The Power of Theatre

The Telegraph & Argus talks about the upcoming new Jane Eyre theatre reimagining, Jane Hair:

The work of the Brontës has been interpreted in many ways, from ballets to zombie graphic novels - and now the sisters themselves are re-imagined in a new play set in a hair salon.
In Jane Hair: The Bronteë Restyled (see what they did there?) modern- day versions of Emily, Charlotte and Anne are working as hairdressers while pursuing their creative dreams.
Presented by Buglight Theatre, this lively interpretation of the literary siblings aims to introduce new audiences or anyone else who doesn’t know their Wuthering Heights from their Wildfell Hall to the Brontës and their work.
Writer Kat Rose Martin, who is from Bierley, says: “Jane Hair is a chance to get to know the sisters as individuals. Even if you’ve never read their books you can still be inspired by their story.”
In the play, Emily is a slam poet and Anne a political blogger, while oldest sister Charlotte has just sold a script to Netflix...
The action unfolds late at night in the salon as the sisters clash over media interest in their work.
Growing up in Brontë Country, co-writer by Kirsty Smith says she was “surrounded by the sisters’ faces on tea-towels and postcards, but it’s easy to forget how much determination, hard work and energy was required to earn their place in the literary world”.
Producer Keeley Lane, who also plays Charlotte in the play, adds: “We’re really excited to have assembled a majority female creative team on Jane Hair and feel that it is very fitting with the piece. It was important to us that we were able to represent brilliant Yorkshire women with a brilliant team from Yorkshire.”

Also in The Telegraph & Argus, Emma Clayton looks back on Scarborough, Britain's first seaside resort:

Scarborough’s Grand Hotel was built in 1863, with a magnificent view over the South Bay. It originally had four towers for every season; 12 floors for every month; 52 chimneys for weeks of the year; and 365 bedrooms for every day of the year. A blue plaque commemorates the death of Anne Brontë, who is buried in St Mary’s Church graveyard.

Travel2Next has an article about Scarborough, too. 

Broadway World reviews the London performances of the Wise Children production of Wuthering Heights (5 stars):

As excellent as everyone else is, it's hard to take your eyes off Lucy McCormick. She is Catherine Earnshaw. Every other portrayal of the character pales in comparison, as it's clear she completely understands Catherine's contradictory nature; the complex mix of wildness, fragility, co-dependence, narcissism, and playfulness make her so engaging to watch. Catherine can be genuinely awful at times, but thanks to McCormick's performance you can't help but root for her.

If you've previously not got on well with Wuthering Heights (either through the book or various screen adaptations), please don't let that put you off. This production is full of drama and full of heart - somehow Emma Rice manages to find hope in a story that initially appears irredeemable. This is a beautiful show that truly demonstrates the power of theatre. (Debbie Gilpin)

The Independent is less enthusiastic (3 stars):

In the end, it is the tireless ensemble who anchor the show: Nandi Bhebhe leads the chorus of the moors, who guide the story through Etta Murfitt’s rippling, jig-like dance numbers, accompanied by Ian Ross’s folky music. And Katy Owen, first as Heathcliff’s eventual wife, Isabella Linton, and then as their squeamish son, Little Linton, all but runs away with the show, using her body like a contortionist and bringing a touch of grotesquery to the role (Vicki Mortimer’s costume design shines here too, placing an enormous, gaudy green bow on top of this Little Lord Fauntleroy).

There are pacing issues: the first half is oppressively dense, jam-packed with characters to meet and plot to charge through, and the pace is kept up on Mortimer’s rustic, malleable design. But acute psychological realism has never been Rice’s strong suit, and it really shows here, making the various turbulent relationships harder to care about. Ironically enough, it can all feel a bit airless, and it is telling that the second half, which is shorter and has less plot to cover, feels much more deft. (...) Wuthering Heights is a cumbersome, often tempestuous piece of theatre, no doubt, but there is something oddly fitting about that. (Ava Wong Davies)

LondonTheatre1 didn't like it (2 stars):

This is a production that comes across as a box-ticking exercise, a display of various theatrical devices to demonstrate what can be done, irrespective of whether it adds anything to the narrative. Puppetry? Tick. Random rock-star musical number? Tick. Cast member running out into the stalls only to run back on stage without having achieved anything? Tick.
Catherine (Lucy McCormick) becomes so hysterical so often that any sense of empathy for the character is slowly but irrevocably incinerated, while the likes of Edgar Linton (Sam Archer) and various other wealthier people in the neighbourhood are so stereotypically posh it’s a surprise their families’ coats of arms weren’t on display. And then there’s this sung lyric: “We are so confused / What is going on? / What the bloody hell is happening?” I couldn’t have said it better myself, and all the hysterics and over-emotions meant it was difficult to maintain interest. (...)
A strong cast does well with what they have been given, though sadly this rambling and unfocused production doesn’t hit the spot. (Chris Omaweng)

The Guardian and The Independent recommend the show:

Emma Rice’s new take on Emily Brontë’s passionate love story storms into the National. Litddddd up with powerful music and dance, Lucy McCormick and Ash Hunter are Cathy and Heathcliff.

It's a tricky text to adapt: Emily Brontë's gotic classic has a plot as twisty as a horse bush, with a number of convoluted family trees for an audience to get their heads around (indeed, Rice makes a point of having the chorus discuss just how confusing it all is). Still, she does a fairly remarkable job in making the text as lucid as it is, even if depth of character is sacrificed for breadth of narrative. The majority of runtime is taken up with Cathy and Heathcliff's doomed romance: as Cathy, Lucy McCormick, best known for her bonkers performance art, has that requisite wildness in her eyes. (Steven Tanner/Manuel Harlan/Luca Truffarelli)

BuzzFeed celebrates Black History Month with a YA book list:

Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood.
This is a deliciously dark and creepy Ethiopian-inspired romantic retelling of Jane Eyre with a pop of grim humor. Andromeda, an exorcist, is hired by a demanding young heir, Magnus Rochester, only to learn that he’s cursed and death awaits her and him both if she remains in the position. Only, she’s fallen in love with him so leaving isn’t as easy as it should be. (J. Elle)

Gloria (Croatia) reviews Susan Forward's Obsessive Love:

A onaj koji je uhvaćen u osjećajni kavez, zbog mitova koji veličaju Heathcliffovu opsjednutost Cathy u spomenutom romanu Emily Brontë, misli da je to u redu jer je, eto, ljubav je luda i takva treba biti. (Tanja Vučićević) (Translation)

Far Out Magazine talks about the 'mesmerizing song Kate Bush recorded in one take':

Based on Emile [sic] Brontë’s classic novel of the same name, Bush hadn’t actually read the book before writing the song. Instead, she took her notes from a 1967 BBC adaptation starring Ian McShane as Heathcliff. It was only after she had finished the song’s lyrics that she decided to go back to the original text, just to make sure that everything fell into place.

In the song, Bush casts herself in the role of Catherine Earnshaw, pleading to be let into Heathcliff’s window. In order to properly embody the somewhat naive and impassioned young woman, Bush affects a shrill vocal at the top of her register. It immediately pops out of the speaker, and even though Bush was only a teenager, she somehow sounded both much younger and much wiser than her years would indicate. (Tyler Golsen)

La Razón (Spain) has an article about the stupidity of the cancel culture but has some problems when it comes to knowing who is the author and who is not:

El delirio sigue en aumento y la lista de creadores no gratos para la gente biempensante empieza a ser interminable. Si en ella se podían leer ya los nombres de Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens o Jane Eyre –escritores sospechosos en algunas universidades británicas de ser “perturbadores” para sus alumnos–, era de esperar que más tarde o más temprano apareciese alguna lumbrera en cualquier rincón de Occidente decidida a condenar al autor más universal de la historia: William Shakespeare. (Raúl Losánez) (Translation)

Fictionphile posts about Jane Eyre.