Ties of Blood in Vancouver

A new production of Caity Quinn's Ties of Blood opens in Vancouver today, May 10:

Theatre Hera West presents
Ties of Blood: The Brontës
by Caity Quinn
Directed by Nick Heffelfinger

May 10, 2017 6:00 pm
May 13, 2017 8:00 pm
The Havana Theatre
1212 Commercial Drive, Vancouver

Ties of Blood is a vivid dramatic work that re-interprets the lives and art of the Bronte siblings. Ambitious Charlotte (author of "Jane Eyre), passionate Emily (author of "Wuthering Heights"), benevolent Anne (author of "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall"), and their mysterious brother, Branwell, authors of beloved classics and iconic centerpieces in the world of literature.
Four artists, four geniuses, four siblings. Conflicting loyalties, forbidden love and competing affections intersect in this tale of a family torn apart by fame, alcoholism, and dark twists of fate. Through live music, movement, text from their diaries, letters, and novels, compiled and supplemented by playwright Caity Quinn, Ties of Blood represents a mesmerizing glimpse into the tortured world of the Brontës.

Vancouver Presents interviews the director Nick Heffelfinger:

The show is billed as a “shocking reimagining of the lives of the Brontës”. How much of the story is fictionalized? (Mark Robbins)
One of the fascinating things about this family is that the tragic and sudden nature of their deaths, as well as the time period they lived in, has meant that very little is factually recorded as the absolute truth of their history.
Most of the details were collected as part of one of any number of biographies of Emily or Charlotte, all of which are based mostly on speculation, rumours, stories from local residents, and examination of whatever letters or other texts biographers could get their hands on.
We played quite liberally with the timeline of the events in Brontës’ lives, but most of the action of the play is based on at least one historical account or examination of the evidence they left behind.
What’s shocking about this story is that so very little of it is actually made up. The truth, as they say, is always stranger than fiction. (Read more)

More information on Beatroute or Daily Hive.