Wise Children’s Wuthering Heights was disappointing not merely because of poor adaptation and direction but moreover because it squandered a tremendous cast. Understudying for the elder Catherine, Katy Ellis commanded attention with her monologues, projecting a belief that she is godlike and comporting herself as such. Catherine’s transformation from wild child to finely dressed woman upon meeting Edgar Linton was compelling and convincing. And Ellis has a beautifully smooth voice that managed to fit both Catherine’s random outbursts of song and a strangely polished mid-play rock ballad. Did I mention that this is also, kind of, a musical? Thrice, the Moors sang “I am the Moor…” before the rest of the song was drowned out by an onstage band that was appealing but too loud.
Ellis, both in life and as an impressively fluttering ghost, demonstrates real chemistry with Liam Tamne as Heathcliff and Sam Archer as Edgar Linton. Tamne’s proud and indignant Heathcliff is a joy to watch and surprisingly difficult to dislike even as he abuses everyone around him. He, like Ellis, displays delightful passion in his singing, although Tamne—a 2021 Grammy nominee for The Prince of Egypt—is given remarkably few chances to shine. Archer, as Linton, displays poise and posture, which makes one think he was actually raised among the English aristocracy. Linton flits around the stage, providing a worthy foil to Heathcliff. And, in a minor role, TJ Holmes as Dr. Kenneth injects the play with some bright comedic moments, though perhaps the issue with this production is that it feels the need to break up tragedy with comedy and romance.
There are, to be clear, really pretty moments in the play. Between the 26 wooden chairs on stage, characters are lifted by the wind, restrained by the Moors, and otherwise encumbered by their harsh Yorkshire surroundings. A ladder made of chairs and two chairs made of out chairs are amusing. and Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange are suggested deftly with color changes and moving doors. The stage and the play as a whole are overcrowded, but some of the things they’re overcrowded with—puppetry and random a cappella sound effects—are entertaining. The other things the stage is overcrowded with—the 26 chairs, the cloud projections, the quantity of actors—are harder to ignore. Just as some scenes delight, too many feel superfluous, or worse, vague and glossy.
Ultimately, the production falls victim to poor adaptation and worse editing. At almost three hours, it’s too long despite speeding through parts of Brontё’s novel. What remains—though thrilling in its cruelty and character development—fails to fully capture the depth of Brontё’s exploration of the motivations behind inhumanity and completely misses the novel’s dated but notable depictions of classism and racism. Pay Wise Children’s Wuthering Heights a visit if you’re the kind of mid-level fan of the novel who is entertained by period drama and not put off by the perversion of classic literature. (Zachary Leiter)
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