'I would say this is the best I’ve ever done'

Emma Rice's Wuthering Heights opens at Berkeley Rep tomorrow and The Mercury News has an article about it.

“‘Wuthering Heights’ is such a big part of the British culture, it’s been in my life always,” Rice says in a Zoom call from the U.K. “I’m from the middle of England, and we used to go up to the Yorkshire moors for holidays. I can remember walking with my mum when I was little to go and see the ruin that they think inspired ‘Wuthering Heights.’ And I was very, very disappointed. It’s this pile of tiny bricks in the middle of nowhere that I’d been forced to walk to in the rain. And then I loved it as a teenager. I loved the gothic romance of it.”

“Wuthering Heights” is the story of the mysterious orphan Heathcliff and his campaign of unrelenting vengeance against the upper-class family that took him in and mistreated him. It’s also a tale of the doomed love between him and his foster sister Cathy that ties them together even as they torment each other.

“It’s agonizing to watch people be the worst of themselves,” Rice reflects. “But I do feel there’s a motor under there which pulls you through, because you understand these people, and you are willing them through. Emily Brontë makes us work for it, but she does give us hope. But my goodness, it’s hard fought for. And I love it for that.” [...]

Rice decided that she had to adapt ‘Wuthering Heights’ in 2016, spurred by the Syrian refugee crisis that led to large migrant camps such as the Calais Jungle in France (as seen in the play “The Jungle” that came to the Curran in 2019).

“Of the many conversations that were happening, one of them was how many unaccompanied child refugees would Britain be willing to take in,” Rice recalls. “And I can remember raging at the radio, ‘Take them all, for goodness’ sake!’ If we can’t take in the most vulnerable human beings on the planet, we have no right to be frightened of what might happen to us in 20 years. And I thought, wasn’t Heathcliff an unaccompanied child refugee? So I pulled down my copy, and he was. He was found on the Liverpool docks. He has dark skin and dark hair, and he speaks a foreign language that nobody understands. In my version, I can remember when I decided to write in the words, ‘Be careful what you seed.’ If we do not seed compassion and care, be careful what happens.”

Rice describes her adaptation as “epic, elemental, musical, and hopeful.” As Berkeley audiences have learned to expect from her work, it’s full of music and dance, puppets and dynamic theatricality.

“I would say this is the best I’ve ever done,” she adds. “As I get older and my teams mature, we keep pushing ourselves.” (Sam Hurwitt)

The Yorkshire Post thinks that the 'Arts Council funding represents a vote of confidence in the region'.

It’s a vote of confidence for the region and is testament to the vast talent we have here. After all, this is the place that’s produced David Hockney, the Brontë sisters, the Arctic Monkeys, and so many more. Our artists, musicians, actors and writers are known around the world.

This matters for local pride, for our regional identity. It matters because it puts us on the global map. It matters for our economy too. Vibrant city regions attract people, they encourage us to go out and spend – not only in the theatres and galleries themselves but in the surrounding restaurants, bars and shops.

It means we can tell the next generation of Northern artists, performers and technicians that they don’t have to up sticks to the capital due to lack of opportunity here. (Henri Murison)

And The Guardian has an article on how Yorkshire 'became Marvel’s go-to location'.

Perhaps Calderdale felt under pressure, given the precedent set by North Yorkshire: parts of the latest Mission: Impossible were filmed on its moors last year. “There’s a picture of my friends with Tom Cruise in the middle of nowhere in the Dales,” says Chance-Thompson, “before he ran away to parachute off a cliff or whatever.” Or maybe the pressure was coming from neighbouring Bradford, home of literary mecca Haworth and the wiley, windy moors of Brontë Country, the location of endless Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre adaptations and related productions, the most recent being Emily. (Hollie Richardson)

Still locally, Keighley News reports on how Haworth is 'set to sparkle this Christmas'.

Late-night shopping – until 8pm – will take place on Thursdays December 1 and 22, and the Bronte Parsonage Museum will also be open late. (Alistair Shand)

The Portalist recommends '8 Stunning Gothic Fantasy Books' and one of them is

A Breath of Eyre

By Eve Marie Mont

Emma Townsend has never felt like she belonged. At least, never outside of stories. They’ve always helped her feel like less of an outside at her exclusive prep school, filled the absence from her mother’s death, and navigated her confusing feelings for her long-time friend Gray Newman. But her life changes when she received an old leather-bound copy of Jane Eyre. During a lightning storm, somehow Emma is transported into Jane’s body and begins living her life. And things have never been better. Moving back and forth between two realities, Emma uncovers secrets in both that force her to ask: does her future belong in the pages of a book? Or in her own unwritten story? (Jena Brown)

Independent reports that,

The Brooklyn Public Library announced that Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are is its most borrowed book. [...]

The BPL has thanked all the authors on its book list in a tweet. The list includes Dr Seuss, Emily Brontë, Harper Lee, Louisa May Alcott and Eric Carle among others. (Peony Hirwani)

The Times Daily Quiz includes the question:

In 1837, who wrote the poem To a Wreath of Snow in the voice of Augusta Almeda, the Queen of Gondal? (Olav Bjortomt)

Digital Mafia Talkies tells all about the film Emily and its background and Ashley Manning and Martín Cid (Spain) have articles about it too.