordinary: think Katniss Everdeen, Harry Potter, Jane Eyre. These characters are fun to read, yes, it’s why they sell, but why not try something a little bit different? (Jessie Burchett)
Progressive political and creative figures pepper his text. They range from infamous Newcastle council leader T Dan Smith and legendary Manchester record producer and promoter Tony Wilson to musicians and writers such as Delia Derbyshire, Emily Brontë, DH Lawrence and many others who dreamt, composed and built a different north. (John McTernan)
4. Wuthering Heights by Kate BushEmily Bronte wrote “Wuthering Heights” and Bush penned a song with a similar title after watching the last ten minutes of a BBC mini-series of the book’s adaptation. Bush got inspired to read the book after watching the series so she could get the right background of the story. The singer penned the lyrics in 1977 during a full moon, and within one sitting at a piano, she was done. The song became the first in the UK to be a no. 1 hit written and performed by a female artiste. (Linda Giantino)
After the first shocks of the divorce, some writers, thinkers and artists were asked to write essays for a book titled Goodbye Europe. It was published in 2017. Rereading it recently, I realised that not only did Brexit betray all our futures, it erased the past too. Shakespeare set his plays in Rome, Venice and France; Charlotte and Emily Bronte taught English in Belgium and spoke perfect French; Byron wandered across the continent and lived happily in Sintra in Portugal; Turner loved and painted the landscapes of Italy. Their artistic souls could not be contained within little England. (Yasmin Alibhai-Brown)
0 comments:
Post a Comment