Activity Jane

The Observer interviews the actress and now author, Sheila Hancock:

Were you inspired by any particular books while writing?
No, I was put off by particular books, because they were so good. In the middle of it I did a documentary about the Brontës   [Perspectives -The Brilliant Brontë Sisters] – oh God, Emily Brontë – and I couldn’t write for a long while after that because I thought, what is the point? They’re just genius writers. So while I was writing I didn’t read, because I found it really off-putting. (Kathryn Bromwich)

Deseret News reviews some of the new products by BabyLit. Now, activity books:

“Doodle Lit: Drawing on the Classics,” by Jennifer Adams and Alison Oliver, Gibbs-Smith, $19.99, 272 pages (ages 8 and up)
Jennifer Adams and Alison Oliver have teamed up on most of the board books in the BabyLit series. This time, they are introducing an activity book that has elements from their stories and prompts to encourage young doodlers. They also include some drawings from authors such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Charlotte Brontë. (Christine Rappleye)

Reading Eagle reviews the Aquila Production of Wuthering Heights now touring the US:

Aquila's artistic director, Desiree Sanchez, has not flinched from presenting the characters accurately, and the result is a theatrical work that captures not only the essence of the novel, but the zeitgeist of the 19th century.
Sanchez has set the play squarely within the early Industrial Revolution by using the device of a textile mill in which the workers pantomime their jobs while listening to a narrator reading from the novel (the single departure from the book). The six actors portraying these workers at the beginning take on all the roles as the story develops.
The play, probably the darkest piece of theater I've experienced, is as dimly lit as a 19th century house in the dead of winter, while it explores the dark heart of that century, which loved a good ghost story or a great mad scene (witness Lucia in opera and Giselle in ballet). (Susan L. Pena)

The Daily Mail traces a profile of the actress Kaya Scodelario:

She went on to win excellent reviews as Cathy in director Andrea Arnold’s 2011 adaptation of Wuthering Heights, and her latest project is the dystopian sci-fi action movie The Maze Runner.  (Elaine Lipworth)

Albuquerque Journal reviews a local production of The Mystery of Irma Vep:

If you prefer your Halloween on steroids, get thee to the theater.
“The Mystery of Irma Vep” pokes fun at everything from Hitchcock to “Wuthering Heights” to grade-B horror flicks, then lards them with a collection of vampires, werewolves and ghosts. (Kathaleen Roberts)

The Herald on Sunday reviews the latest episode of Doctor Who (S08E07 - Kill the Moon) with this bizarre Brontë reference:

Stuck with these hen-peckers, Peter Capaldi turns to the brat and with growling gallantry, transforming him into a magnificent Glasgow Heathcliff, asks: 'How'd you like to be the first woman on the moon? Is that special enough for you?' (Julie McDowall)

The News on Sunday (Pakistan) interviews the author Rukhsana Ahmed:

Ahmed is particularly well-known for her plays, including the recent Mistaken…Annie Besant in India, and for adapting plays by other writers, such as Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea, Nawal El Saadawi’s Woman at Point Zero, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children and Nadeem Aslam’s Maps for Lost Lovers. (Aasim Akhtar)

Peace Love Books reviews Jane Eyre;  Escritoras Inglesas (in Portuguese) devotes a post to Anne Brontë; PMS Library recommends Always Emily by Michaela MacColl; Bibliographic Manifestations doesn't like Wuthering Heights.