The Upcoming reviews
Wasted at Southwark Playhouse Online giving it 4 stars out of 5.
Happily, the musical prowess of the cast – and the strength of Miller’s lyrics, in particular – bear the demands made of them. The parts where no one is singing are few and far between and more plot could have helped.
Miller is also able – indeed required, since so little is accurately known about the provincial foursome – to create individual characters for each sibling. Natasha Barnes holds the show together as the maternal, ordinary, yet driven genius Charlotte, a writer who doubles down on her book’s first failure to find a publisher – even a vanity publisher! – and goes on to write Jane Eyre. Eventually, she disregards her own advice and marries a cleric. Emily “Wuthering Heights” Brontë (Siobhan Athwal) is somewhat unsurprisingly portrayed as loopy and romantic, singing of being “the first goth.” She has strongest stage presence, at least from behind my computer screen. Anne’s character is less defined, as, portrayed by Molly Lynch, she heads towards born-again hellfire religious fervour. Her high point comes in singing disillusion with a local preacher who infected his wife with VD. Matthew Jacobs Morgan’s addict Branwell is the character most easy to identify with as he tragicomically seeks fame and fortune in painting, writing and other endeavours he is unsuited for. He is almost loveable. He is also a constant reminder of the patriarchy and its mediocrity, or why the three sisters had to publish under male noms de plume.
The Wasted of the title refers to the lives of the sisters and, presumably, Branwell – wasted in Haworth, ministering to the rural poor, desperately seeking junior churchmen – anyone! – to marry. They were all dead before 40.
Wasted is a bracing concoction, more Hedwig than High Society. Out of time it may be, but having the quartet played by a young, ordinary cast somehow helps give a grimy reality to the Brontë myth that inspired it. (Michael Willoughby)
The Irish News has a Q&A with writer Andrea Carter.
8. Favourite authors? This is an impossible one for a writer, since it changes all the time, but I love PD James and I’ve read almost everything she has written. Then if I could take the Brontë sisters as a unit (slightly cheating, I know). And I’m always delighted when a new CJ Sansom comes out. His books are huge tomes, and I know I’ll have many hours of pleasure ahead. (Jenny Lee)
Framtida (Norway) asks actress Eili Harboe.all sorts of bookish questions.
Kva bok skulle du ynskje du hadde skrive? Jane Eyre [...]
Kva forfattar – daud eller levande – ville du invitert på middag? Emily Brönte (sic) (Andrea Rygg Nøttveit)
The Annapurna Express revisits old favourites such as
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
I first read ‘Jane Eyre’ as a teenager and since then I have returned to it a few times. It’s one of those books where you discover new things with each rereading. When I was young (and naïve) I thought of it as the most romantic book ever. As I grew older, I couldn’t ignore the abuse and infidelity and I turned away from it in disgust. Then, later on, I was told it was a feminist novel and I tried and failed to see it that way. But the fact remains that Jane Eyre provokes emotions that compels me to return to it time and again.
Even after all these years, I’m still trying to figure out what “madness” it is that Mrs Rochester is suffering from and whether she jumped, freeing her husband to marry Jane, or she was pushed. Maybe, just maybe, this time around I will finally make up my mind. (Keyur Basnet)
Harpers Bazaar asks Jenna Coleman about her self-isolation.
I'm wearing...
“Lets face it, I don’t even really know. Gym wear, tracksuits (Les Tien pieces are insanely comfortable), dungarees and, given my new turn as a wannabe gardener, I’m living in my Shrimps hat. I’ve also discovered Loretta Caponi dresses, which not only make you feel as if you are in a Brontë novel but they also double as a nightdress.”
VRT News (Belgium) has an article on the wonderful cover of the June 2020 issue of Vogue (UK) featuring Judi Dench and comments on her Brontë connections as President of the Brontë Society and having played Mrs Fairfax in
Jane Eyre 2011.
Finally, a lovely picture shared by the Brontë Parsonage Museum on Twitter:
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