The Northern Ballet Theatre celebrates its 40th anniversary with a revival of its Wuthering Heights production first premiered in 2002:The Northern BalletThe Northern Ballet Theatre has also its own blog with further information about these performances.
Wuthering Heights
* Choreography by David Nixon
* Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg
Passionate and obsessive, Cathy and Heathcliff's love is as unruly and dangerous as the Yorkshire moors that surround them:
My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath – a source of little visible delight, but necessary.
Cathy
As children they are inseparable, running wild and free on the moors, but over time their childish affection deepens into an overwhelming love – a devastating force that even death cannot destroy.
Northern Ballet Theatre is one of the UK's leading ballet companies whose dancers' ability to capture the spirit of their characters draws audiences into the story in a way that makes our productions more than just dance.
With an original score by celebrated composer Claude-Michel Schönberg, known for his West End and Broadway hits Les Miserables and Miss Saigon, see this turbulent love story brought to life in Northern Ballet Theatre's adaptation of Emily Brontë's romantic masterpiece.
Read the full scenario for Wuthering Heights
Read previous reviews.
Running Time: 2 hours aprx
Creative Team
* Orchestrated by William David Brohn
* Additional Orchestration by John Longstaff
* Theatre Associate and Dramaturge Patricia Doyle
* Set design by Ali Allen
* Costume Design by David Nixon
* Lighting Design by David Grill
TOUR:
Hull, New Theatre
29 April - 2 May, 2009
* Evenings: 7:30
* Matinees (30 Apr & 2 May): 2:30
Milton Keynes Theatre
5 - 9 May, 2009
* Evenings: 7:30
* Matinees (7 & 9 May): 2:30
Belfast, Grand Opera House
2 - 6 June, 2009
* Evenings: 7:30
* Matinee (4 Jun): 2:00
* Matinee (6 Jun): 2:30
Llandudno, Venue Cymru
11 - 13 June, 2009
* Evenings: 7:30
* Matinee (13 Jun): 2:30
Norwich, Theatre Royal
29 September – 3 October, 2009
Woking, New Victoria Theatre
6 – 10 October, 2009
Bradford, Alhambra Theatre
20 – 24 October, 2009
Further news on the Chinese theatre adaptation of Jane Eyre As both China Daily and CCTV report: The theme posters of NCPC's first original drama production "Jane Eyre" are released Wednesday at a press conference in the National Centre of Performing Arts (NCPC) on June 10, 2009. Lead cast members of "Jane Eyre" performed the "wedding scene" during the press conference. Actress Yuan Quan and actor Wang Luoyong star as Jane Eyre, Rochester in the drama. [Photo: ent.sina.com.cn]Both sources show six pictures: two promotional posters and four photographs taken at the press-conference-cum-wedding-scene. Well worth a look.
A few hours after being admitted to the hospital for exhaustion, director Wang Xiaoying was back at the rehearsal room of the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA), passionately giving instructions to his actors and actresses.A little closer to the Brontës' home there are things going on up on the stage as well. The Caernarfon Denbigh Herald announces the Northern Ballet Theatre return to Llandudno with their Wuthering Heights:
Wang’s health took the brunt of the past month’s intense rehearsals for the Chinese theatrical adaptation oJane Eyre, an English romantic novel by Charlotte Bronte. But Wang didn’t want to miss a moment until the play’s June 19 premiere, so he slipped out of the hospital in the afternoon.
At NCPA, Yuan Quan is in a loose grey cotton dress, similar to the one she will wear as Jane Eyre during the performance. She said she wanted to get used to the feel of a long costume, which also helps her get into character.
Wang Luoyong, the mainland’s fist singer to make it on Broadway, plays Jane Eyre’s love interest Edward Rochester.
Wang has been hailed one of the top Asian actors on Broadway for his leading role in the musical Miss Saigon in the 1990s. When the show closed in 2001 as one of the longest-running Broadway productions, Wang had already given 2,500 performances.
“I can feel everything, but I’m not good at expressing it in words. Wg, however, is an engineer when it comes to decoding and analyzing such problems,” Yuan said.
During rehearsals, Wang often wears a pair of boots ala Edward Rochester to help him get into the man’s skin. But after they tep off the stage, Wang said he and Yuan usually have difficulty shaking off their characters, so they just go over their lines again.
Many people doubt Yuan’s ability to play the plain-looking Jane Eyr because of her beautiful face. But Wang said, “In my mind, she really has a lot of similarities with Jane Eyre.
Jane Eyre
Where: The National Center for the Performing Arts, 2 Xi Chang’an Jie, Xicheng DistrictWhen: June 19-28, 7:30 pm
Admission: 100-500 yuan
Tel: 6655 0000 (He Jianwei)
The superb Northern Ballet Theatre is returning to Llandudno with a special adaptation of Wuthering Heights.The Chester Chronicle reports this as well:
The show is just one highlight of the Northern Ballet Theatre celebrations for the programme of their 40th anniversary year.
Known throughout the world as one of the greatest love stories, Wuthering Heights focuses on the powerful bond that grows between Cathy and Heathcliff. Their lives become linked for eternity in a haunting tale, as bleak and beautiful as the Yorkshire moors that surround them.
This dance production of Emily Brontë’s classic novel was created in 2002 when Claude-Michel Schönberg, known throughout the musical-theatre world for his West End hits Les Miserables, Miss Saigon and Martin Guerre approached the Northern Ballet Theatre regarding a collaboration.
Wuthering Heights will be at Venue Cymru from June 11-13. Performances start at 7.30pm with a 2.30 matinee on Saturday.
Tickets cost £14-£25, with Discounts, concessions and group rates available. Book tickets on 01492 872000.
Special sessions with the dancers will also be taking place. On June 13 from 11.15am-12.45pm, dance fans can meet the production and watch the rehearsals for £3.50.
WUTHERING HEIGHTS (Venue Cymru Llandudno, June 11-13)And EDP24 announces that this same company will bring their Romeo and Juliet is to Norwich Theatre Royal from June 23-27. NBT chief executive Mark Skipper remarks that,
Emily Bronte’s turbulent, romantic masterpiece is brought to life in this adaptation by Northern Ballet Theatre.
The unruly and dangerous love affair between Heathcliff and Cathy is performed to an original score by celebrated composer Claude-Michel Schonberg, best known for Les Miserables and Miss Saigon. 01492 872000.
“I think people still want to come out and see productions of quality. I suppose at the moment audiences are playing a little bit safe with what they want to see, so they'll perhaps go to see productions like Swan Lake, the Nutcracker and Romeo and Juliet. Titles like Dracula and Wuthering Heights are slightly riskier.” (Emma Lee)We don't know about a bellet performance, but if some producer is looking for a Cathy, they might have one in Helen Flanagan (Rosie Webster in Coronation Street ). She said the following to Western Daily Press:
The 18-year-old actress - who plays Rosie Webster in Coronation Street - says her "dream role" would be playing Cathy Earnshaw in an adaptation of Emily Bronte's novel.We believe she has only seen the 1992 film adaptation where Juliette Binoche played - with the help of an unfortunate wig - both mother and daughter.
She said: "That's such an amazing role, you get to play Cathy, but you also get to play her daughter as well, and she went through a traumatic time - I love Wuthering Heights, I did it at school for GCSE and absolutely loved it."
The Northern Ballet has just announced a new Jane Eyre ballet that will be performed around the UK next year:Northern Ballet announces World Première of Cathy Marston’s Jane EyreTour 2016:
Northern Ballet has announced its next new creation will be an adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s iconic masterpiece, Jane Eyre.
Choreographed by acclaimed international dance maker Cathy Marston, the new full-length ballet will première during the 200th anniversary year of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre will be held at Cast in Doncaster on 19 May 2016 before touring to five further venues in Richmond, Aylesbury, Wolverhampton, Stoke and Leicester between May and June 2016.
birth. The World Première for
Orphaned at a young age and cruelly treated by her Aunt, Jane Eyre is a plain but intelligent child who grows up knowing little kindness. Sent away to a charitable school, Jane lateraccepts a position as a Governess at Thornfield, a gentleman’s manor whose master is the dark and impassioned Mr Rochester. In spite of their social differences, an unlikely bond grows between the pair but as their romance develops, it becomes clear that Mr Rochester has a hidden past that threatens to ruin them both. The ultimate dramatic tale of romance, jealousy and dark secrets, Jane Eyre is the story of one woman’s indomitable spirit overcoming all boundaries.
Jane Eyre will be Cathy Marston’s second full-length production for Northern Ballet following her creation of the Dickens classic A Tale of Two Cities for the Company in 2008. She was educated in Cambridge and at the Royal Ballet School and was Associate Artist at the Royal Opera House from 2002 – 2006 and Director of the Bern Ballett in Switzerland from 2007 –2013.
For this new production, Cathy has brought onboard composer Philip Feeney to compile and arrange a score for Jane Eyre made up of original compositions and existing work. Philip’s connection with Northern Ballet stretches back over 25 years and his credits include Cinderella (Gable), Dracula (Gable), Hunchback of Notre Dame (Pink), A Streetcar Named Desire (Veldman), Hamlet (Nixon), Cinderella (Nixon) and Elves & the Shoemaker (Andrade).
Patrick Kinmouth, who has worked closely with photographer Mario Testino designing numerous campaigns, books, and exhibitions for Gucci, Valentino, Versace and Dior, and has designed over 20 theatrical productions, will design the sets and costumes. Completing the creative team, Alastair West, whose Northern Ballet credits include Giselle, I Got Rhythm, A Christmas Carol and The Architect, will design the lighting.
Cathy Marston said: ‘Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre was a novel far ahead of its time and when I think of Jane Eyre I feel inspired by images of her passionate but 'impossible' relationship with Mr Rochester, the fire and emotional destruction symbolised by Bertha Mason - the infamous 'woman in the attic', the contrasting icy moorland through which she seems to run from one chapter of her life to another, and of course her final reunion with Rochester. But these images only touch the surface of a character and a book that continue to provoke and move - generation after generation, re-read after re-read. After creating ballets inspired by Emily Brontë’s Cathy, Ibsen’s Mrs Alving and Nabokov’s Lolita, it seems both exciting and inevitable that Charlotte’s Jane is drawing me towards her.
Creating for Northern Ballet is a joy because everyone in the organisation shares my passion for telling and digging deep into stories through dance. Though the Company has excellent technique and production values, it is their unparalleled ability as dance actors that I love most so I am thrilled to return to Northern Ballet in 2016 to create Jane Eyre.’
Northern Ballet’s Artistic Director David Nixon OBE said: ‘Cathy is a huge talent and one of the leading choreographers of the moment so I am delighted that she will be returning to work with Northern Ballet once more.
Having already adapted Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights it seems appropriate that Northern Ballet should also immortalise her sister’s Jane Eyre through dance and doing so in the bicentennial anniversary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth makes it all the more special.’
The tour of Jane Eyre will see Northern Ballet return to six venues first introduced to the Company’s portfolio in 2015 as part of its continuing commitment to develop new and existing audiences for dance. For on sale dates and updates see northernballet.com/whatson.
Doncaster, Cast (World Première) 19 – 21 May 2016
Box Office 01302 303 959 castindoncaster.com On sale soon
Richmond Theatre 31 May – 1 Jun 2016
Box Office 0844 871 7651* atgtickets.com/richmond On sale soon
Aylesbury, Waterside Theatre 3 – 4 Jun 2016
Box Office 0844 871 7607* atgtickets.com/aylesbury On sale soon
Wolverhampton, Grand Theatre 10 – 11 Jun 2016
Box Office 01902 429 212 grandtheatre.co.uk On sale soon
Stoke, Regent Theatre 14 – 15 Jun 2016
Box Office 0844 871 7649* atgtickets.com/regent-theatre On sale soon
Leicester, Curve Theatre 17 – 18 Jun 2016
Box Office 0116 242 3595 curveonline.co.uk On sale soon
"My wife [the writer Lucasta Miller] works a lot on the Bronte sisters," Bostridge says, "and Emily Bronte is always being presented as this sort of naïve, possessed genius, in a parallel way to Schubert being presented as, you know, simple little Franzi. But they're both very sophisticated, deeply intellectually interested artists." (David Weininger)The Buckingham Advertiser announces the upcoming Northern Ballet Theatre revival of Schönberg & Nixon's Wuthering Heights:
AS part of its 40th anniversary programme, Northern Ballet Theatre returns to Milton Keynes Theatre 5 – 9 May with Wuthering Heights, a creative collaboration between composer Claude-Michel Schönberg and NBT Artistic Director David Nixon, inspired by Emily Bronte's remarkable novel of 1847.The Time Magazine talks with Seth Grahame-Smith, author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies about the origins of the project:
The ballet was created in 2002 when Claude-Michel Schönberg, known throughout the musical theatre world for his West End hits Les Miserables, Miss Saigon and Martin Guerre, made contact with David Nixon within weeks of his arrival at NBT. A productive meeting of minds left David "in no doubt that a ballet based on Emily Brontë's passionate love story, would be a perfect vehicle for Northern Ballet Theatre" and he set about planning his first complete new work for NBT.
Known throughout the world as one of the greatest love stories, the ballet focuses on the powerful bond that grows between Catherine Earnshaw and the foundling Heathcliff; their lives inexorably linked for eternity in a darkly haunting tale, as bleak and beautiful as the Yorkshire moors that surround them.
Designer Ali Allen, who created her first ballet designs for NBT's Madame Butterfly, captures the windswept majesty of Yorkshire's moorland; a perfect contrast for David Nixon's striking costume designs of the period. Lighting designer David Grill completes the creative team, cleverly conveying a landscape fashioned by the relentless forces of nature.
During rehearsals for the original production in 2002, Claude-Michel Schönberg and then NBT Principal Artist, Charlotte Talbot, met and later married. Charlotte, who created the role of Cathy, will return to NBT to take Company rehearsals of the production. A love story within a love story.
Tell me where the idea to add zombies to Pride and Prejudice came from. Was there a Eureka moment?Pajiba, Kiss the Librarian (in Spanish) and Infamous Lucifer post about Jane Eyre. Books We Love (Or Not) publishes an academic essay about Jane Eyre and its Deviations from the Modern Romance Novel. Books of Jeanne talks about Wuthering Heights. A Goddess of Divine Inspiration finds inspiration (sorry for that) in Jane Eyre in this picture uploaded to flickr. Finally Eric Ruijssenaars publishes new historical postcards of the Rue d'Isabelle on the Brussels Brontë Blog .
Actually the credit for this belongs to my editor, Jason Rekulak. He had had this sort of long-gestating idea of doing some kind of mashup, he called it. He didn't know what it was, he just knew there was something to it. He had these lists, and on one side he had a column of War and Peace and Crime and Punishment and Wuthering Heights and whatever public domain classic literature you can think of. And on the other side he would have these phenomena like werewolves and pirates and zombies and vampires. He called me one day, out of the blue, very excitedly, and he said, all I have is this title, and I can't stop thinking about this title. And he said: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. For whatever reason, it just struck me as the most brilliant thing I'd ever heard. (Lev Grossman)
Some new dates in the Northern Ballet Theatre's UK tour with, among others, David Nixon's & Claude-Michel Schönberg's Wuthering Heights:As children they are inseparable, running wild and free on the moors, but over time their childish affection deepens into an overwhelming love – a devastating force that even death cannot destroy.
Northern Ballet Theatre is one of the UK's leading ballet companies whose dancers' ability to capture the spirit of their characters draws audiences into the story in a way that makes our productions more than just dance.
With an original score by celebrated composer Claude-Michel Schönberg, known for his West End and Broadway hits Les Miserables and Miss Saigon, see this turbulent love story brought to life in Northern Ballet Theatre's adaptation of Emily Brontë's romantic masterpiece.
Read the full scenario for Wuthering Heights. Watch a video here.
Running Time: 2 hours aprx
Creative Team
* Choreography by David Nixon
* Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg
* Orchestrated by William David Brohn
* Additional Orchestration by John Longstaff
* Theatre Associate and Dramaturge Patricia Doyle
* Set design by Ali Allen
* Costume Design by David Nixon
* Lighting Design by David Grill
Edinburgh Festival TheatreCategories: Dance, Wuthering Heights
* 11 - 13 March, 2010
Festival Theate, Edinburgh
Evenings: 7.30pm
Sat: 2.30pm
Sheffield Lyceum Theatre
* 16 - 20 March, 2010
Evenings: 7.45pm
18, 20 March, Matinées at 2.00pm
IT'S A snowy day in Leeds, and the man responsible for the world's longest-running musical is giving advice to the dancers of Northern Ballet Theatre (NBT). They nod appreciatively before resuming their rehearsal, incorporating his comments into their movement.China Daily interviews Yang Jia, elected as a model for Chinese working women for 2009 by the All-China Women’s Federation:
Yet just a few years ago, Claude-Michel Schönberg was "not interested in ballet". He was far more at home in the world of blockbuster musicals such as Les Misérables, Miss Saigon and Martin Guerre – all three of which he composed. Two things catapulted Schönberg from a ballet virgin to a veritable expert: he was asked to write the score for a dance version of Wuthering Heights and married Charlotte Talbot, a former principal dancer with NBT.
Today, both husband and wife are helping the company restage the show that brought them together. Originally created in 2002, with Talbot in the lead role of Cathy, the ballet takes Emily Brontë's 19th-century novel and transforms it into two hours of passionate dance. Although choreographed by NBT's artistic director David Nixon, it was Schönberg who came up with the initial structure for the piece.
"I was not a ballet expert before, but I thought that the best version would be the simplest one," he says. "So I read the book again and watched the films, and I thought the Laurence Olivier version was the most straightforward and clear in terms of storytelling, so I used that to write the script of the ballet."
It took Schönberg nine months to write the score, working eight hours a day in the south of France."This ballet was a completely new experience for me," he says. "But I looked at a lot of other ballets before I started writing, and I began to understand that it's not miming, it's using the body to express what's happening in the story and the spirituality of the characters." (Read more)
When the curtain rises and Heathcliff sweeps Cathy up into his arms, what's going through Talbot's mind? "Dancing Cathy was absolutely the highlight of my career," she says. "And when I listen to Claude-Michel's music I still feel it in my body. But I don't wish it was me up there on the stage – I just remember the feeling I had back then and I'm happy with that." (Kelly Apter)
She imagined herself as the strong-willed and independent Jane Eyre, who struggles to be her own individual, or as the rich and beautiful Tonia Tumanova from the Russian novel How the Steel was Tempered.The Progress magazine talks about International Women's Day.
Instead, Yang said, she ended up more like the blind characters in those same books - Jane Eyre's love Mr. Rochester, or Pavel Korchagin, the hero who fought against his disability to achieve success. (Yang Guang)
The anti-feminist nature of our society is to blame for this. It has two main, damaging characteristics: female hypersexualisation, and the idea that women are irrational, illogical and hysterical. The latter is rooted in a long history of literature and language. From Shakespeare's Ophelia to the madwoman in the attic in Jane Eyre, literature's image of the hysterical woman is as stubborn as it is ugly. (Gary Nunn)Renaissance of Reading interviews Hannah Tinti, Brontëite:
Who were some of your favorite authors growing up and who are you currently reading?PRWeb reports that the CliffsNotes-To-Go series, including Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, are now available to download on the iTunes Apps store. A teacher who uses Facebook to teach Wuthering Heights in the Jackson Free Press. The Reader Online posts about Anne Brontë's poem The Captive Dove, the Kindred Spirits Book Group announces that April's reading will be Agnes Grey, Spacebeer reviews Wuthering Heights and Randomness and All write with coffee... Jane Eyre.
I loved the Bronte sisters. I re-read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights every few years. I am currently reading Daniyal Mueenuddin’s In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, which just won The Story Prize.
In an unmissable production, Charlotte Brontë’s classic tale of Jane Eyre is being brought to life in spectacular style by the Northern Ballet in Leeds and Sheffield.Renowned company Northern Ballet is proud to bring this tale of passion and rebellion home to Yorkshire.Delighting ballet enthusiasts as well as first-time ballet audiences, the acclaimed production is at Leeds Grand Theatre from March 14 – 22 and Sheffield Lyceum from April 22 - 26 – book tickets here.Their signature mix of exquisite dancing and theatrical drama, make their unmissable productions accessible yet complex, bringing intrigue and entertainment.Choreographed and directed by Cathy Marston, this new production is accompanied by live music by Philip Feeney – and has received glowing reviews.“Cathy Marston displays a novelist’s touch in layering characters in her wonderfully choreographed show for Northern Ballet,” said The Guardian, whilst the Telegraph reviewer enthused: “Northern Ballet’s new Jane Eyre is a beautiful and expressive tribute to Brontë.”The Yorkshire Post reviewer gave it five stars, saying: “Jane Eyre has been reimagined a thousand times before, but maybe never quite so perfectly as this production by Northern Ballet.”Joseph Taylor explains how he feels in the role of Mr Rochester: “I see Jane Eyre as physical theatre production or a silent play told through dance. Not your traditional classical tutu but a modern way of bringing a classic story to life through the medium of art. It pushes the boundaries of where narrative ballet is in the 21st century.“We always have a great fan base in Leeds and the Leeds Grand Theatre is such a beautiful venue. It feels so fitting for the ballet to be performed in Yorkshire, so close to where the Brontës grew up and took inspiration for their timeless novels.”Dominique Larose who is playing Jane Eyre, said: “I am deeply drawn to Jane as a character. While she is often described as ‘plain’, she is anything but. Her quiet strength, resilience and generosity shine vividly through the choreography, making her an inspiring and multifaceted role to embody.”She added: “One moment I’m especially looking forward to is dancing the final pas de deux, where Rochester is blind. The music in this section is incredibly powerful and deeply moving, which adds an extra layer of emotion to the choreography. It’s such a poignant conclusion to their story, and I can’t wait to bring that depth and intensity to life through both movement and music.”
Make a date with Jane Eyre in March – not on the moors at Haworth but on stage in Leeds with Northern Ballet's critically acclaimed Jane Eyre.It promises romance, jealousy and dark secrets galore as brilliant dance actors bring Charlotte Brontë’s gothic masterpiece to life in this masterful portrayal of Yorkshire's ultimate heroine. Experience the unexpected twists and turns of one woman’s life from the dreary school room to a towering manor house and the sweeping Yorkshire moors with heart-stirring choreography and live music that captures the essence of her timeless tale. (Beth Windsor)
For Georgia O’Sullivan, manager of Bookends, it was Michelle Paver’s immersive storytelling and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre that shaped her literary world: "Michelle Paver and Charlotte Brontë both had a massive impact on me as a child. (...)“Jane Eyre was the first 'grown up' book I ever read and it felt very modern.“Having such a timid, plain, but determined woman as a main character was really inspiring to me especially in times that were even more difficult for women." (Ollie Rowlinson)
Charlotte Brontë's Jane EyreAnother iconic and timeless classic, 'Jane Eyre' will always remain unforgettable. It is the life and story of Jane, an orphan girl who is strong-willed and wishes nothing more than independance. (Aakanksha Sharma)
Some other Women's Day recommendations. Wuthering Heights in Cadena SER Albacete (Spain), El Sol de Tampico (México). InStyle (México) mentions the use of pseudonyms by the Brontës to hide their sex.
But the tendency to anthropomorphise nature is universal in literature, irrespective of language. There is King Lear howling on the heath as the storm rages, the turmoil in nature an objective correlative of the upheaval in his old heart. Ditto with the unquiet spirits of Catherine and Heathcliff eternally walking the wind-torn heaths of Wuthering Heights. (...)And, in this birth centenary year of Hindi writer Krishna Sobti, don’t miss the deeply-felt essay on the transgressive author who could not be silenced. Amritesh Mukherjee writes here: “Hindi literature had a script for women: they longed quietly, suffered beautifully, sacrificed without complaint. Desire—if acknowledged at all—was something to endure, not pursue. Then came Mitro [Sobti’s heroine], who shredded the script. She is fire, bare skin, unfiltered hunger. She demands. She takes.” I can hear all the defiant women of literature from Draupadi to Jane Eyre to bell hooks here—lashing like rain, scorching like fire. (Anusua Mukherjee)
Let us address the secretive nature of our obsession first. God forbid anyone should find out you are a bookworm. You can already hear it — the dreaded question: “What’s your favourite book?” Cue the existential crisis. “Do I have a favourite book? When was the last time I read a book? Was that a book or a magazine? What is a book?”The mind starts racing as the other person waits for your answer. “Hmmm, I liked Harry Potter. But isn’t that a children’s book? Maybe I should say something sophisticated, like Wuthering Heights. Well, I did doze off a dozen times trying to finish it. Who wrote it? Jane Eyre? No, that is the name of the other book. Then who was the heroine of Wuthering Heights? Aarrghh! The Brontë sisters!” (Chanchala Borah)
Part of the freshness of this production is a brooding color scheme that might make you think of the rainy, windswept moors of “Wuthering Heights.” (Mary Therese Biebel)
Uno de los grandes aciertos de Emily Brontë fue atreverse a crear una obra en la que los actores principales se entregaban a la crueldad y a la autosatisfacción de sus deseos. Hablando claro: sus protagonistas no nos caían bien, no eran ejemplares, y por eso nos encantaban. La misma razón por la que los críticos de la época despreciaron la novela, que no respetaba las condiciones habituales de moralidad -ni de la estructura, ¿una novela con dos narradores? ¿Qué era eso?-. A Heathcliff y a Cathy no los movían inquietudes de beatitud, precisamente; no buscaban la excelencia a la hora de cumplir códigos o normas sociales. Resultaban incómodos, difíciles de comprender. Inusuales. Peligrosos. Incluso en su forma de salirse de la senda establecida eran distintos a las mujeres de Jane Austen, que podían cuestionar su manera de encajar en la sociedad, pero siempre desde la inteligencia y la esperanza, sin el cinismo y la falta de escrúpulos que acosaban a los personajes de Brontë. Porque Cumbres Borrascosas no es en realidad un drama victoriano, aunque se ubique en esa época, sino un libro de espíritu profundamente Romántico, al menos en lo que respecta a la idea de “lo sublime” de la naturaleza y su crueldad, así como a las pasiones del alma humana. Heathcliff no es Mr. Darcy. No es un perfecto caballero y, probablemente, satisfará más las expectativas de aquellas que se han deleitado con el Nosferatu winter que a las que se divirtieron con el colorido brat summer. (Arancha Gamo) (Translation)
Mathrubhumi's word of the day is coruscant and an example from Jane Eyre is quoted. Sören Heim – Lyrik und Prosa (in German) discusses (and he is not very impressed by) Jane Eyre. On The House of Brontë, Nick Holland reviews Agnes Grey.
A THEATRICAL adaptation of the Charlotte Bronte classic Jane Eyre opens at Perth Theatre today.And another Brontë-related production will be in Scotland soon, but in Edinburgh this time. Northern Ballet's take on Wuthering Heights, as The List says.
The Horsecross Arts production is based on Polly Teale’s stage adaptation of Jane Eyre and centres on the idea that there is more to Jane than her sensible exterior.
Her more passionate nature reveals itself once she arrives at Edward Rochester’s house to take up the post of governess to his daughter Adele.
The production combines music and dance and is directed by Ian Grieve.
Mr Grieve said: “With Jane Eyre, we are embracing a range of skills and storytelling techniques that have introduced the theatre team to some new and exciting ways of working.
“Hopefully, what we have created will enthral Perth theatre-goers in the execution as much as it has thrilled us in the preparation, capturing, for stage and for a modern audience, the intensity and passion of Bronte’s work.”
The production brings a number of new faces to Perth Theatre.
Kath Duggan plays Jane, Vanessa Cook plays Bertha, Vari Sylvester is Mrs Reed, Hywel Morgan is Brocklehurst, Kate Cooley and Rachel Entwhistle are Abigail and Bessie.
Rochester is played by Tom McGovern and the production also features Perthshire teenager Beth Duncan, who is making her professional stage debut as Adele.
Jane Eyre runs at Perth Theatre from Friday until March 20.
Tickets are available from the Horsecross Box Office on 01738 621031 or by visiting http://www.horsecross.co.uk/
There are no shortage of love affairs in the annals of English literature, but few burn with the passion of Cathy and Heathcliff. The tragic hero and heroine of Emily Brontë’s 19th century novel Wuthering Heights have been lifted from page to stage and small screen many times over the years. And now, courtesy of Northern Ballet Theatre (NBT), that tumultuous relationship is being brought to life through dance.The Khaleej Times interviews Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor:
Choreographed by NBT’s artistic director, David Nixon with an emotive score by Claude-Michel Schönberg (of Les Miserables and Miss Saigon fame), Wuthering Heights the ballet ends mid-way through the novel, after Cathy’s death. It’s an emotional scene – especially when the dancers involved are real-life partners, as California-born Martha Leebolt discovered when she played Cathy opposite her boyfriend Christopher Hinton-Lewis in 2009.
‘It was awesome,’ recalls Leebolt. ‘At the end when Cathy is dying on the bed, it was just so sad. We were both crying and really in the moment, and I remember thinking we’d better make sure we make that last lift!’ Due to Leebolt incurring an injury, the couple were only able to perform ten shows together – and sadly, now that’s she’s fit again, Hinton-Lewis has suffered a similar fate. But as Leebolt says, no matter who plays Heathcliff, ‘when the music and choreography come together, you can really feel it, even if you’re not dancing with your real partner.’
For Leebolt, taking on the role of the strong-headed but loving Catherine Earnshaw has been a fantastic challenge. ‘I really love the character,’ she says. ‘She’s not just a normal romantic heroine, it’s like playing two characters in one show because her personality is so wide ranging. There are good and bad points about her as a person, but as a role to play for two hours it’s pretty exciting.’
Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Thu 11–Sat 13 Mar (Kelly Apter)
Your take on love.Heathcliff definitely has a politically incorrect sense of humour.
I believe in it and love reading Wuthering Heights again and again. The ideal man for me is someone like Clarke Gable in Gone With The Wind or Darcy in Pride and Prejudice with his passion and dry sense of humour. I like men who have a politically incorrect sense of humour.
Like the writers of the recent Sherlock Holmes movie, Disney scribe Linda Woolverton takes a beloved fish and fries it up with the greasiest English nationalism. While Sherlock became a sadistic mix of Oscar Wilde and James Bond, Alice has grown into the female equivalent, Jane Eyre as The Woman Who Would Be King. She flees from an arranged marriage into the Wonderland she forgot. (Alistair Rockoff)A couple of blogs for today: Imagin 'Erre writes about Jane Eyre in French and Reina de Hielo writes about Wuthering Heights in Spanish.
Cathy Marston’s latest work for Northern Ballet follows the success of her 2016 Jane Eyre, a spare, clever reworking of the novel that will be danced by American Ballet Theatre in New York this June. (Louise Levene in The Spectator)
Cathy Marston’s last creation for Northern Ballet, Jane Eyre, is crossing he Atlantic to be performed by the prestigious American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York in June, and Victoria has already been confirmed to be performed by The National Ballet of Canada. “It’s so hugely exciting,” she says. “Jane Eyre had comparatively humble beginnings on Northern Ballet’s mid-scale tour and now it’s moving to one of the biggest stages in the world. To know that it’s going to be reinterpreted and remembered in different places, discussed and owned by different dancers; it has its own life now and that’s enormously rewarding for myself and everyone at Northern Ballet who worked so hard with me to create it.“ (Ian Soutar in Sheffield Telegraph)National Post features Danishka Esterhazy's thriller Level 16.
So when she graduated from the Canadian Film Centre in Toronto, she immediately wrote the screenplay for Level 16, with a science-fiction vibe she once characterized as “Jane Eyre meets Logan’s Run.” No one would fund it. (Chris Knight)American Cinematographer interviews cinematographer David Miller:
Do you have any favorite genres, or genres you would like to try? I’d like to do a full-blown gothic romance — Wuthering Heights, but Gregg Toland, ASC beat me to it [in the 1939 adaptation of Wuthering Heights].According to Red, Wuthering Heights can be read from cover to cover on a mid-haul flight. Amelia Foster posts about Jane Eyre.
My name is Zen Cho and Villette by Charlotte Bronte is my recommended.And here's the second part of Bonnets at Dawn's Understanding Emily, recorded live at the Brontë Parsonage Museum.
So Villette follows the fortunes of Lucy Snowe, who is not unlike Jane Eyre from Brontë’s most famous novel. She’s, you know, sort of mean, pure, poor, obscure young woman, English woman. And she has been left alone in the world, due to circumstances she doesn’t go a huge amount of detail into. And she ends up going to Villette, which is a fictional, Belgian city. And she becomes a teacher there, at a school. And the story’s just all about her experiences there, the people she meets, and eventually, the person she falls in love with. And it follows quite closely, I think, Charlotte Brontë’s experience teaching in Belgium herself.
I grew up in Malaysia, and I didn’t have any libraries nearby, really, all the decent libraries were about an hour’s drive away, and as a child I didn’t drive. I was taken to a bookshop about once a week and allowed to buy one book, so what it meant was that I was perpetually, in kind of, reading deprived.[...]
And the discovery was the Penguin Popular Classics. And I don’t know if you’ve ever seen these, they’re sort of beige, mass-market paperbacks. The great thing about them was that they were very cheap, so they were 5.80 ringgit, which is about a pound, a British pound. And Jane Eyre, for example, provides a lot of reading material for 5.80 when you’re only allowed to go to the book shop once a week.
So, when I found these, I just started reading through them. I read Dickens, I read Austen, I read George Eliot, and, obviously, Brontë, the Brontës. And so, I read Jane Eyre first, and then just went through what else I could find by her. She hasn’t published all that much, three novels mainly, so Villette was the next thing, and I have to say, although Jane Eyre is more famous, Villette is definitely my favorite of the three.
And I think it’s just a really fascinating book, I can’t think of anything that is quite like it. And I think part of the reason is because Lucy Snowe, the main character, and it’s written in first-person, like Jane Eyre, is quite a weird person. Jane Eyre is pretty weird, but Lucy Snowe is even weirder. And given that when you sort of think of her, each of the protagonist probably followed Bronte fairly closely, sort of makes you think, wonder what sort of person she was.
Lucy Snowe is a really fascinating protagonist, cause one thing about her is that she well, firstly, she’s incredibly lonely, she’s a person that’s kind of been left alone in the world, she doesn’t really have any family that she tells you about. She doesn’t seem to really have any close friends. And she’s set herself up as a kind of observer, she’s conscious that she has no money, she has no family, she’s somebody who’s very insignificant in kind of Victorian society.
And so, what she does for a lot of the book, is observe other people. And kind of try to decide whether to keep them at a distance or allow them to affect her. (Read more)
The Professor by Charlotte BrontëThe performances of the Northern Ballet Theatre's production of Wuthering Heights in Sheffield are reviewed in The Sheffield Telegraph:
Brontë may be known as a great recorder of female experience, but her first completed novel (published posthumously) is narrated by a man. William Crimsworth is a northern lad who becomes a teacher in a girls' school in Brussels. Before he finds love with a pupil-teacher at the school, he has to survive the flirtatious mockery of all those teenage girls.
Wild passions on the windswept moors leading to tragedy – it could only be the story of Heathcliff and Cathy from Northern Ballet Theatre.
And passions are on show in no uncertain manner – never again will you think of ballet as being a sedate art form after watching Heathcliff seduce poor Isabella on the kitchen table and then treat her like dirt afterwards.
The famous story is beautifully told, with traditional ballet and more contemporary moves portraying the difference between the wild world that Cathy and Heathcliff inhabit on the moors and the sophisticated society of the big house where Cathy meets Edgar, whom she marries, having fallen in love with the luxury of his home more than the man.
Heathcliff takes out his revenge by using Edgar's sister Isabella and also pays back Cathy's cruel brother Hindley (Martin Bell) for former slights when he entices him to gamble away his home on a drunken evening.
He and Cathy can't stay apart and tragedy ensues.
Guest dancer Artjom Maksakov – hampered by a strange mullet wig – and Martha Leebolt really make the sparks fly and dance beautifully together.
However, they are almost in danger of being upstaged by Pippa Moore and Ashley Dixon, portraying the couple as youngsters and dancing beautifully together.
Hironao Takahashi is wonderfully elegant as Edgar, as is Julie Charlet, playing Isabella.
All the supporting cast acquit themselves well and the set piece dance scenes are enchanting. The dancers playing the servants bring some much-needed comic relief. (Julia Armstrong)
The Chicago Tribune reviews The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood:Looking for a new set of books with a tone almost like "Lemony Snicket"? Maryrose Wood is beginning just such a trip, as readers journey with 15-year-old Penelope Lumley, "a recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females," to her first job interview. There's a mysterious howling in the background as she converses with her future employer. Well, unlike Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, there's no Bertha Mason in the attic, but Penelope has her own set of challenges as a governess, including her charges' "tragic encounter with taxidermy." (Mary Harris Russell)Another book review with Brontë mentions is The Guardian's on Where the God of Love Hangs Out by Amy Bloom:
The paired novellas each chronicle an illicitly founded relationship over a longish period, each unfolding in the context of wider family ties, each fairly heavy on the autumnal erotics of love in late middle-age, with its naps and arthritis and Viagra, and each culminating in a death. In one, the cast is largely white; in the other [Lionel and Julia], largely black, though in both the milieu is cultured, cosmopolitan and affluent (Jane Eyre and Smithfield hams cede to Marion Williams and smothered pork chops as points of reference, but the tone remains substantially the same). (James Lasdun)La Tercera (Spain) interviews singer and composer Miguel Bosé whose latest album, Cardio, includes a song inspired by Wuthering Heights: ¿Hay?
¿La inspiración? "Pues es muy variada, hay una canción que se llama ¿Hay? y apareció cuando estaba releyendo Cumbres borrascosas (Emily Brontë, 1847). El personaje de la canción está inspirado en el protagonista de la novela. (Manuel Maira) (Google translation)The Cincinnati Enquirer reviews Paul Gordon's latest musical play, Daddy Long Legs and includes a Jane Eyre reference:
The pleasing score is by Paul Gordon, who wrote the musical adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma” that Playhouse produced a couple of seasons back. It pleases, but it all sounds alike. Like “Anne of Green Gables,” “Long Legs” isn’t high drama, it’s about a girl’s everyday life a century ago. Jerusha may love reading “Jane Eyre,” but she isn’t living it. (Jackie Demaline)The Irish Times makes the following passing comment when discussing Irish fiction:
Few of us go to Wuthering Heights out of the desire to become better acquainted with the meteorological fluctuations of 19th-century Yorkshire. (Joseph O'Connor)Catherine Ostler describes John Galliano's outfit in a recent Dior show in the Financial Times:
I was at the Dior show in Paris. These days, of course, it’s John Galliano who is the ringmaster there.Welcome to Yorkshire has launched a new tourist campaign addressed to the Spanish market: 1,2,3 tu escondite inglés:
After a beautiful equestrian-meets-ethereal show, he arranged himself at the end of the catwalk while dramatic bolts of lightning crackled around him – the mighty showman as part naughty stable boy, part Heathcliff on the moors.
REVIVIENDO CUMBRES BORRASCOSAS.Also in Spain, El País-Babelia talks about the recent examples of monsters meeting classic novels. Mentioning Sarah Schmelling's Ophelia join the group: maidens who don't float one Jean (sic) Eyre is named:
Heathcliffe [sic] y Catherine, los protagonistas de Cumbres Borrascosas, la inmortal novela de Emily Brontë, huyeron juntos al inmenso páramo de Los Peninos para vivir allí, alejados de todos y de todo, su apasionado amor. No sorprende que eligieran precisamente este enclave, dado la belleza del entorno. En los Peninos, conocidos como la espina dorsal de Inglaterra, los cerros están siempre a mano, esperando a ser explorados, y dispuestos a ofrecer la ubicación perfecta para tu próximo escondite.
IMPERDIBLES: - Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, Red House Museum and Salts Mill in Saltaire.
No es el único caso. Sarah Schmelling es la autora de Ophelia join the group: maidens who don't float, que reinterpreta en formato Facebook desde La Odisea hasta Lolita, pasando por Jean Eyre. (Carmen Mañana) (Google translation)The Contra Costa Times uses Wuthering Heights as a way to talk about digital readers in education, bookstores with Brontë books in the Monterey County Weekly, A Literary Odyssey is reading Wuthering Heights and A New (York) Frame of Mind and Lucybird's Book Blogs discuss Emily Brontë's novel, Gifts of Dawn reviews Melanie M. Jeschke's Jillian Dare, Oregonreader Reviews posts about Rachel Ferguson's The Brontës Went to Woolworths, TwiHard reviews Dame Darcy's Jane Eyre on YouTube, Труд (Russia) reviews the film An Education with the compulsory Jane Eyre reference and de Verdieping Trouw (Netherlands) presents the Artemis Theatre's Wuthering Heights production now in Utrecht:
20 March, 19:30 TweeTakt Festival, Akademietheater, UtrechtCategories: Books, Dance, Haworth, Jane Eyre, Music, References, The Professor, Theatre, Wuthering Heights
28 March, 19:30 TweeTakt Festival, Stadsschouwburg, Utrecht
The Northern Ballet is bringing back its Wuthering Heights 2002 choreography to the stage:Wuthering Heights
Choreography by David Nixon
Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg
Touring to
Sheffield, Lyceum Theatre
Wed 18 to Sat 21 Mar 2015
Southampton, The Mayflower
Wed 22 to Sat 25 Apr 2015
Milton Keynes Theatre
Tue 28 Apr to Sat 2 May 2015
Canterbury, Marlowe Theatre
Tue 6 to Sat 10 Oct 2015
Bradford, Alhambra Theatre
Tue 17 to Sat 21 Nov 2015
Immerse yourself in Cathy and Heathcliff’s turbulent love affair as the ‘best dance actors in the World’ capture the spirit of Wuthering Heights and the untamed beauty of the Yorkshire moors.
Passionate and obsessive, Cathy and Heathcliff’s love is as unruly and dangerous as the moors that surround them.
As children they are inseparable, but over time their childish affection deepens into an overwhelming and devastating love.
Emily Brontë’s romantic masterpiece is performed to live music by Golden Globe and Academy Award nominated Claude-Michel Schönberg (Les Misérables, Miss Saigon & Northern Ballet’s Cleopatra) with choreography by David Nixon OBE.
A treasured classic reimagined. A timeless ballet for a modern audience.
Leeds-based Northern Ballet has celebrated "Brontë-land" both with David Nixon’s Wuthering Heights some years ago and also Jane Eyre – first seen in 2016 and toured over the following two years; a fascinating and in some ways unique creation by Cathy Marston.And her Jane Eyre returns to the moors this spring, in a Northern Ballet national tour beginning in Leeds and visiting Nottingham, Sheffield, Sadler’s Wells in London and finally Norwich.The full-length ballet, based on Charlotte Brontë’s novel, was nominated for a South Bank Sky Arts award in 2017, and features music both compiled from the works of Fanny Mendelssohn, her brother Felix and Schubert, and freshly composed, both tasks accomplished by the ever-inventive Philip Feeney. His composite score matches the 19th Century Romanticism of the story really well. There’s the same sense of pent-up passion within the constraints of politeness and convention, occasionally bursting through in mystery, horror and shock.And Cathy Marston knows how to tell a story vividly, which fits perfectly with Northern Ballet’s tradition and expertise: her style is clearly classical in spirit but with freedom to borrow from other inspirations.When I saw it before I particularly liked the way, to express Jane’s intelligence as she verbally spars with that of Rochester, she literally trips him up – and he her, now and again – in a recurring visual motif. And an interpretation of what (in the book) are mysterious unexplained noises from Bertha in the attic – not very practical to reproduce when the music is important – is achieved by showing a dancer in silhouette.This ballet began as one for smaller theatres, with modest staging requirements, and Northern Ballet, which has performed to recorded music in some recent programmes, is going back to the original score with its need for a small number of live players.The company's artistic director, Federico Bonelli, said of the work: “What do we all love about Jane Eyre? Her resilience, determination and steadfast knowledge of who she is as she navigates a life filled with turmoil."This story is perfect to be told through ballet … there is so much for any dancer to work with, to encapsulate the layered characters and narrative created by Charlotte Brontë, and even more for an audience member to enjoy.” (Robert Beale)
Borrowing the claustrophobic atmosphere, use of supernatural elements, feeling of dread, and themes of morality and desire, romantic horror books fit in with Jane Eyre and Dracula. (Courtney Rodgers)
The Brontë SistersThe Brontë sisters were literary rock stars who shook up 19th century fiction from their home in Haworth. Trailblazer Charlotte gave us Jane Eyre, the ultimate DIY heroine who knows her worth and fights for it. Emily’s Wuthering Heights with its stormy romance between Heathcliff and Cathy remains one of the greatest Gothic novels ever written. And Anne? She was tackling social inequities with The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Together, the Brontës flipped the script on how women were portrayed in literature.
Audiences can join one of literature’s most iconic heroines on a journey of resilience, romance and redemption as Northern Ballet’s critically acclaimed Jane Eyre heads to Leeds Grand Theatre this spring from March 14 – 22.Based on the novel by Charlotte Brontë, Northern Ballet will bring this beautiful love story to life with heart-stirring choreography and live music that captures the essence of her timeless tale.Experience the unexpected twists and turns of one woman’s life from the dreary school room to a towering manor house and the sweeping Yorkshire moors. The ultimate dramatic tale of romance, jealousy and dark secrets, Jane Eyre is the story of one woman’s indomitable spirit overcoming all boundaries.Jane Eyre was originally premièred by Northern Ballet in May 2016 and nominated for a South Bank Sky Arts Award in 2017. Jane Eyre is choreographed by internationally acclaimed British dance maker Cathy Marston whose recent credits include Snowblind for Atlanta Ballet and The Cellist for Ballet Zürich in 2023.Jane Eyre is set to a score of original compositions and existing work compiled and arranged by composer Philip Feeney. Sets and costumes are designed by Patrick Kinmonth and lighting is designed by Alastair West, whose recent credits include Northern Ballet’s Casanova.Cathy Marston said: "The Brontë's stories are inspiring to translate into dance because of their intense emotional journeys for the protagonists, the backdrop of landscape and elemental forces that seem to amplify these emotions, and in the case of Jane Eyre particularly, the range of wonderful soloist roles that add texture, depth, and warmth to the central narrative."Federico Bonelli, Artistic Director at Northern Ballet said: "What do we all love about Jane Eyre? Her resilience, determination and steadfast knowledge of who she is as she navigates a life filled with turmoil. Combined with her love story with Mr Rochester this story is perfect to be told through ballet, and in our Jane Eyre the dancing, sets, costumes and music fully immerse you in Jane's life. There is so much for any dancer to work with to encapsulate the layered characters and narrative created by Charlotte Brontë and even more for an audience member to enjoy in this beautiful retelling by Cathy Marston.” (Claire Lomax)
Tuberculosis may seem like a historic disease: A scourge of overcrowded, unsanitary European cities of the 19th century, a plot point in La Bohème or Jane Eyre, and an inspiration for mournful paintings by Edvard Munch and Claude Monet. But TB is the world’s deadliest infectious disease (after it was briefly displaced by COVID-19). According to the World Health Organization, 1.25 million people died from TB in 2023 and another 10.8 million were infected. (Nick Keppler)
Vampires aren’t new. Derived from Slavic folklore, the vampire as we know it in popular culture today is a human-like creature that feeds on the blood of others for sustenance. Usually emerging as a seductive and mysterious being, it unleashes chaos upon the communities it infiltrates.The most well-known vampire is the titular character in Bram Stoker’s Gothic novel Dracula, which was published in 1897 and gave rise to onscreen adaptations like F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu. Dracula was far from the first book in the Gothic canon, built upon works like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Challenging the rational framework of the Enlightenment era, these novels used imagery to explore mystery and terror. (Stacey Nguyen)
This Early Zombie Film Is Still Controversial TodayI Walked With a Zombie (1943), dir. Jacques TourneurIt is generally accepted that the cinematic zombie was born with 1932's White Zombie, in which Bela Lugosi uses voodoo to create Haitian slaves. However, Jacques Tourneur (Cat People) took the same theme and turned it into a controversial masterpiece that still divides viewers to this day. In I Walked With a Zombie, a naive nurse treats a plantation owner's mysteriously afflicted wife, and discovers that her employer has co-opted Caribbean voodoo practices for sinister purposes.I Walked With a Zombie is partially based on the Charlotte Brontë novel Jane Eyre.Tourneur's main zombie is the towering Carrefour (Darby Jones), whose eerie presence anchors this gothic drama. Some critics feel that the film calls attention to the plight of colonized Caribbeans, while others see it as merely reinforcing harmful stereotypes. Whichever side one takes in this debate — and both critiques may be true — I Walked With a Zombie is well worth a look. (Claire Donner)
More Brontë projects for 2009. Wuthering Heights will be adapted again as a new ballet by Cathy Marston which will be premiered next March, 28 2009 at the Stadtheater in Bern, Switzerland. The choreographer is interviewed by The Telegraph & Argus:Cathy Marston is an international choreographer. But when she was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne her parents so loved Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights that they named their daughter after Heathcliff’s star-crossed lover.The production will be performed at the Linbury Theatre, at the Royal Opera House, in a later date.
Like millions of others, Cathy has been to Haworth; she has stood at the ruins of Top Withens and gazed across the unfolding moorline of the hills, trying to feel what Emily Bronte felt all those years ago.
This week Cathy was starting work on choreographing a new ballet version of Wuthering Heights for Switzerland’s Bern Ballet where she has been director for nearly a year. After graduating from the Royal Ballet School, which she joined in 1992, she joined the Zurich Ballet and spent six years in Switzerland.
“The problem in Bern is I am fighting snobby critics who don’t like narrative stories, but I have always wanted to do Wuthering Heights,” she said.
“What’s really great about the idea of putting it on in Bern is that the people there have no preconceived ideas about what it should be, whereas in Yorkshire people are used to it.
“I am going to sit down with my scenario writer [Ed Kemp]. The story will come down to this essentially earthy relationship, which continues to exist after death. I feel it is a love story that transcends any time,” she said. (...)
Cathy’s composer for Wuthering Heights will be Dave Maric, who worked with her on her production of Ibsen’s Ghosts and her latest piece of work for Leeds-based Northern Ballet Theatre, A Tale Of Two Cities. (Jim Greenhalf)
Northern Ballet are renowned for nurturing and showcasing some of the best dancers out there, and their production of Wuthering Heights shows how they do this perfectly. Brooks-Daw and Dixon execute Nixon’s stunning choreography with precision and character; the former carefully draws out a conflicted, emotionally-charged performance while the latter creates a portrait of a man on a true, torturous journey of the self. Their young counterparts, played by Jenny Hackwell and Matthew Topliss, act as a pleasant innocent contrast to the impassioned, fierce atmosphere generated by their future selves, helped to create a shifting dynamic throughout the piece.More on theatre as The Stage reviews Samantha Ellis's play How to Date a Feminist.
These central performances are firmly buffeted by the talents of Koon and the rest of the company, who gracefully help to establish Nixon’s vision of the moody, encroaching world from Bronte’s book. Further adding to this stunning vision is the sumptuous score from Schönberg, which aids the performers in conjuring up the maelstrom of emotions that Wuthering Heights has always been admired for.
Ali Allen’s set design is also a well-considered production value. With simple set pieces being sleekly brought and flown in at key moments, she has created a space that really allows the performers to breathe and fill the vast Quarry Theatre with emotion and a presence that keeps you engaged from the very beginning. For instance, the use of theatrical fog in scenes on the moors might not sound the most exciting – or innovative – thing in the world, but it’s the smallest touches that help to emphasise the magical undercurrent of this moving, captivating piece.
David Grill’s lighting design is a perfect complement to this, painting Allen and Nixon’s shared canvas with an array of washes and carefully selected effects that do everything to highlight the power of the company and Brontë’s narrative. It works in perfect harmony with the rest of the production values to create a stunning scenography that brims with atmosphere.
Wuthering Heights, like the previous shows I’ve seen from Northern Ballet, is nothing short of spectacular. It makes for a lovely evening of strong storytelling from a company that proves its worth and sheer talent time and time again. Moreover, it brings us closer to a respected story about the unrelenting power of love, and highlights a special connection with the emotional and physical through the stunning performances of its dancers. Wuthering Heights kicks off the Playhouse’s new season perfectly, and is an absolute must see. (Adam Bruce)
The twist here is it’s Kate’s boyfriend Steve who’s the feminist. Raised by a activist single mum, he even tempers his proposal of marriage with an apology for the patriarchy. His ardent feminism makes Kate question her own and the play is strong on the complexities of modern womanhood – how do you balance feminism with an attraction to Heathcliff bad-boy types? What does it say about you if you find your partner's insistence on consideration and respect a bit of a turn-off? (Natasha Tripney)Classical Voice America has a lengthy article on the CD release of Carlisle Floyd's Wuthering Heights opera.
Floyd wrote the libretto for his opera and pretty much followed the distillation of the novel as rendered by the writers for the Wyler film. This meant leaving out the second part of the novel as well as numerous episodes in the first part. These are the sorts of issues that librettists and composers have to sort out all the time, and it becomes a question of what will work on an opera stage in terms of the arc of the narrative and character development. In the case of Floyd’s opera, using the Wyler film as a model – and the film itself often has an operatic feel with extensive use of music composed by Alfred Newman – the composer-librettist gives us what passes for a love scene between Cathy and Heathcliff as they roam free in the heather in Act I, scene 2. Then, in Act II, scene 2, Cathy has an extended aria in which she agonizes over marrying Edgar while still in love with Heathcliff. The opera culminates in Cathy’s death scene, in which Heathcliff vividly recalls how, in their youth, they were so happy together, cavorting on the moors.
Although the libretto is good, one might well ask whether the music rises to the challenge of the words. Certainly, Cathy’s aria in Act II, a set piece that Floyd composed for Phyllis Curtin before he wrote the opera, is well crafted and powerfully captures Cathy’s ambivalence. The love scene in Act I, however, is not nearly strong enough to convey the self-destructive passion of the lovers. It is odd that Floyd, who writes in a full-blown romantic style, misses the opportunity to write a real love duet. Strangely, in this crucial scene, Cathy and Heathcliff never sing together.
In the final scene, with Cathy on her deathbed and Heathcliff consoling her as in the film, Floyd’s music seems aimless and uninvolving, much less effective than Newman’s in the film. Newman’s use of a solo cello with solo strings is far more moving.
Lyric coloratura Georgia Jarman, in the role of Cathy, gives a very fine performance. Jarman was recently featured in a wonderful Covent Garden performance of Szymanowski’s opera King Roger, staged by Kaspar Holten and conducted by Antonio Pappano (Opus Arte DVD OA BD7162). Both vocally and dramatically, she is a compelling presence in Wuthering Heights. In contrast, baritone Kelly Markgraf’s portrayal of Heathcliff lacks authority, and his voice often sounds strained. Veteran mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer gives a solid performance as the nurse/housekeeper Nelly. The Milwaukee Symphony, under Joseph Mechavich, plays without any special distinction.
As music drama, Wuthering Heights is fairly effective, although there are no memorable tunes. Unfortunately, Floyd’s music too often disappoints us in failing to come alive in the climactic moments of the drama. That said, there are surprising moments; for example, the minuet near the beginning of Act III has a lovely bittersweet quality that Floyd deftly transforms into a waltz as Cathy exclaims “A waltz, please! I must have a waltz! This minuet is stifling me!” (Paul E. Robinson) (Read more)
No stranger to paranormal fiction, Erwin (To Hell with Love; Naughty or Nice) raises the bar for the next generation of "monster classics." Jane is orphaned and raised by vampires, sent off to a boarding school (that breeds zombies for domestic help), and loses her love to a lunatic werewolf. It’s a ghastly new spin on the familiar, page-turning classic Jane Eyre. Poignant and charming, Jane could give Buffy a run for her money. Unlike Seth Grahame-Smith’s novel but disjointed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (the zombies were an awkward insertion), Erwin seems to be channeling Brontë, and the monsters are a seamless addition to the text. The story takes an unexpected turn toward the end, and this keeps readers entranced.Jeannette Winterson, who is reported to be writing a BBC drama on the lives of the Brontë sisters, is interviewed in The Times. She talks about her first novel, Oranges are not the Only Fruit:
Verdict: Similar to Sharon Shinn’s Jenna Starborn, Erwin’s gripping revision of a well-loved classic is enthusiastically recommended for all. (Jennifer Anderson)
Her favourite book was Jane Eyre, except for the ending, so she fixed that. When she read it to me, she turned the pages and continued in the same Brontë narrative style, so that I believed for a long time that Jane had married St John Rivers and gone to be a missionary.The Edinburgh Guide reviews the Northern Ballet Theatre's Wuthering Heights production:
Northern Ballet Theatre's reputation has grown immeasurably since David Nixon took over as Artistic Director in 2001. Since then he has created and choreographed nine full-length ballets for the company and in December last year won an OBE for services to dance.The Calgary Herald remembers when Jude Law appeared as Rochester in a Saturday Night Live sketch in 2004:
The current programme, Wuthering Heights, is a tour de force. Working in collaboration with the composer Claude-Michel Schönberg (the celebrated composer of Les Miserables music, this is his first ballet score) they have created a work that incorporates all the turbulence and passion of this classic love story.
Right from the very beginning of the show's two acts, sombre music sets the tone of Heathcliff's anguish as he dances frenetically on the heath, recalling his youth when he and Cathy were once united in joy.
There are two dancers for Heathcliff and two for Cathy to portray their youth and subsequent maturity.
In this performance, Kenneth Tindall played the 'older' Heathcliffe, whilst Ashley Dixon was the 'younger'. Julie Charlet was the 'older' Cathy with Michela Paolacci as the 'younger' version.
The dancers, coupled with Nixon's fabulous choregraphy and Schonberg's music, were fantastic. In perfect synchronisation, they are throughly engaging throughout in the turbulent emotions involved in the journey of this doomed love affair which concludes on a beautiful note, with the young Heathcliff and Cathy united on the moor, capturing snow flakes.
The settings were simple, yet effective. The costumes were of the period and flowed elegantly. The dancing and acting of the troupe was excellent.
Choreographically and musically this is a great interpretation of Emily Bronte's story. (Barbara Bryan)
[A]nd appearing as a randy Mr. Rochester in a parody of Jane Eyre opposite Rachel Dratch. (Alex Strachan)Sometimes, some critics miss absolutely the point. A new Spanish translation of Stella Gibbons's Cold Comfort Farm is reviewed by El Confidencial (Spain) and the reviewer is convinced of the following:
Si es usted devoto lector de Cumbres borrascosas -o cualquier otro relato paramero y meteorológico-, Lejos del mundanal ruido o la obra de David Herbert Lawrence, mejor no siga leyendo. Porque, en esta divertida novela, Stella Gibbons emprende la cervantina tarea de aniquilar a la novelística romántica y bucólica, por medio de una ácida parodia y, ni la familia Brönte (sic), ni Thomas Hardy, ni el autor de Hijos y amantes -éste por motivos diferentes, su supuesta misoginia-, entre muchos otros, salen bien parados. (Nuño Vallés) (Google translation)We are devoted readers of Wuthering Heights and frankly we love Cold Comfort Farm. By the way it's not so difficult to check where the umlaut lies in Brontë.
"Codeseda non é Yorkshire (nin falta que lle fai), nin as irmás Porto Mato son as irmás Brönte (sic again). Andrea, Lara, Marcela: hoxe quero desexarvos de todo corazón sorte na vida e na arte, e expresarvos o meu apoio, porque para todos nós, vós formades parte do máis valioso que temos: o futuro da cultura galega", engadiu o conselleiro de Cultura e Turismo[, Roberto Varela]. (Google translation)EDIT: (15/03/2010) El Correo Gallego also talks about these Galician Brontë sisters.
«L'hypocondrie a été au XIXe siècle en Angleterre un symbole d'hypersensibilité», explique M. Dillon en entrevue de Londres. «Emily Brontë y faisait souvent référence. D'un point de vue plus contemporain, l'hypocondrie est une exacerbation de la conscience de soi. Il y a un parallèle évident avec les écrivains, qui doivent écouter leur propre créativité intérieure, être centrés sur eux-mêmes pour faire avancer leur oeuvre.» (Mathieu Perreault) (Google translation)Millefeuille reviews Joanna Newsom's latest album Have one on Me:
Le dernier, plus sombre, laisse sonner un souffle intime autour des morceaux, jusqu'au magnifique dernier, Does Not Suffice, dans une atmosphère qui nous évoque les Hauts de Hurlevents d'Emily Brönte (sic 3), inspiration qui fut celle de Kate Bush sur Wuthering heights. (Vincent B.) (Google translation)The Mexican writer Margo Glantz chooses the Brontës as one of her inspirations in Mundo52. Loula, Il était une fois... joins Lego's Brontë Sisters Challenge (in French), Mad Bibliophile reviews The Professor and Our Mutual Read Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (a novel that according to Página 12 (Argentina) was
La primera novela en la que una mujer se emancipa del yugo marital es la de Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, publicada en 1848. (Alicia Plante) (Google translation)Artsy Psycho-babble briefly posts about Jane Eyre 2006. Canarias al Día (Spain) or Gazzetta del Sud (Italy) report the reading of texts by Emily Brontë in the recent celebrations of the International Women's Day.
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