Endlessly Inventive

More reviews of the Jane Eyre performances at the National Theatre in London:

What really holds it together is Nadia Clifford as Jane. She was superb in Alistair McDowall’s game-changing postmodern horror ‘Pomona’ a few years back, and it’s great to see her bagging such a big role. Small, steely and very northern, she is the antithesis of the BBC costume drama heroine, and yet absolutely dead right for the role. Jane lives a hard life, but Clifford shows us that her inherent virtue doesn’t come from maidenly modesty, but a flinty, diamond-hard integrity shaped by the dying words of a school friend.
Less successful is Tim Delap as Rochester, the wealthy gentl (Andrzej Lujowski in Time Out)
eman with the troubled past who falls for Jane, his governess. He feels like a humourless, bombastic, Byronic creature next to Clifford’s earthy Jane and there is, unfortunately, zero chemistry between the two (in part a hazard of recasting a play created by the original cast, I guess).

Sally Cookson’s novel re-imagining of Charlotte Brontë’s classic text is full of clever and creative ideas. This much is evident even before the play starts from the unusual, multi-levelled set, complete with numerous ladders and staircases, which is bathed in white light – it’s immediately eye-catching as the audience enters
Throughout the performance the static set is used to tremendous effect, with use of the different levels, some audio/visual trickery and a handful of cleverly-choreographed set-pieces combining to create a technically impressive piece of theatre. (Chris Selman in Gay Times)

The inventiveness of the staging is matched by the script, a demanding taskmaster that asks every character apart from Jane and Rochester to perform multiple parts, from screaming French schoolgirls to yapping dogs. (...)
The lighting in particular is spellbinding; soft colourations differentiate dawn from dusk, the red room where Jane’s uncle died is rendered a throbbing scarlet, and the orphans gather around the edge of the stage to warm their hands against a red/gold glow that seems to flicker before our eyes. Later, real fire licks the edge of the stage and it’s genuinely shocking
after so much stage trickery.
It may not be one for the purists, but for fans of bold, passionate, endlessly inventive theatre, this is unbeatable. (Melissa York in City A.M.)

  At times, we're more aware of their effort than the effect - admiration for what amounts to theatrical circuit training - and while it's a relief to escape the confines of costume drama, distinctions of place and status are rather vague, and occasional key moments, like Jane's immediate reaction to the Bertha revelation, are swallowed up by movement.
Part of the latter is due to the pacing of this slightly overlong, three-hour-plus production - originally a two-part adaptation. Cookson's focus on Jane's life story, rather than just the romance, is admirable, but dramatically the evening feels slightly unbalanced. It's too long before we embrace the true Gothic horror of Thornfield, and before Jane is in a position to actively realise her desire for self-determination.
But Cookson's production is nevertheless thrilling in the way it communicates elemental force and feeling: from the buffeting wind to the dehumanising institutionalisation of Lowood or Jane's rage against injustice. (Marianka Swain in Broadway World)

Coming in at a lengthy 3 hours there are moments that lag, a pacier redraft would certainly up the ante. However, Cookson’s retelling of a classic novel analyses in greater detail the quotidian expectancies of working class females, asking the question of whether prospects for women now are still very much confined to the humdrum past. 4/5 (Niall Hunt in Theatre Full Stop)

What struck me about this production is not only how modern it is in terms of aesthetics but how contemporary the character of Jane herself is. She's feisty with strong morals and a real feminist side. Although having seen her as ahead of her time when I read the novel, I'd never realised how truly relatable she is until watching this production. Her quest for freedom whilst not compromising her passions is joyous to watch. (Olivia Mitchell in Rewrite This Story)

I’m happy to report that Sally Cookson’s production devised by the Bristol Old Vic company succeeds with aplomb. Here it is revived with a newly minted touring cast and Nadia Clifford taking on the role of the diminutive heroine. (Arjun Ananthalingham in TheatreBubble)

 Nadia Clifford’s Jane and Tim Delap’s Rochester offer a study in contrast: he is large and thunderous while she is small and calmly plain-spoken. He has a roughness, an abruptness and an almost boorish indifference which gradually melts into deep feeling, while she discovers love through the agonies of jealousy and rejection with an openness to experience that is a delight to watch. In support, Lynda Rooke does good work as both Mrs Reed and Mrs Fairfax, and the rest of the cast — Hannah Bristow, Evelyn Miller and Mundell — play all the other parts. It’s a long evening, but an exhilarating one: this is a stupendously exciting piece of theatre that is a moving portrait of a plucky character. Reader, I cried my eyes out. (Aleks Sierz)

Cosmopolitan interviews Aline Brosh McKenna, co-author of the graphic novel Jane:

This was going to be a film project at some point, right? (Eliza Thompson) Yeah, we started working on the book and then we sold the film rights and I worked on it as a film for a few years. We never quite cracked it to everyone's satisfaction, but luckily I was still working on the book so it got to live its life as a book and not just as a movie that didn't happen. That was great because often when movies don't work out you’re not really left with anything. Right now it's not under option anywhere and could potentially be a movie someday soon, but it was nice to have it come to life in exactly the way I wanted it without the more necessary compromises of making a studio film.
How did you approach updating Jane's relationship with Rochester for 2017? The main thing I wanted to maintain is that even though she's not very worldly and she is a little bit sepia-toned in her personality, she has this goodness that really inspires him, and that's in every Jane Eyre story. The heart of their relationship is always that moment in front of the fireplace where you understand that he's intrigued with her for reasons that have nothing to do with her looks or her social status or any of those things. It's also a little bit of wish-fulfillment fantasy, for sure. But he is sort of the ultimate challenge in a way, and he is very unknowable to her and in the face of that she really stands her ground. That's what I always really loved about it, is that she refuses to bend her will and her moral code to his. He bends to hers. (Read more)

Keighley News recaps some of the Brontë Festival of Women's Writers events:

Teenage girls spent a day honing their craft in Haworth with guidance from Liz Flanagan, who wrote the Young Adult novel Eden Summer.
They were among budding poets and novelists of all ages who attended workshops and talks during the weekend organised by the Brontë Parsonage Museum.
The workshop for girls aged 12 to 16, entitled Stepping Into The Sisters’ Shoes, drew inspiration from Emily, Charlotte and Anne Brontë and objects in their former home. (...)
The Brontë Festival of Women’s Writing each year features professional writers inspired by the work of Charlotte, Emily and Anne more than a century ago.
Lauren Livesey, the Brontë museum’s Audience Development Officer, said everyone who attended or participated in this year's festival thoroughly enjoyed it.
She said: “The range of events, aimed at writers as well as readers and Brontë enthusiasts, went down well with our audiences and it seems everyone went away feeling inspired. (David Knights)

and informs of future events at the Parsonage:

Museums at Night is a twice-yearly festival of late openings, sleepovers and special events taking place in museums, galleries, libraries, archive and heritage sites all over the UK.
Sleepovers are tricky for us, which is a shame, but we always try and organise fun stuff, and this year is no exception.
Bradford and Keighley Astronomical Societies are joining us for an evening of enlightenment in all things astronomical!
The Brontës lived during an exciting period in astronomical discovery, so it is not surprising that they were interested in the latest developments, and that references to stars, planets and moons populate their work.
The evening begins in Haworth Old School Room with a talk by Rod Hine, from Bradford Astronomical Society, about astronomy in the early to mid 1800s and more recent discoveries.
Green Witch Telescopes, based in Batley, will be bringing an antique brass telescope dated from 1820 – the year the Brontës arrived in Haworth.
So come along to discover more about the night sky in the time of the Brontës, and participate in some observation. Younger ones can take part in a spot of rocket-making, and enjoy launching in the grounds of the Parsonage. (Read more) (Richard Parker)

The Globe and Mail interviews writer Jennifer Egan, definitely not a Brontëite:

What agreed-upon classic do you despise? (Pieter Van Hattem)
I deeply disliked Wuthering Heights – I found the people lugubrious and silly. Of course, I might feel quite differently about it if I reread it now; reading is like that. So chemical, and so influenced by appetite.

Curiously enough the New York Times reviews her latest novel Manhattan Beach quoting.... Wuthering Heights:

This is a big novel that moves with agility. It’s blissfully free of rust and sepia tint. It introduces us to a memorable young woman who is, as Cathy longed to be again in “Wuthering Heights,” “half savage and hardy, and free.” (Dwight Garner)

The Yorkshire Post publishes a nice photo of the Hewenden Viaduct:

In this beautiful corner of Brontë country, the spectacular Hewenden Viaduct near Cullingworth has dominated the local landscape for more than 130 years. (Richard Parker)

Vernon Morning Star describes like this the latest album by the indie rock band Windowspeak:

The band is based around the duo of Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas on vocals/guitar and guitar, respectively. Hamilton’s swooning Brontë delivery recalls early neo-psychedelic band Mazzy Star’s vocalist, Hope Sandoval. (Dean Gordon-Smith)

The Sharon Herald and the power of stories:

And even before there was reading and writing there were stories, as storytellers told about life and death and gods and hope. Biography and fiction, scary and funny, summer beach books and classics, “Jane Eyre” and Sherlock Holmes and Moses and “Teddy,”: stories just seem to go with life. (Rev. Dr. Glenn Hink)

Stampede has a list of the books everyone should read in college:

 2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
This is a coming-of-age novel about an orphaned girl’s struggles and how she overcomes them.
3. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Two childhood lovers, Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, grow up on the Yorkshire Moors, but when Catherine marries another man, Edgar Linton, Heathcliff attempts to take revenge on the entire Linton and Earnshaw families. (Dr. Kayla Walker-Edin)

Jorge Sette lists his favourite narrative settings:

Wuthering Heights
This region of northern England, swept by winds and storms, as depicted by Emily Bronte, is the ultimate expression of a romantic and dramatic landscape: wild, visceral, and passionate. This remarkable setting, of course, matches the personalities of the novel’s unforgettable characters, Cathy and Heathcliff, who roam the region’s bleak moors – alive and dead! The historic county of Yorkshire is, by the way, the largest and one of the greenest in the UK.

El Nuevo Herald (in Spanish) interviews writer Carmen Posadas:

¿Qué autores han influido en tu obra literaria? (Sergio Andricaín)
Dickens es mi gran maestro, le he copiado multitud de trucos. También me han influido Proust, Kafka, Cortázar, Borges, Roald Dahl y tantísimos otros. Sin olvidar a Jane Austen y Emily Brontë, ¡por supuesto! (Translation)

20 Minutos (in Spanish) reviews the film Lady Macbeth:

La Lady Macbeth que es Katherine también bebe de las fuentes de las arrebatadas pasiones prohibidas de Cumbres borrascosas y Lady Chatterley. (Carles Rull) (Translation)

The OUP Blog celebrates the life and works of Elizabeth Gaskell; Keighley News talks about the Beyond Horizon graduation project. Libération (in French) talks about Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo. BookinBeat reviews Can Jane Eyre Be Happy? by John Sutherland.