Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë didn’t sit with their backs hunched over laptops as ChatGPT spat​​ out the plots of Emma and Jane Eyre

Australian Arts Review features Emma Rice's Wuthering Heights.

For those who have devoured Emily Bronte’s sprawling Gothic novel, this production will prove a fascination, not the least because of the economy with which the director and her creatives have managed to compress the myriad of detail contained in the epic novel into a production that runs less than three hours. [...]

Only John Leader as Heathcliff, Stephanie Hockley as Catherine and Nandi Bhebhe as the Leader of the Moors play a single character throughout. Each offers a memorable portrayal. The other eight members of the company each play at least two or more supporting characters.

On opening night, not all the actors had adjusted their vocal delivery to the size of the theatre, resulting in the loss of vital information. This, coupled with the heightened acting style, the ever-changing procession of neurotic characters, and Rice’s frenetic direction, although admittedly clever, provided a significant challenge to those trying to keep track of the convoluted storyline.

This was particularly evident after interval when thirteen-year-old Cathy Linton is introduced and the story of how three years later she falls in love with Heathcliff’s son Linton commences. Despite the skill of the actors, the over-the-top melodrama of the pair’s story began to elicit nervous giggles, even belly laughs, rather than empathy.

Some laughs had also occurred in the first half of the production, and although it may have been the director’s intention to insert a few laughs into the proceedings to lighten the mood, although welcomed by some, they felt incongruous in the context of the storyline, and raised questions as to whether they were purposely placed or accidental.

For devotees of Wuthering Heights there is much to enjoy in this striking production. For those yet to be persuaded, this is your opportunity. (Bill Stephens OAM)

Screen Rant recommends the '15 Best Romance & Romantasy Books To Read Ahead Of Valentine's Day' and one of them is

Jane Eyre

Written By Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre is a historical romance novel, that has helped to forge the romance genre into what it is today. Brontë's novel follows the life of Jane Eyre, the title's namesake, an orphan raised in an incredibly unloving home by her aunt. However, instead of letting her troubled childhood suppress her further, Jane finds her own independence and employment at Thornfield Hall as a governess for the brooding Mr. Rochester. Her new position gives her the life and freedom she always wanted, but just as she discovers her feelings for Mr. Rochester, Jane uncovers Thornfield Hall's darkest secret. (Kiersten Hall)

A contributor to Berkeley Beacon discusses a comment on AI by screenwriter and director Paul Schrader.

“Every idea ChatGPT came up with (in a few seconds) was good. And original. And fleshed out. Why should writers sit around for months searching for a good idea when AI can provide one in seconds?” —Paul Schrader

Uh, maybe because that’s their job? [...]

Homer didn’t use AI. Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë didn’t sit with their backs hunched over laptops as ChatGPT spat​​ out the plots of “Emma” and “Jane Eyre.” Leonardo da Vinci didn’t type in “brunette girl with weird stare in front of landscape oil painting” into ChatGPT and paste the print on a canvas. He spent fourteen years creating what we now know as one of the most famous paintings in the world. Literary and artistic greats are deemed as such because their work is their own; it’s born from emotion, experience, and creativity, all things that AI lacks. (Helen Armstrong)