Today, September 26, the Birmingham Repertory Theatre premieres a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights written by April De Angelis:Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company presentsMore information on the
Wuthering Heights
Fri 26 Sep 2008 – Sat 18 Oct 2008
By Emily Bronte, Adapted by April De Angelis
Tickets £10 to £32, concessions available
A brand new adaptation brings Emily Bronte’s passionate and spellbinding tale of forbidden love and revenge to life on stage.
Set on the wild, windswept Yorkshire moors, Wuthering Heights is the tempestuous story of free-spirited Catherine and dark, brooding Heathcliff. As children running wild and free on the moors, Cathy and Heathcliff are inseparable.
As they grow up their affection deepens into a passionate love, but Cathy lets her head rule her heart as she chooses to marry the wealthy Edgar Linton.
Heathcliff flees broken-hearted only to return seeking terrible vengeance on those he holds responsible, with epic and tragic results.
April De Angelis is one of the UK’s most innovative dramatists. Her plays have included A Laughing Matter at the National Theatre, Hush at the Royal Court and The Warwickshire Testimony for the RSC.
Cast:
* Servant: Martin Allanson
* Heathcliff: Antony Byrne
* Lockwood: Simon Coates
* Edgar/Linton: Toby Dantzic
* Hindley/Hareton: Edmund Kingsley
* Isabella: Emma Noakes
* Cathy: Amanda Ryan
* Joseph/Old Mr Linton: David Whitworth
* Frances: Victoria Yeates
* Nelly Dean: Susannah York
Crew:
- Director: Indhu Rubasingham
- Designer: Mike Britton
- Lighting Designer: Chris Davey
- Sound Designer: Matt McKenzie
- Choreographer: Imogen Knight
- Associate Director: Neale Birch
- Fight Director: Bret Yount
- Dialect Coach: Neil Swain
- Composer: Paul Englishby
Birmingham Repertory Theatre website, including a promo clip. Metro presents the production like this:On paper, it looks like the grudge match of the century: April De Angelis, a bold feminist playwright, up against one of literature's most unpleasantly misogynist cads. Thanks largely to Laurence Olivier's 1939 screen portrayal, Heathcliff's uglier side has been airbrushed to the point that he's now regarded as the ultimate brooding catch.Picture: Susannah York and Simon Coates, ©Manuel Harlan, Source
De Angelis, a writer best known for Playhouse Creatures, her play about Restoration-era actresses, certainly won't be downplaying Heathcliff's capacity for brutality in her adaptation for Birmingham Rep. 'It's a very violent book,' she states. 'When you see Heathcliff beating Cathy to the floor there on the stage, it has a kick that you don't get from reading it.'
De Angelis's main beef, however, is with the fictional narrator, Nelly Dean. 'I don't think Heathcliff is the book's biggest sinner. Nelly, to me, seems far worse. She's the most repressive, the one who condemns Cathy more than anybody. I was really struck by just how destructive she is. What Heathcliff does seems a natural reaction to being made to feel an outcast since childhood. But what's Nelly's excuse?'
De Angelis's focus on Nelly is reflected not only by a truly head-turning piece of casting - she's being played by Susannah York - but also by the choices she's made in the retelling.
'The novel's been described as having a Chinese boxes structure, with lots of stories-within-stories, which I've found useful for structuring the play. But I was struck by how duplicitous Nelly is. As it became clearer that she's an unreliable narrator, I realised I needed to emphasise her role in the story.' (Jim Burke)
Three more reviews of the Birmingham's Repertory Theatre production of April de Angelis's adaptation of Wuthering Heights, which is now being performed in Edinburgh. Wuthering Heights is so called, meaning atmospheric tumult. Thus, the scene is set high on the Yorkshire Moors for a story of stormy passions that has endured 160 years.The bad ones:
Joseph Earnshaw returns to his family, with a prize from his travels to China – a young orphan named Heathcliff. His older brother Hindley despises this intrusion, but between Heathcliff and younger stepsister Cathy an intangible bond is formed. As teens they roam together, wild on the moors. However, society abruptly interrupts these carefree days in the shape of the Linton family, and Cathy’s marriage to their son Edgar. Thus begins tumultuous years of lovelorn passion.
For Heathcliff and Cathy, their ardour burns forever bright, but they can never be united. Cathy famously expresses that her childhood companion is “…more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” In their passion, each seeks revenge for their heartbreak, and so the rift deepens. Eventually, Cathy is driven to insanity and starves to death.
For Emily Bronte’s readers this is half the story, but many productions finish at this point. However, the adapter April de Angelis valiantly continues to show the resolution of this turmoil in the next generation.
April de Angelis uses Lockwood (Simon Coates) to unlock Bronte’s complicated narrative. This pompous character interjects humour into this emotionally-heavy play, “God, the North is grim.” as he is expertly retold the sad tale by Nelly the housekeeper (Susannah York).
As the production is touring, the set is simple and clean, with excellent sound effects providing much of the atmosphere. The ten-strong cast play multiple characters, and each gives a worthy performance. The Yorkshire thang and annunciation seem real, and the accent does not detract from the romantic material.
This production is polished and avid watching. However, to give any criticism, Antony Byrne is vibrant, but perhaps a little senior to play the earlier youthful Heathcliff. There was fluidity and connection between the characters of Heathcliff and Cathy; however my heart did not flutter with theirs!
Well worth a visit! (Rebecca Venn in What's on Stage)
Beyond the projections on the tilted sky in the final moments, storm clouds aren't much in evidence in April de Angelis's version of Emily Bronte's bodice-ripper. That is quite a feat considering the self-destructive love affair between Cathy and Heathcliff we're asked to witness and assess. There's something old-fashioned about Indhu Rubasingham's Birmingham Rep production, which has to do with its application of "poor theatre" techniques to a well-resourced venture.
Everyone seems to be acting in inverted commas, which makes for levity, but an absence of throbbing passion. It's hard for anyone to avoid appearing highly-strung when putting flesh on material which, on the page, can leave histrionics to the imagination. But to appear anything other than attention-seekers, there needs to be sexual chemistry between the leads. There's little, alas, in Antony Byrne's Heathcliff for Amanda Ryan's Cathy to get worked up about.
Susannah York is a barometer of restraint as Nelly, who frames the play as its narrator and conscience. Even she, however, is left to hang around doing not very much while Simon Coates's Lockwood all but winks at the audience in preparation for the spoiled brat caricature that is Toby Dantzic's Linton. With the wooden doors of Mike Britton's design opening and closing like some psychological fortress, at best this can be viewed as a pop-up book primer, but with so little depth as to appear flat. (Neil Cooper in The Herald)
The atmosphere takes centre stage in this new adaptation for the stage of Emily Brontë's famous novel, which tours to the King's this week.Finally, the blogosphere has something to say too. On It's On. It's Gone:
So much so that the passion of the book is often lost. Which is doubly ironic in an adaptation that takes great store in being faithful to the key narrative details of its source material.
There is little problem on the storytelling count, however. Susannah York is excellent, if sometimes a just a little hesitant in her delivery, as Nelly Dean, the long-term housekeeper at the lonely Wuthering Heights, situated high up on a north Yorkshire moor.
Against her, Simon Coates plays Lockwood, the self-opinionated gentleman who lodges in the nearby Grange. After meeting his landlord Heathcliff at Wuthering Heights his encounters with its strange inhabitants lead him to demand of Nelly the story of who they are and how they came to be like that.
The two are rarely off stage, wandering in and out of the action. Lockwood nearly always as a detached observer, Nelly as both the narrator of what goes on and often an integral part in it.
It is York's skill that ensures the interweaving nest of stories, covering some 30 years, is coherently told, while the atmospheric lighting of the stage ensures that it is the latter which is brought to mind throughout.
What they have to tell, however, is a lopsided affair.
On one side there is Cathy Earnshaw, the beautiful daughter of the house at Wuthering Heights played with a generous mixture of vitality and malevolence by Amanda Ryan, and there is Edgar Linton, the effete and sickly son of the Grange, played by Toby Dantzic. Both create strong, credible characters.
On the other side is Heathcliff, played by Antony Byrne. A foundling taken in by the Earnshaws, he is supposedly Cathy's soul-mate who is devastated when she decides that because her brother has forced Heathcliff down into too lowly a station in life for marriage, she will marry Edgar.
For the story to work, Heathcliff has to be likeable in some way or other. He is, after all, the compelling presence who has a passionate hold over both Cathy and her sister-in-law, Isabella. Unfortunately Byrne's Heathcliff is about as likeable – and fearsome – as a half-baked toad.
There is also the matter – and no small one this – that most of the company seem to have lost their ability to convey emotion without resorting to hysterical shouting.
The overall result is not without its merits and there are some delightfully strong scene-setting moments. It will certainly please the novel's existing fans as it follows the novel's narrative on to the next generation after Cathy's death.
Unfortunately, as it rushes through the plot, picking up on Brontë's dialogue but not getting to grips with her carefully constructed descriptions, it's unlikely to get the novel many new fans. (Thom Dibdin in The Edinburgh Evening News)
(...) With a simple-yet-effective set and a fine supporting cast, this was a fine introduction to Wuthering Heights, the humour never overbearing or detracting from the drama at its centre. I’m not sure if I’ll be buying a copy of the novel anytime soon but it’s certainly piqued my interest in the full, unexpurgated version. (Jonathan Melville)EDIT: (07/11/2008)
HERE'S a message for anyone contemplating a stage adaptation of a classic novel: if you can't take your own literary heritage seriously, then for heaven's sake leave it alone. Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights is a grim story without a doubt, but it's also a towering achievement of 19th-century Romanticism, full of that passionate empathy with natural forces, and that fascination with the fierce, the inexplicable and the weirdly supernatural, that represented such a powerful reaction to the grinding economic rationalism of the industrial revolution. Its heroine, Catherine Earnshaw, is a woman laying claim to her own passionate desires in an era when respectable women were allowed no sexual feelings at all; and it has its own quiet humanity and humour in the voice of the old nurse Nelly Dean, a classic unreliable narrator.EDIT (09/11/08)
So why, given all this rich and romantic material, do writer April De Angelis and director Indhu Rubasingham contrive to put together a stage version that emerges as a cross between a half-hearted Hollywood film and an outright Cold Comfort Farm spoof? The stage is littered with sniggering camp buffoons who send the story up rotten. Antony Byrne's Heathcliff looks more uncomfortable than compelling, surrounded by so much giggling; Amanda Ryan, as a robust and witty Cathy, constantly seems on the verge of collapsing into pure comedy.
The production has just one significant asset, in Susannah York's quiet, beautifully observed Nelly; and Mike Britton's design features some good-looking moorland visual effects. But if you think the North country, its voice, and its weather, are the stuff of easy jokes, then you just don't get Emily Brontë; and you should have the decency to leave her great novel to speak for itself. (Joyce MacMillan)
Wuthering Heights im King’s Theatre von Edinburgh ist jedenfalls alles andere als das angestaubte Ausgraben einer literarischen Leiche. Das Stück basiert auf dem gleichnamigen Roman der Engländerin Emile Bronte, eine Geschichte von zwei Liebenden, die sich nicht haben können, und einer nach dem anderen (nebst fast allen Familienmitgliedern einer kaputten Sippe) dem Wahnsinn verfällt, säuft, spielt und - letztendlich - stirbt. Der Dramaturg hat sich wirklich größte Mühe gegeben, das Spiel permanent am Laufen zu halten, und selbst die kurzen Umräumphasen auf der Bühne waren so geschickt ausgeleuchtet und mit Musik untermalt, dass sie eigentlich mehr einem Szenenwechsel in einem Film glichen - fließend, reibungslos und atmosphärisch. Besonders der Soundtrack gab der Szenerie noch ein ganzes Stück Authentizität, so dass sich mir die Stimmung jeder Szene tief in mein Herz hineinbrannte. (John)EDIT (10/11/08)
Adapting one of the best-known works of literature into a stage production can be problematic on many levels – die-hard fans will inevitably complain, while a slavish following of every word can lead to accusations of a lack of inventiveness. April de Angelis’s interpretation struggles with neither of these categories, resulting in a sensitive and yet highly innovative production.Categories: Theatre, Wuthering Heights
Stark and brooding, the set reflects the mood of the performance; the distant whistling of the wind over the moors and the clouded sky are the only accompaniments required to the tumultuous lives explored. Perhaps the most controversial decision is the casting of Antony Byrne as Heathcliff – those wishing for a dark, handsome lead will find him lacking, but looks aside his performance is passionate and multi-faceted. Intimidating and brutal, particularly in his treatment of his wife, the audience can still feel sympathy for him as his portrayal of his character as a mistreated and abused child is so impassioned.
Amanda Ryan gives an impressive performance as Cathy but sometimes emphasises the peevish, childish nature of Cathy’s character more than is necessary. Bad-tempered and abusing those around her, this production brings out the full potential for Cathy’s cruelty and impetuousness.
The narration remains the same as in Brontë's novel, telling the story through the dual narration of Mr. Lockwood (Simon Coates) and Nelly Dean (Susannah York). Lockwood’s comic interludes, with his blustering charm and often-misguided views are a wonderful witty break in this otherwise cheerless tale; his constant presence on the stage reminds us that he, like the audience, is subject to a powerful story over which he has no control.
An intelligent and moving production, De Angelis's Wuthering Heights will not leave fans disappointed – while Brontë virgins might well find themselves converted. (Anna Fenton)
Via Yorkshire Business.Oxford Shakespeare Co. presents
Wuthering Heights
Adapted by April de Angelis
Directed by Michael Oakley
Original Music by Pete Flood
Castle Howard, York --- June 26th-30th
The Gardens of Wadham College, Oxford --- 2nd July, 17th August
In an exciting new venture, the team behind Lamplighter’s unanimously acclaimed The Life and Times of Fanny Hill, join the OSC to co-produce April de Angelis’ striking stage adaptation of Emily Brontë’s spell-binding Wuthering Heights.One of the most powerful love stories ever written by the great feminist writer of her age is brought to the stage by our leading feminist playwright.
April will be casting fresh eyes on her original text, originally commissioned by Birmingham rep in 2008 alongside director Michael Oakley (As You Like 2014 It and Private Lives 2018 for OSC) and composer Pete Flood (formerly of folk sensation Bellowhead) who both achieved excellent reviews for their work on Fanny Hill.Perhaps the most (in)famous romance in the literary canon this superlative tale of love and revenge - the tempestuous relationship of Heathcliff and Cathy from children to thwarted adults - is a timeless icon that continues to captivate audiences young and old to this day.
When Mr Earnshaw brings home the young “dark eyed boy” from unknown origins nobody is prepared for the astonishing relationship that unfolds between him and Earnshaw’s daughter Catherine – unleashing a tumult of passion affecting generations to come.This fast-moving exhilarating adaptation shows us that true love knows no bounds and holds the ordinary world in contempt.
April de Angelis is a highly acclaimed feminist playwright. Lamplighter are thrilled to be working with her again after the success of The Life and Times of Fanny Hill starring Caroline Quentin at Bristol Old Vic (touring 2021), one of the theatre’s fastest ever selling shows with a record number of first-time bookers under 30. The OSC are famous for their open air and site-specific productions in exceptional historic venues including Hampton Court and Kensington Palaces and the Tower of London.
It is with great pleasure then that their new co-production of this timeless Yorkshire classic will premiere at Castle Howard, the county’s finest stately home.
To prepare for presenting this account of Emily Brontë’s tempestuous story of the free-spirited Catherine and the dark, brooding Heathcliff on the wild, windswept Yorkshire moors, Charlotte headed to Castle Howard with April and Michael in March. “We first thought about the Walled Garden, but then we thought, ‘if you’re going to do an open-air theatre show, let the audience see the grounds, that lovely vista of Castle Howard’,” says Charlotte.
“We’ll be keeping the audience in one place, rather than moving around, as Oxford Shakespeare Company like to do immersive pieces where the actors are close to the audience, doing a very dynamic, fast-moving piece of theatre with the actors creating the environment from the setting and very few props.”
April was keen to experience Castle Howard at first hand before revising her script. “She said, ‘if you’d like me to look at the adaptation afresh, I want to adapt it for a Yorkshire setting for a Yorkshire story by having a look around first,” recalls Charlotte. “The reason is, when there’s no ‘fourth wall’ for outdoor theatre, there needs to be more direct contact with the audience to whip the action along.” (Charles Hutchinson)
Metro.co.uk briefly reviews the play positively:Translating the wild landscape of Emily Brontë's novel to the stage is a daunting task, but one that director Indhu Rubasingham manages here with aplomb.Whatsonstage is not so thrilled:
A sparse set is variously transformed into the troubled Heights and lush Grange through fold-away props, set against an atmospheric background of clouds rolling over the dark moors. The tale is delivered via the recollections of lifelong servant Nelly Dean (played wonderfully by Susannah York), who moves seamlessly from detached storyteller into the action as her younger self.
Her audience is Simon Coates' Mr Lockwood, a well-meaning London snob offering light relief in the knotty narrative. Amanda Ryan blazes as the beautiful, petulant Cathy (and later simpers as her daughter, Catherine), turning in an intensely physical performance with Antony Byrne's Heathcliff, whose descent from wide-eyed raggamuffin to sadistic beast is believable and hugely moving. (Zofia Niemtus)
Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights is, of course, a behemoth of canonical English literature. To attempt to adapt this epic tome into a two-hour performance is ambitious enterprise, to say the least - if not an entirely misguided one. Not to be deterred, however, April De Angelis and the Birmingham Repertory Company have rolled their sleeves up and taken it on. Sadly, however, they’ve not really come out on top.EDIT: Spaghetti Gazetti gives also her opinion:
The simple fact is that some things just don’t translate well to stage. Bronte’s perennial love story of Heathcliff and Cathy up on the wild Yorkshire moors is rich, complex and epic, but when condensed into two hours just seems a little bit baffling and occasionally ridiculous. There is only so much wailing and collapsing that you can take without either wanting to cry or laugh yourself. Unfortunately, the audience seemed to plump for the latter; often at moments of high drama; which, presumably were not intended to be quite so amusing…
This adaptation lacks the psychological depth and complexity of the novel. Consequently, you feel like you’re just watching a handful of histrionic Northern sociopaths systematically wailing, fighting, collapsing and then dying. (Usually somewhat inexplicably: from standing on a table? From wearing a white nightie? From sitting on sofa too long?) Their behaviour just comes across as odd or extreme and it becomes difficult to relate to or engage with them.
The cast themselves gave reasonable performances considering the melodramatic nature of the play and the rather unimaginative direction. The best of the bunch is Susannah York as Nelly Dean; a plausible, likeable and sympathetic presence (albeit with a rather anachronistic funky hairdo). Simon Coates as Lockwood also suffers less from melodramatic direction and provides some good comedy value.
Other positives are the set and lighting design; from Mike Britton and Chris Davey, respectively. With a difficult remit of providing a sense of the two entirely different households huddled against the dramatic backdrop of the Yorkshire moors; some ingenuity has gone into the simple, dark, heavy walls of the set; with a swirling projected sky overhead and a whistling wind. There is some clever stagecraft too; with some well-thought-out, symbolic movement of both props and people.
It suggests that the elements of this production that work are the elements in which a degree of ingenuity have been applied and a keen understanding of the difference between book and stage. If you’re going to tackle something as immense as Wuthering Heights, you’re going to have to do something really different with it, rather than De Angelis’ two-hour, whistle-stop tour of the novel. Though never boring, the result, sadly, is a bit nonsensical, a bit farcical and a bit abrupt. (Fiona Handscomb)
Angel De Angelis’ adaptation of the Emily Bronte classic is a disarming mix of humour and menace and Indhu Rubasingham’s direction engages well with this interpretation, giving the play a visceral and physical re-telling.The Library Journal talks about last season's first novels. Syrie James's Charlotte Brontë's Secret Diaries, which will be published next year, is mentioned:
The setting is stark, with clever use of sound, shadow and sleight of hand striking an apparitional cord throughout.
Amanda Ryan’s Cathy is convincing, capturing the rebellious, vulnerable, spoiled and bad tempered heroine, although, Antony Byrne does not quite convince as the menacing, brooding yet ultimately ‘more sinned against than sinning’ Heathcliff.
That said, there was a commendable level of ‘goosebump moments’ and the notoriously difficult to stage work, which could have so easily fall into parody ultimately satisfied. (Sarah Flanagan)
The Rutland Herald celebrates the thirty anniversary of Rutland Free Library Book discussion program whose first discussed book was no other that Jane Eyre:James, Syrie. The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen. Avon. ISBN 978-0-06-134142-7. pap. $13.95.
An Austen memoir is discovered, revealing a secret love. At least that’s the premise behind this Discover find, also a 2007 LJ Editors’ Fall Pick. Published last winter, the book is now in its ninth printing, with more than 115,000 copies available. “Tantalizing, tender, and true to the Austen mythos” (LJ 9/1/07)—and so successful that James is coming out with Charlotte Bronte’s Secret Diaries next year.
Thirty years ago, an internationally successful form of book discussion was born at Rutland Free Library, when more than 50 women gathered to talk about Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre" with scholar and local poet Joan Aleshire.Now some posts from our fellow bloggers: Critic Picks W/Alex Udvary reviews Jacques Tourneur's film I Walked With a Zombie. New Lits 2008 has rewritten (and condensed) Jane Eyre. Wuthering Expectations has posted recently several interesting articles: Heathcliff is a Monster and Obscure Emily Brontë and Rider Lawnmower Woman recommends Wide Sargasso Sea.
It was part of a series of discussions about women in literature that, at first, no one was sure would catch on with the public. (Stephanie M. Peters)
A new amateur production of Wuthering Heights (in the April de Angelis adaptation) opens today, July 17, in Chellaston, Derbyshire:Chellaston Players presentComplete cast here.
Wuthering Heights
Adapted by April de Angelis. Novel by Emily Brontë
Directed by Elaine Lawrenson
Cathy – Louisa Ballard
Heathcliff – Matt Sharratt
Isabella – Clare Snape
Nelly – Cathy Wilson
"Wuthering Heights is diverse in this sense and we chose this particular script, an adaptation by April De Angelis, for this very reason," [Elaine Lawrenson] explains.
"Playing the parts of Heathcliff and Cathy, our two principal actors Clare Snape and Matt Sharratt have had to push their acting talents to the limits. They give striking performances of passion, desperation and despair."
The story is narrated by the Housekeeper Nelly, who is relaying her tale to the new tenant, Mr Lockwood.
"As their relationship grows there are some charming and light-hearted moments between them which really breaks the tension and might even get a few laughs. Overall though we aim to take the audience on a roller-coaster ride of emotion," says Elaine.
"Most of the scenes take place in either Wuthering Heights, or Thrushcross Grange but the moor has a presence."
Production assistant Emma Bridges reveals that set design was one of the group's biggest hurdles.
"The play runs continuously. There is very little in the way of scene changes so the audience can expect to see the household staff arranging furniture as the action continues on the stage," she says.
"We have gone for a very simple set, mostly black but with key pieces of furniture and a huge fireplace at the rear of the stage.
"We have stayed very true to the book and but the dramatic and tempestuous performances of our actors are very contemporary."
Please note that the part of Nelly Dean will be played by Victoria Yeates this evening. Ms Yeates is standing in for Susannah York who has been struck down by acute laryngitis. We wish Ms York a speedy recovery.However, the reviews of this play continue trickling in. From The Times, which gives this production two stars out of five:
How do you condense 400 pages of Emily Brontë’s passionate prose into a play that doesn’t end up bouncing between brooding and histrionics?From the Sunday Mercury:
April De Angelis’s new adaptation does a good job of cramming in all the key scenes and fragments of dialogue from the 1847 original. But you want more than a good precis from a trip to the theatre, and Indhu Rubasingham’s professional but impersonal production doesn’t have anything to add to its source material.
That lack of an angle encourages some rather roughhewn performances. Well, nobody acts badly, exactly – but then nor does anyone really connect with anyone else.
That’s fine for Simon Coates’s Lockwood, the self-admiring London booby through whose eyes we see the story, or for Toby Dantzic as a Tony Blair-voiced Linton, the prig who tries to shut out Heathcliff from Cathy’s life once they are married. But it’s bad news indeed for Amanda Ryan, who is impressive as the young Catherine (Linton’s daughter) but whose headstrong Cathy lacks the same easy touch.
She shuns marriage with the lowly love of her life, Heathcliff, even though “he’s more myself than I am”. Yet whatever conflagration of actorly atoms is required to make you buy into such a passion, it’s not visible between her and Antony Byrne’s rude and nasty Heathcliff.
Without that, they both end up looking like drama queens, she histrionic, he brooding like some, well, like some would-be Heathcliff.
As Nelly, Susannah York does well with her character’s mix of defiance and economic dependence. But, hovering around scenes as she recalls events to Lockwood, she reacts just a fraction of a second too keenly to events – as if she’s taking her bearings from the script in her head, rather than from what’s happening on stage.
So the story is told, and a murky mood is created, but it’s hard to believe that these characters have a life offstage. There’s one moment, early on, where it looks as if the actors are going to have some fun.
Lockwood is chuntering away, there’s an incongruous, isolated fall of snow, then he adds: “And it’s snowing.”
Hooray, you think: it’s funny. But more than that, it’s “theatre”. For, however much an adaptation condenses, it also needs to add something to replace all those lovely lost words.
That glimmer of playfulness gone, Rubasingham’s production does nothing vastly wrong and nothing vastly right. But for a tale billed as “passionate and spellbinding”, it’s serving short measures. (Dominic Maxwell)
Kate Bush has a lot to answer for.Categories: In the News, Theatre, Wuthering Heights
Emily Bronte’s classic novel is about the passionate love affair between Cathy and Heathcliff set on the desolate Yorkshire moors.
The squeaky-voiced pop singer had a No. 1 hit in 1978 with her preposterous song of the same name which makes me guffaw every time I hear it.
April De Angelis is also treading on boggy ground with this over-long mish-mash of a stage adaptation.
Here, there is a ferocious (but invisible) dog; two babies consisting of sloppily-folded blankets; adults playing gawky children (badly); dodgy and often incomprehensible Northern accents; and lots of shouting masquerading as emotion.
To add to the woes, Heathcliff – always seen as tall, dark and handsome – is played by an actor who is short, stocky and bald.
To my shame, I thought the novel finished with Cathy’s death. But, true to the book, the second half of the show chronicles the next-generation relationship between Cathy’s daughter and Heathcliff’s son.
This is not only mind-numbingly boring but makes the play nearly three hours long. And it needs a narrator to explain all the twists and turns. Yuk!
Amanda Ryan as Cathy and Antony Byrne as Heathcliff are OK, while Susannah York is the on-stage story teller.
Wuthering Heights runs until Saturday, October 18. (Bob Haywood)
In St Albans, Alabama:Company of Ten presentsThe Herts Advertiser interviews the director:
Wuthering Heights
adapted by April de Angelis
Abbey Theatre
Main Stage
Thu 14 - Sat 16 Nov, 8PM
Sun 17 Nov, 2.30 PM
Wed 20 - Sat 23 Nov, 8PM
Directed by Tina Swain
Emily Brontë’s gothic tale of love and revenge adapted by April De Angelis for today’s audiences.
Cathy and Heathcliff are inseparable as children, and their friendship grows into a passionate love. But when Cathy chooses to marry the wealthy Edgar Linton, what will become of them both, and how will the decision influence the fate of the next generation?
Please note that there are no public performances on Monday 18 or Tuesday 19 November. The production on Thursday 21 November will be audio described.
“Wuthering Heights is a well-known novel, often set as a school text. There have also been several film and television adaptations, so the story and characters are familiar and almost everyone knows the Kate Bush song.And in Bristol, Rhode Island:
“What struck me when I first read this stage adaptation was that familiarity – the play really captures the essential elements of the novel and translates them into an exciting, fast-moving piece of theatre.
“De Angelis uses the two narrators, Mr Lockwood and Nelly Dean, to ensure that the plot is easily accessible, but she also captures the iconic characters we recognise. It’s surprising to discover that most of Emily Brontë’s novel actually takes place inside the two houses, Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, and the play makes use of this to great dramatic effect. We’ve also had the challenge of portraying several of the disturbing or violent moments that Brontë wrote, which have caused gasps of horror even in rehearsal!”
Roger Williams University Theatre Season
Jane Eyre
Adapted from Charlotte Brontë's novel by Polly Teale
November 15-17; 21-23
(Main Season II)
For a Victorian woman to express her passionate nature is to invite severe punishment. Could it be that Jane and the madwoman at Thornfield are not opposites, but are parts of the same woman? Central to this adaptation is the idea that inside the sensible and proper Jane exists another self who is passionate and sensual. Bertha, locked way in the attic embodies the fire and longing which Jane must keep hidden.
“I have to come to see the novel as a quest, a passionate enquiry” –Polly Teale
EDIT:The Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis, DorsetA set of pictures of the rehearsals here.
Heavy Weather present Jane Eyre
November 15, 7.00 pm
A work in progress sharing as part of the R&D by the Sea development programme.
Heavy Weather is a dynamic theatre company with a passion for new and old writing, fresh perspectives on classics, and equality in the arts. Nature, the supernatural, folklore, folksong, child abuse, abandonment, insanity, arson, death, desire, devotion, religion, poverty, wealth, family, travel, youth, wisdom, experience – they want to tell the memorable story of Jane Eyre in a way that audiences have not seen or heard before. They want to take the spirit of the book, the feel of the characters, the taste of the landscape and turn these into our own theatrical language.
Starting tomorrow, April 23, a new production of Wuthering Heights opens in Keighley:Wuthering HeightsKeighley News gives some further information:
Romantic Drama by Emily Brontë
Adapted by April de Angelis
Directed by Nikki Barrett
Monday, 23rd April 2018 to Saturday, 28th April 2018
Performance begins at 7.30pm
A brand new adaptation brings Emily Brontë's passionate and spellbinding tale of forbidden love and revenge to life on stage. Set on the wild, windswept Yorkshire moors, Wuthering Heights is the tempestuous story of free-spirited Catherine and dark, brooding Heathcliff. As children running wild and free on the moors, Cathy and Heathcliff are inseparable. As they grow up, their affection deepens into passionate love, but Cathy lets her head rule her heart as she chooses to marry wealthy Edgar Linton. Heathcliff flees broken-hearted, only to return seeking terrible vengeance on those he holds responsible, with epic and tragic results.
It has been 25 years since the playhouse staged Wuthering Heights in an adaptation by Charles Vance, in which Nikki played Cathy herself.
Nikki said: “I feel extremely fortunate for the opportunity to direct a play so close to my heart, and it has rekindled my love for such a passionate story.”
The new adaptation by April De Angelis explores the full novel and stays very true to the story and characters.
It is slightly different from the usual Keighley Playhouse show as it is written as a simple production with minimal set and props, allowing the audience to use their imagination. (David Mason)
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Colchester Theatre Group presents
Wuthering Heights
Headgate Theatre, Colchester, CO2 7AT
Wed 27th April 2022 - Sat 30th April 2022
April De Angelis’ adaptation of Wuthering Heights brings Emily Brontë’s passionate and spellbinding tale of forbidden love and revenge to life on stage. Set on the wild windswept Yorkshire moors, Wuthering Heights is the tempestuous story of free-spirited Catherine and dark,
More is to come. In 2009, look out for an ITV adaptation of Wuthering Heights, a Channel 4 drama trilogy inspired by the Yorkshire Ripper murders called Red Riding and The Damned United, a film about the doomed manager of Leeds United, Brian Clough. (Annalise Culid)We have received confirmation from the WGHB Press Office that the reported broadcast dates in the US are correct:
In winter 2009, MASTERPIECE CLASSIC returns with a feast of new adaptations:Nevertheless, the ITV has not confirmed the April broadcast in the UK:
January 18 and 25
Wuthering Heights (2.5-hour mini-series) at 9pm ET on PBS
A thrilling new adaptation of Emily Brontë’s haunting classic, which chronicles the
passionate spiritual bond between Heathcliff, an abandoned Gypsy boy adopted by
the Earnshaw family of Wuthering Heights, and the family’s daughter, Cathy. Published in 1847, the novel was condemned by one critic as “abominably pagan”
for the dark passion throbbing in the heart of its irredeemable hero-villain. Tom Hardy (The Virgin Queen) is Heathcliff, newcomer Charlotte Riley is Cathy, and Burn Gorman (Bleak House) is Cathy’s brother Hindley.
Unfortunately we are unable to offer any scheduling information at this time. Sorry I cannot assist further on this occasion.More Wuthering Heights. Now the theatrical version by April de Angelis is on stage at the Chichester Theatre Festival. The Chichester Observer talks with Amanda Ryan:
ITV Viewer Services
"I have not done as much theatre as I have done TV and film," Amanda says. " In my last job Shameless I was very very clear that the next job I would do would be theatre. It was a couple of years since I had last done any, and I was longing to do some.Booktrade informs about the recent disclosure of the British Book Design and Production Awards 2008. Editions by Classical Comics, including Jane Eyre, are mentioned:
"I wanted the rehearsal process. I wanted something really challenging. I had been doing Shameless which is such a big cast. You are called every now and again to do a scene. It's great fun, and it is bold work with a lovely cast and crew. But it was a bitty and sporadic.
"I really wanted to fully use myself, to find something that is totally all-consuming, and I couldn't have wished for a better part than this.
It was proper graft, and I loved every minute of the rehearsal process."
Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë's only novel, is considered a classic of English literature and one of the greatest romantic stories ever written. The stage version comes from award-winning playwright April de Angelis, the story of the wildly-passionate but doomed love between Heathcliff and Catherine - a passion which eventually destroys them both.
"It was kind of daunting, the thought of taking on this iconic character from literature that people know so well and have so many expectations about, but I approached it like you would any other character.
"I began to really look at all the qualities that Catherine has – very attractive qualities. She is a very free spirit, she is very impulsive. She is wild and she runs wild through the moors. She is a child of the landscape that she comes from, and she is different.
"And she is passionate" – which means that you have got to throw yourself into her character: "She flies into tempers all the time. You have got to be inside that. I am of the feeling that acting is about putting yourself immediately in the situation and surrounding yourself with all the impulses and emotions."
Following on from the success of their first book, Henry V (which won a Silver IPPY this year), the second book in the series, Macbeth Original Text, has scooped a first prize at Wednesday night's ceremony for the British Book Design and Production Awards 2008.The Hour, The Stamford Times and The Hickory Daily Record comment the recent release of the Studio One Anthology boxset which includes Wuthering Heights 1950.
The event was a great success overall for Classical Comics. Macbeth Original Text was the winner of the Secondary Education category and was also Highly Commended (2nd place) in Literature; while Henry V Quick Text achieved the shortlist for the Secondary Education category. The award for Macbeth, presented by Gyles Brandreth, marked a significant achievement - not only for the book itself, but also for the company as both gain recognition from the mainstream book industry.
Following the success of its pioneering three-tier dialogue treatments of Shakespeare's Henry V and Macbeth, Classical Comics continues its series of graphic novel adaptations of literary classics with the publication of multi-text versions of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
All three of the latest books, plus Macbeth, have been nominated for the 2009 Cybil Awards.
Charlotte Bronte's classic Jane Eyre is brought to vibrant life by legendary artist John M Burns. Perhaps best known for his daily newspaper comic strips (such as The Seekers, Modesty Blaise, Danielle, and George and Lynne), John has also worked on Dan Dare, Judge Dredd, and Trueno; he co-created Bendatti Vendetta for the Judge Dredd Megazine, and is lead artist of Nikolai Dante. John's sympathetic treatment of this classical romance from 1847 perfectly matches Amy Corzine's inspired script adaptation.
Ms. Brennan, then a 41-year-old college writing teacher and Brontë scholar in a biggish city in the Midwest (its real name is not hard to guess from the book), met Paul, a freelance photographer, in 1991 at a party and was impressed by his worldliness. (Andy Newman)San Jose's Metroactive reviews Wide Sargasso Sea 2006:
Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre has proven so enduring a story that a new adaptation emerges every few years, mostly recently, in 2006, from the BBC with Toby Stephens as brooding Rochester. And thanks to Jean Rhys, the characters even have backstories. Her 1966 novel Wide Sargasso Sea imagines the early days of Rochester in Jamaica, where he marries his first wife, who later languishes in the tower at Moor House setting fires and keening. This 2006 version of Sargasso, also from the BBC, stars Rafe Spall (from Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, and son of actor Timothy) as the callow Edward Rochester, who visits the English colony of Jamaica in the early years of the 19th century and is smitten by a Creole woman, Antoinette (Rebecca Hall, soon to be seen in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona). After some moments of ecstasy, their marriage goes sour. Trapped in a remote, dilapidated plantation, surrounded by cranky, spying servants who mutter about voodoo, Edward and Antoinette bicker incessantly. When a local Iago type whispers some dirt from Antoinette's past into the young man's ear, he becomes obsessed with the possibility that his wife's family is cursed. The romance between the leads never really convinces, either in their early passion or their later bouts of hatred, and the story ends somewhat abruptly. (Michael S. Gant)Several UK regional papers announce that apparently, the new Wuthering Heights stage adaptation (by April De Angelis) to be premiered next September at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre will also be performed during the Autumn season of the Chichester Festival Theatre:
Also coming up in the season will be Amanda Ryan – police officer Verity in Channel 4’s hit drama Shameless – starring as Cathy in a stage version of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights (November 12-15).The Age says in an article about the choreographer Natalie Weir:
Bronte’s only novel has been adapted for the stage by award-winning playwright April de Angelis – the story of the wildly-passionate but doomed love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. (Shoreham Herald quoting from The Chichester Observer)
She is working on a version of Wuthering Heights for the Queensland company. (Jo Roberts)We suppose that she is working on her already-presented Wuthering Heights dance piece which has been featured on BrontëBlog previously.
If there were a Desert Island Discs collection of the most love-livid ballads, at least one of Winehouse's "poor me, pour me another drink" wails would be on there. For those of you, right now, feeling like Heathcliff without Cathy, like Winehouse without her Blake incarcerated or Michael Barrymore without a TV show, you could perhaps start out wallowing in Leonard Cohen's Bird on a Wire, cry headlong into Nina Simone's I've Got It Bad and That Ain't Good, but at some point you'd owe it to that cad Cupid to steam into Winehouse's Wake Up Alone.The Little Professor posts about Maryse Condé Wuthering Heights retelling: Windward Heights. BookPaths briefly mentions the Brontë Parsonage Museum. Blog de Libros talks about Jane Eyre (in Spanish). Top Cine 10 devotes a post to Wuthering Heights 1939 (in Portuguese). Somewhere Quiet is reading Jane Eyre and South in Winter has just finished it. A Lancashire Lass Dreaming has some icons of Jane Eyre 2006.
Patrick Brontë arrived in Dewsbury on 5 December 1809. To celebrate this event there will be special services in Dewsbury Minster on 6 December 2009. Dewsbury wishes to involve the Brontë Society and so a meeting was arranged in the Minster on 28 July 2008. (Read more)Categories: Books, Dance, Movies-DVD-TV, Patrick Brontë, Theatre, Weirdo, Wide Sargasso Sea, Wuthering Heights
Western College Players presents
Wuthering HeightsAdapted by April De Angelis, Directed by Jill Nicholas
The Drum
Theatre Royal Plymouth
Tuesday 17–Saturday 21 June 19.45 PM
This summer Western College Players Theatre Company present an exciting new production of Emily Brontë’s classic, tragic and haunting romance.
Set on the Yorkshire Moors, Wuthering Heights is the story of a seemingly innocent childhood infatuation that becomes a passionate and destructive obsession. Thus leading to a bitter and violent quest for revenge – spanning generations – and threatening to destroy all that stand in its way.
One of literature’s most loved novels; Wuthering Heights is an unforgettable piece of theatre.
“The adaptation uses Lockwood, who moves to the moor, and Nelly, the servant, to narrate some of the story,” says Jill.
“It’s a modern adaptation which is good because ‘box’ stage sets are becoming dated now.
“It meant Cliff Appleby, our designer, and I could come up with very simple staging with only a couple of side flaps.”
The greatest challenge for the production, though, was to get the right actors in place.
“It has to be extremely well cast because people know the book and the characters so well,” says Jill.
“Gareth Roberts, who plays Heathcliff, is tall and dark and Kathryn Anderson, who is Cathy, is just right.
“They are so well suited.”
Other key roles are taken by Bella Stebbings (Nelly) and Tony Giles (Lockwood) with Ben Kennedy-Day as Edgar, who catches Cathy’s eye.
Jed McLoughlin plays the young Heathcliff. Kathryn Anderson finds herself with two parts as she takes the role of Cathy’s daughter, too – which the director freely admits presented another challenges in the early days of rehearsals.
“We have a few people doubling up in roles,” says Jill.
“I had to get my head round that at first, because the book is so clear and vivid.”
In Wuthering Heights, York plays storyteller again in her role as Nellie, the maid who narrates Emily Bronte's windswept classic in April de Angelis's new stage version. "I modelled her on a lovely Scots woman I've known since childhood," York says of her character. "She has this wonderful sense of humour that's quite ironical, and I decided I'd make up stories about her that weren't in the book but which give her some kind of background. There's a line where she says, There are worse than Mr Heathcliff,' so I made up this story that she'd had an unhappy marriage and escaped to work in the house. At the end she says, This is my life.' Cathy and Heathcliff are her surrogate children, and she sort of scolds them, but watches over them as well, and in some way tries to teach them some sense of right and wrong. I suppose Nellie is the conscience of the story; Cathy and Heathcliff are her babies." (Neil Cooper)South from Edinburgh is Brontë Country, which is the subject of a long article in The New Zealand Herald, with pictures. However, the article is either old or wrong, as it states, for instance, that the Thornton birthplace is still owned by Barbara Whitehead and open to the public, which it no longer is.
It's a tale which doesn't really start here in Haworth, but about 10km away in the village of Thornton.But the article is not all wrong, of course, and suggests sites of interest around Brontë Country:
I didn't go there myself - too much Nettle Thrasher - but Rev Bronte was curate in Thornton from 1815 to 1820 and it was there that Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne were all born.
The old parsonage where they lived is still open to visitors; these days it is owned by novelist Barbara Whitehead and fellow-writer Bernard Mayston, who proclaim on their website that they are "gradually restoring the interior to the Regency period when it was the home of genius". (Jim Eagles)
Visiting Haworth - even though the shops are full of Bronte ticky-tack - you almost feel as though you're walking in the pages of one of their novels.Incidentally, the local newspaper of that area, The Telegraph and Argus, reports the rise in TB figures we have seen lately. It seems as if no self-respecting journalist can write about TB without mentioning some of its most famous victims:
On our first visit we drove across the tops in a howling blizzard, along the way passing the lonely ruins of a huge old house, and I could have sworn I saw a wraith-like figure swirling outside and heard a plaintive voice crying, "Heathcliff, Heathcliff".
Apart from the tower, little remains of the Church of St Michael and All Angels which Rev Bronte preached in - it was extensively rebuilt in 1881 - but the stolid, sombre atmosphere, with two old ladies in dark coats and warm hats silently polishing the brasswork, is very much as I imagine it would have been in their day.
Most of the family were buried in a sealed vault under the church, but in 1964 the locals built a Bronte Chapel on top, and a plaque marks the spot where their black oak pew once stood.
Surrounding the church is the graveyard where centuries of stone memorials - including those of the Brontes' servants Tabitha Aykroyd and Martha Brown - are jammed together, shaded by dark pine trees and green with age. Beyond, across a protective ring of stone walls, are the unchanging moors and a pathway leading to the great grey pile of the parsonage.
Since 1928 this has been owned by the Bronte Society, which has done a magnificent job of preserving the building and furnishing it with the chairs and tables, clocks and beds, diaries and letters, clothes and nick-nacks they used.
As a result you can wander through the kitchen, Rev Bronte's study, Charlotte's bedroom, Branwell's studio and, best of all, the dining room where the young women did most of their writing, looking much as it would have when they were producing their masterpieces.
Upstairs, in a gable added to the parsonage by Rev Bronte's successor, there's a permanent exhibition on the story of this remarkable family.
You could easily spend a day absorbing the fascinating memories of Charlotte, Emily and Anne and their work ... but out in the surrounding countryside there are more sites associated with them still to be seen.
Alongside the path between the church and the parsonage, for instance, you'll spot a brightly painted building which now houses a childcare centre but was once a school where Charlotte taught.
A helpful map of Haworth and Bronte Country, put out by the English Tourist Board, identifies sites like:
* The village of Cowan Bridge, near Kirkby Lonsdale, where what is now a private residence once housed the Clergy Daughters' School which the girls attended.
Conditions were harsh - Maria and Elizabeth both died of tuberculosis shortly after returning home - and the school was portrayed as Lowood in Jane Eyre.
* Roe Head School, near Kirklees, where Charlotte, Emily and Anne studied and Charlotte later taught.
* Blake Hall, near Dewsbury, and Thorp Green, a hamlet close to York, where Anne was a governess.
* St Mary's Churchyard in Scarborough where Anne is buried (the only member of the family not to lie in Haworth).
* Top Withens, a ruined farmhouse at the end of a 10km round-trip walk from Haworth, said to have been the model for Wuthering Heights.
* The ruins of Wycoller Hall, near Colne, The Rydings, in Birstall, and Stonegappe, at Lothersdale, which respectively became Ferndean Manor, Thornfield Hall and Gateshead Hall in Jane Eyre. (Jim Eagles)
All three of the Bronte sisters died young from the illness.Well, actually it's not quite so sure that Charlotte died from TB. The more widespread theory is that hyperemesis gravidarum killed her.
Caitríona Ní Cheallaigh (13) is currently reading Shirley, by Charlotte Brontë. She prefers Emily Brontë to Charlotte, though she's "not sure why". Caitríona reads "any chance I get - I read when I go to bed at about 9pm for an hour, and I usually read while Im eating".Now for one of the weirdest things ever: a Japanese man who wants the Japanese Governemt to legalise marriage between humans and - erm - cartoon characters. And where's the Brontë connection of that? Well, it opens a can of worms when it comes to Heathcliff and Rochester, according to the Examiner.
As well as the Brontë sisters, she really likes Eva Ibbotson, Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens. (Catherine Foley)
Book character lust is nothing new. [...]Filmmaker Margarita Jimeno shows her true colours as a Brontëite in an interview on Spout Blog.
I've long hypothesized that what a woman REALLY wants from a man is their unwavering and unswerving devotion. Just take a look at the literary men that lady readers throughout time have swooned over--Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights? Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre? Again, Mr. Darcy and Edward Cullen? What do these men have in common? They love only one woman and will do anything to get her love in return. If that doesn't light a woman's fire, I don't know what will. (Michelle Kerns)
How, if at all, has reading informed your filmmaking?Categories: Brontëites, Haworth, Jane Eyre, Shirley, Theatre, Wuthering Heights
It has very much, especially when writing characters. I think here’s where I’m influenced the most. Because you are usually reading into the character’s mind, it has been very helpful when I’m directing actors too. I think human understanding would take at least 3 lifetimes, but thanks to literature you can spend a couple of years and you have a very broad understanding. Of course I’m talking about classic literature, like Bronte, Dostoevsky, Austen, Conrad, Orwell, Steinbeck, Voltaire, etc etc etc. (Brandon Harris)
Duchess’s Community High School Senior Drama GroupNorthumberland Gazette gives more information:
Wuthering Heights
The spirit of Emily Brontë's haunting novel is brought to exhilarating life in this stage adaptation performed by the talented DCHS Drama Group.
A passionate and spellbinding tale of forbidden love and revenge.
November 6,7 and 8 @7:30 pm
This adaptation, written by famous playwright April De Angelis (Playhouse Creatures), will be performed by the senior drama group and promises to be a thought-provoking piece of theatre.
The school’s head of English and drama, Martin Allenby, said: “This will be the school’s 14th consecutive autumn production at the Alnwick Playhouse and we can’t wait to showcase the talents of our young people to the wider public once again.
“The text is part of our work on the gothic that we prepare for in A2 English literature so fits well with our studies.
“However, most importantly it gives young people a chance to work in a professional space – be it on the stage, sound, lighting and to work with the Playhouse staff.
“It’s a continuation of the excellent working relationship that exists between the school and the Playhouse to provide the best opportunities for young people.”
April de Angelis's Wuthering Heights theatre adaptation is published by Samuel French Ltd:Wuthering HeightsAnd Emily Brontë's novel also features in
A new adaptation by April De Angelis from the novel by Emily Brontë
Play - Full Length
Samuel French LTd.
£8.50
ISBN: 0573114951
ISBN-13: 978057311495-3
M8 F7, 1 boy, may be played by M6 F4 with doubling. Extras. Various simple settings. Period early Victorian
A brand new adaptation brings Emily Brontë’s passionate and spellbinding tale of forbidden love and revenge to life on stage. Set on the wild, windswept Yorkshire moors, Wuthering Heights is the tempestuous story of free-spirited Catherine and dark, brooding Heathcliff. As children running wild and free on the moors, Cathy and Heathcliff are inseperable. As they grow up, their affection deepens into passionate love, but Cathy lets her head rule her heart as she chooses to marry wealthy Edgar Linton. Heathcliff flees broken-hearted, only to return seeking terrible vengeance on those he holds responsible, with epic and tragic results.
“I was relieved to see an adaptation of this wonderful Emily Brontë novel that was true to her creation.” Birmingham Mail
Heathcliff. Cathy. Edgar Linton. Young Cathy: daughter of Cathy. Nelly Dean: servant. Mr Lockwood: tenant of Thrushcross Grange. Hindley: Cathy's elder brother. Hareton: Hindley's son. Joseph: servant. Mr Linton: Edgar and Isabella's father. Frances: Hindley's wife. Mary: young servant. Isabella Linton: Edgar's younger sister. Zillah: servant. Jabes Branderham: a reverend. Servant. Lad. Band of Musicians.
Shaped by StoriesChapter 9 is named Ethical engagements over time : reading and rereading David Copperfield and Wuthering Heights.
The Ethical Power of Narratives
Marshall Gregory
University of Notre Dame Press
Paper Edition 2009
240 pages
ISBN 10: 0-268-02974-1
ISBN 13: 978-0-268-02974-6
In his latest book, Marshall Gregory begins with the premise that our lives are saturated with stories, ranging from magazines, books, films, television, and blogs to the words spoken by politicians, pastors, and teachers. He then explores the ethical implications of this universal human obsession with narratives. Through careful readings of Katherine Anne Porter’s “The Grave” and Thurber’s “The Catbird Seat,” as well as David Copperfield, Wuthering Heights, and other works, Gregory asks (and answers) the question: How do the stories we absorb in our daily lives influence the kinds of persons we turn out to be?
Wuthering HeightsAdapted by April de Angelis
Directed by Wendy Reynolds
Bob Hope Theatre, Eltham, South London
7th-10th November at 7.45 PM
The Identity Theatre Company performs Wuthering Heights (in the adaptation of April de Angelis) at the Brighton Open Air Theatre:Wuthering Heights
BOAT
July 24, 25, 26, 27 7.30pm
July 27 2pm
Directed by Nettie Sheridan & Gary Cook
Complete cast
A love as wild as the wind, a passion that echoes through the ages… Identity Theatre return with April de Angelis’ adaptation of Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë’s passionate and spellbinding tale of forbidden love and revenge.
This classic tale of obsession and wild love is set on the windswept Yorkshire moors, and is the tempestuous story of free-spirited Catherine and dark, brooding Heathcliff.
As children running wild and free on the moors, Cathy and Heathcliff are inseparable. As they grow up, their affection deepens into passionate love, but Cathy lets her head rule her heart as she chooses to marry wealthy Edgar Linton.
Heathcliff flees broken-hearted, only to return seeking terrible vengeance on those he holds responsible, with epic and tragic results.
This adaptation begins true to the book with Mr Lockwood (Tony Giles) narrating the story. He was later introduced to fellow narrator Nelly Dean played by Bella Stebbings.In The Guardian, Tanya Gold discusses the recent story of Jeanette Winterson killing and skinning (and sharing a picture of it on Twitter) a rabbit that had been eating her parsley.
Bella delivered the lines with perfect clarity and excellently shifted between talking to Mr Lockwood and being part of the scene she was narrating.
The writing of April De Angelis does not shy away from showing Cathy as a domineering and contrary character who at times is most unpleasant.
Kathryn Anderson carried this off well, beginning as a charming young girl and ending as a twisted and broken woman.
She played alongside the equally deceitful and manipulative Heathcliff (Gareth Roberts). The heartache and longing between the two characters was unbearable to watch as the dark and haunting plot unfolded.
The story is fascinating as you see how all the characters are affected by the relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy. It eventually resolves with Cathy’s daughter (Kathryn Anderson) picking her cousin Hareton (Robin Lee), a poor soul who has not been schooled. Robin played Hareton as a kind-hearted, shy man with signs of a young Heathcliff.
Her mother did not make such a wise choice and married Edgar Linton (Ben Kennedy-Day), a whiny, wimpy man who was brought up to be a gentleman. He portrayed this well and cleverly showed us glimpses into the possibility of him having true feelings for Cathy.
At times some characters needed to enunciate their words a little better. The biggest scene change of the production was a little slow but this was perhaps unavoidable.
The emotions in this performance were extremely powerful and this dark tale left the audience in haunted contemplation.
It is fascinating to ponder though – the bored and clever novelist rewriting Beatrix Potter in the style of Quentin Tarantino and eating the ending. (Winterson to Potter is as Jean Rhys to Charlotte Brontë. Effortlessly, she makes her look naive.)The Guardian also reviews the film adaptation of The Fault in our Stars.
They are as rich and attractive as teens in a Nancy Meyers movie, with a quirky, smart, back-talking relationship. Life-affirming Gus likes to have an unlit cigarette in his mouth to show his existential defiance. Despite being such an obvious hottie, Gus is a virgin. Hazel's own condition in this respect is apparently so self-evident that she never says it out loud. It is all too clearly Gus's virginity, not his cancer, which is his heartbreaking vulnerability, like Rochester getting to be blind at the beginning and not the end of Jane Eyre. "You two are so adorable," says Hazel's mother, out loud, without anyone nearby screaming. (Peter Bradshaw)More on the One Direction erotica fan fiction. As read in the Daily Mail:
What's more, when she referenced Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights in the installments, the number of people reading these novels on Wattpad spiked. (Margot Peppers)
a visceral, raw and brutal beauty which makes Heathcliff's Wuthering Heights look like a prissy, pastoral watercolour. (Emma Jane Kirby)
1. A production of the April de Angelis's adaptation of Wuthering Heights is opening today, February 6, in Exeter, Devon, UK:Writer's Block Theatre presentsYou can check an article about the production in the Western Morning News and publicity pictures on the production's Facebook webpage.
Wuthering Heights
Adapted by April De Angelis
Directed by Chloe Whittaker
Assistant Directed by Sofie Francis
Mary Harris Memorial Chapel, University of Exeter
February 6-February 11 7.30pm
Set on the wild, windswept Yorkshire moors, Wuthering Heights is the tempestuous story of free-spirited Catherine and dark, brooding Heathcliff. As children running wild and free on the moors, Cathy and Heathcliff are inseparable. As they grow up, their affection deepens into passionate love, but Cathy lets her head rule her heart as she chooses to marry wealthy Edgar Linton. Heathcliff flees broken-hearted, only to return seeking terrible vengeance on those he holds responsible, with epic and tragic results. You can expect instinctive storytelling in breath-taking surroundings and a heady mix of live dark contemporary music.
Age: 12yrs+
Running Time: 2hrs 45mins
The Bookworm BookstoreMonday, February 6 / 6:30 p.m.
The "I Should Have Read That in School" classics group will discuss Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë.
