All about Branwell

The Spectator reviews the musical Wasted now that it's available for streaming at home.

Further to its lockdown motif, Southwark offers Wasted (nicely shot with excellent sound), which is set in an isolated parsonage where four siblings are struggling to win artistic fame. Yes, it’s the Brontës. So why is the word ‘Brontë’, recognisable all over the world, not in the title? Carl Miller, who wrote the book, has done his research and discovered that ‘Bront-ee’ is the correct pronunciation and that ‘wuthering’ is a dialect word for ‘wiwld’ or ‘in tumult’.
Branwell is over-prominent, and yet he’s a fascinating character, well worth a play in his own right. He fancied himself as a painter, composer, novelist, poet, flautist and pugilist and he expected to achieve great things in every field he entered. But he was a quitter. ‘Artists must experience things. I am currently in the experiencing phase, not the finishing phase.’ A line that could have come from Withnail. His true talent lay elsewhere. ‘The only thing more tedious than living in Haworth is living in Haworth without sixpence for a drink.’ Jilted by a lover, he set fire to the family home. Evidently this inspired the climax of Jane Eyre which Charlotte is shown diligently writing. Before the sisters succeeded as novelists, they invested their life savings of £1,000 in a collection of their poetry. It sold two copies.
The show’s sparky first act succumbs to gloom and despair in the second. Emily croaks. Charlotte, boringly married to a clergyman, takes out her frustrations on Branwell. ‘You’re nothing but a self-obsessed, social-climbing, talentless, provincial nobody. And your painting was crap.’ This verbal style doesn’t quite square with the earlier, more poetic Charlotte, who admired a portrait of Wellington. ‘So broody and distant, with lips like wine.’ But the show deliberately mixes modernity with antiquity and delivers a snappy, energetic and entertainingly chaotic portrait of four fascinating characters. (Lloyd Evans)

iNews recommends '30 of the best TV box sets to watch during coronavirus lockdown' and thinks that

If you like… Belgravia
You’ll love… To Walk Invisible
(BritBox from 7 May)
Still hankering after the 1840s, following the end of Julian Fellowes’ recent Victorian melodrama? Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax creator Sally Wainwright’s feature-length drama about the Brontë sisters (and their brother Bramwell [sic]) is a class apart and finally coming to BritBox. Filmed in and around Haworth itself, it concentrates on the three years in which Emily, Charlotte and Anne’s books were written – as Bramwell fell apart. (Gerard Gilbert)

Palatinate (the University of Durham's newspaper) recommends 'Uplifting Reads for Isolation' such as

3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
There is a special place in my heart for Jane Eyre. Despite the trials and tribulations that Jane experiences, the ending of this coming-of-age novel truly warms the heart. If you are a sucker for happy endings and Byronic heroes then read on.
Summary: I won’t reveal too much in this summary but the main narrative is recounted by Jane Eyre, a plain girl turned young woman that is sent from pillar to post in early 19th century England. Embracing a new governess position with open arms after her schooling, Jane catches the eye of the master of Thornfield Hall, Mr Rochester, a brooding gentleman with a shady past…
Favourite Quote: “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”
Moral Message: Class, sexuality and religion are mere pawns in the grand scheme of life when true love is concerned. (Sophie Farmer)

The Falkirk Herald features Faith Young, a Yorkshire copywriting and PR businesswoman who loves the Brontës.

Why I love ... Brontë Sisters. Like many folks, I love to read. The Brontës – Anne, Emily and Charlotte – were among first classic novels I read when I was aged 10 onward.While not everyone is a fan of their writing style, I continually dip in and out of their novels and poetry.To think these amazing women wrote world class novels from their parsonage at remote Haworth is incredible. I often visit Anne Brontë’s grave when out on a run, having a little rest by her grave-side. (Sue Wilkinson)

L'Adigetto (Italy) features the book Non è vero che non siamo stati felici by Irene Salvatori.

Come la sua mamma le proponeva di leggere Foscolo, così lei elenca le Brontë, Emily Dickinson, Simenon… e tra una citazione di Kafka e del suo scarafaggio, di Gadda e di Dickens, di Musil, Allan Poe ed Elsa Morante questa mamma alla continua ricerca della sua mamma lavora, traduce, scrive: «Perché scrivere… che cos’è scrivere?... Per darsi un buon voto al riassunto della vita, senza aver dimenticato qualcosa di importante, che poi si perde. O per farsi compagnia raccontando una storia». (Luciana Grillo) (Translation)

My London has a 'really random questions quiz to see how many strange facts you know' and it seems that knowing how many novels Emily Brontë write is 'bizarre, bonkers and really good fun'. Tatler has selected 'The finest moated manor houses in England' including Broughton Castle, Oxfordshire seen in Jane Eyre 2011 and others. Whenayon@RealLife posts about Wuthering Heights.