'So much life' in Wise Children's Wuthering Heights

The York Press gives 5 stars out of 5 to Wise Children's Wuthering Heights.

How come there is so much life in Emma Rice's Wuthering Heights when there is so much death and "so little love" in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights (with a helpful, if grim family tree at the beginning of the digital programme)? Because she doesn't look at life the way that others might, or tell it the way others might. Take, for example, her opinion that Emily Bronte is an "overlooked comic genius", presenting as evidence the foppish Lockwood (Sam Archer) and Little Linton Heathcliff (Katy Owen), "the most despicably funny character ever written".

Or how Rice transforms the Yorkshire moorland into a character, The Moor, led by Nandi Bhebhe, the narrator in a crown of thorns and twigs. All but Lucy McCormick's Catherine Earnshaw and Ash Hunter's Heathcliff play The Moor in Rice's ensemble and even McCormick is seen shaking a stick feverishly in the first evocation of the moorland, amid the sound and fury of the live band's percussive clatter signifying everything about Yorkshire's tight, stifling grip.

Bhebhe's ill weather-forecasting Moor and cohorts become the equivalent of Macbeth's witches, both McCormick's Cathy and Hunter's conversing directly with her, although the cautionary Moor is trying to save them from themselves.

Who cannot but love the team play in writer-director Rice's shows, as exemplified by those Moors: the Moors, the merrier, as it were. Her cast sits attentively to the sides, always in view, visibly enthusing in each other's performances as they conjure what Hunter calls her "theatre magic". [...]

Ultimately, spread over this revenge tragedy's ensnaring three hours, this is more Heathcliff's Wuthering Heights than Cathy's, on account of Rice's most serious social commentary of all, on racism, prompted by her visit to the Calais Jungle. Hunter's intense, brooding, raging Heathcliff is the refugee, the outsider, of Jamaican roots, abused and mistreated. "Cruelty breeds cruelty. Be careful what you seed," cautions Rice.

And yet, amid so little love and so much 19th century grimness up north, Rice finds an uplifting finale so beautiful that it brings tears of joy. (Charles Hutchinson)

The Yorkshire Post also features the production:

Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights comes to York Theatre Royal in show of enduring appeal
As a new production of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights heads to Yorkshire, Yvette Huddleston talked to writer-director Emma Rice about its enduring appeal. (Yvette Huddleston) 

The Telegraph doesn't like The Every by Dave Eggers.

His best riff comes during a discussion of the way algorithms can be used to optimise storytelling. The jokes (about misgendering Emily Brontë, the maximum optimal length of novels, and rating old masters) land with a straight-faced silliness reminiscent of the conceptual artists Komar & Melamid, who painted the cover of Eggers’s first book, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. It’s heartening that the debasement of art by algorithms brings out the best in him. (Christian Lorentzen)

Quién (Mexico) recommends English literature classics such as Jane Eyre.

Jane Eyre de Charlotte Brontë

Una de las mejores novelas románticas de su época, cuenta la historia de Jane y su personalidad complicada que consigue ser la institutriz de la hija del peculiar señor Rochester con quien comienza a tejer un lazo amoroso con un misterio de por medio. (Translation)

While Soy Carmín (Mexico) recommends Wuthering Heights as autumn read.

Cumbres borrascosas -Emily Brontë

Una historia de un amor intenso y otoñal, que nace al centro de los días lluviosos y los vientos de las tierras inglesas. Catherine y Heathcliff viven en un ambiente sombrío y desolado como los paisajes de Yorkshire, y ese convierte en el ideal para el nacimiento de las pasiones, la venganza y la obsesión. Este es todo un clásico escrito de 1847, escrito por una mujer en tiempos en los que esto no era bien visto. (Nancy Villareal) (Translation)

Actu (France) finds a Brontëite in writer Caroline Lucet.

Dans ce pays breton, naturel et sauvage, elle trouve rapidement une source inépuisable d’inspiration et commence à écrire, tout en se plongeant dans les classiques de la littérature anglaise qu’elle affectionne tout particulièrement (Les Hauts de Hurlevent, Jane Eyre, Orgueils et préjugés…). (Translation)

24/7 Wall Street has selected 'The Greatest Love Stories in Movie History' including

15. Wuthering Heights (1939)

Starring: Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, David Niven

Based loosely on the novel by Emily Brontë, “Wuthering Heights” recounts the heartbreaking story of Cathy and Heathcliff, dear friends as children but eventually forced to live apart when her brother takes over the family estate. The two lovers, separated by class and power, may never find a way to be together. (Josie Green)

Craven Herald and Pioneer has a fascinating letter from the Friends of Raikes Road Burial Ground Skipton:

Research also shows family connections, not just to the Brontës and Rudyard Kipling, but also to Beatrix Potter, Robert Burns and to the first Duke of Wellington. (Lesley Tate)

The Brontë connection is further explained on their own website:

Opened between 1846 and 1876, it remains the only burial ground in the town still in its original state.  

The burials at the site provide a fascinating and unique insight into Skipton’s Victorian community and include some notable Skiptonians such as Rudyard Kipling’s grandparents and the Reverend William Cartman, who officiated at Charlotte Brontë’s funeral.  

Finally, Book Post features Classics Illustrated No. 39: Jane Eyre.