Jane Eyre, a musical by John Caird and Paul Gordon, based on the novel by Charlotte Brontë, will receive its UK Premiere at Southwark Playhouse Elephant for a strictly limited season from 28 August – 24 October.The show will be co-directed by RSC and National Theatre director John Caird, who previously adapted and co-directed the original production of Les Misérables in the West End, on Broadway and across the world. Most recently he directed the hugely successful and critically acclaimed stage adaptation of Spirited Away at the London Coliseum. Broadway’s Megan McGinnis, star of Beauty and the Beast, Little Women and Beetlejuice, will co-direct alongside John Caird. Casting and full creative team will be announced soon.John Caird said: “I’m so pleased to have the opportunity to explore a new version of Jane Eyre in the beautifully intimate Southwark Playhouse Elephant. It's always a pleasure to work on this timeless romance but all the more exciting to be collaborating with the brilliant and innovative Megan McGinnis as co-director.”Paul Gordon added: “I’m beyond thrilled to finally bring the musical of Jane Eyre to the UK. Charlotte Brontë’s masterpiece is not only a landmark portrayal of a strong female protagonist, but a story that sends audiences out of the theatre feeling better about their own lives than when they walked in.”
It's Mother's Day in the UK this Sunday and so The Telegraph and Argus recommends a tour and afternoon tea at the Brontë Birthplace as a treat.Timed for Mother’s Day, the birthplace in Thornton is hosting a guided tour and afternoon tea in the house where the Brontë children were born.Thomas Haigh, marketing and IT lead at the Brontë Birthplace, said: "Visiting the historic house where the Brontë children were born is not just a unique gift but also meaningful for anyone with an interest in history or literature."It is the perfect way to honour mothers, grandmothers, and mother figures as well as being a thoughtful and memorable way to spend time together on Mother’s Day."The tour explores the rooms where the Brontë children spent their early years and highlights the influence of their mother, Maria Brontë.As part of a fundraising effort, the Brontë Birthplace is also selling limited edition framed beam segments taken from the house.Each piece comes with a certificate of authenticity and a brief history of its origin.The event includes a one-hour guided tour and a 90-minute afternoon tea in the birthplace’s tearoom.Funds raised from both the Mother’s Day event and beam sales will support the birthplace’s continued operation as a museum and education centre. (Harry Williams)
Wuthering Heights, by Emily BrontëLast month, after I saw Emerald Fennell’s new adaptation of Brontë’s Gothic tragedy, my fellow filmgoers all seemed to be asking one thing: So, how much of that appeared in the book? The answer is not much—Fennell makes explicit, via sadomasochism, the power differentials and emotional degradations that are so often ambiguous in the original. Brontë’s novel is much weirder and more subtle than virtually all of its screen adaptations, most of which ignore the book’s violent second half entirely in favor of the more straightforward, though doomed, love affair between Cathy and Heathcliff. Readers will soon discover that this is only part of the plot, as the book introduces their respective children; then, cycles of abuse repeated across generations become integral to the novel’s twisting story-within-a-story. Reading it offers the chance to confirm definitively to your group chat that, no, BDSM-style power plays do not show up in the original—but there are enough disinterments, shocking turns, and ghost sightings to make up for them. (Rhian Sasseen)
I should preface this with the fact I haven’t read Wuthering Heights yet. Thus, my experience of the characters is informed entirely by Emerald Fennell’s controversial movie adaptation. Criticism of the film focuses on the lack of chemistry between Catherine Earnshaw (Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi), casted as a white man to play an originally non-white character in the novel, the gross historical inaccuracies in the costuming and overall set decoration. However, no one seems to be discussing the characterization and treatment of Nelly Dean (Hong Chau). [...]I assume in the novel, Cathy and Nelly’s characterizations are treated with respect, showing how both women are flawed in different ways. However, Fennell’s adaptation treats neither character with the dignity of complexity, instead relegating Cathy to the constantly validated protagonist and Nelly to the villain.Although definitively not an angel, Nelly’s portrayal in the narrative as an almost Judas-level betrayer is incredibly unfair. Her status as an illegitimate lord’s daughter prevented her from both a childhood and a life, forcing her into a role she must remain in until Cathy dies. Additionally, Cathy's continual behavior as a spoiled and unlikable person who frequently looks down on Nelly leaves her justified in her resentment.Nelly is many things, but she is not the main villain. There is no villain. They all suck. (Kate LaGatta)
Although “Wuthering Heights” may stumble when it comes to substance, it never falters in craft. Cinematographer Linus Sandgren (returning from "Saltburn") delivers a number of wallpaper-worthy shots of the Yorkshire Dales, the sumptuous setpieces of Thrushcross Grange are undeniably breathtaking and Charli xcx's soundtrack contributions add considerable texture to the film’s Gothic atmosphere.“Wuthering Heights” looks and sounds wonderful — but peer beneath the floorboards, and you’ll find nothing there. (Albert Zhu)
Since it is a milestone of classic literature, the novel has inspired numerous film and television adaptations. These range from early English versions such as A. V. Bramble’s “Wuthering Heights” (1920), William Wyler’s Academy Award-winning 1939 adaptation, and Peter Kosminsky’s “Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights” (1992), to reinterpretations across many languages: the Hindi films “Hulchul” (1951) by S. K. Ojha and “Dil Diya Dard Liya” (1966) by Abdur Rashid Kardar and Dilip Kumar; Jacques Rivette’s French “Hurlevent” (1985); Luis Buñuel’s Spanish “Abismos de Pasión” (1954); Yoshishige Yoshida’s Japanese “Arashi ga Oka” (1988); and the Filipino film “The Promise” (2007), among many others.Each of them is an improvised version of how the director interpreted the novel. Somehow, it snatches the Brontean aura away. They either failed to reach the intensity of the original work or exaggerated the narrative. For example, in Wyler’s version, the story concludes after Catherine’s death and shows her ghost and Heathcliff roaming around the Moors. Both Andrea Arnold’s and Timothy Dalton’s movies end with Catherine’s death as well. “Arashi Ga Oka” or “Onimaru” succeded to portray the gruesomeness a little. The Japanese Jidaigeki film takes place in the Muromachi Period. The era setting does justice to Gothic Literature. It showed Onimaru (Heathcliff) played by Yusaku Matsuda, desecrating the grave of Kinu (Catherine) played by Yuko Tanaka, to be with her.The director portrays the second generation through Onimaru, whose cruelty toward Kinu (Cathy), played by Tomoko Takabe, carries an unsettling sexual undercurrent. Hence, the Japanese culture is sculpted into the novel’s essence. When anyone adapts this novel, they need to realise that the novel is not only about tragic love, but also about revenge. There is a role of fate that etches Catherine and Heathcliff as the star-crossed couple in the history of literature. from the abandoned boy of Liverpool to the owner of the estates, from the boy who kept track of being with Catherine, on almanack, to the boy who hanged Isabella’s dog, Fanny- it is a whole journey.Catherine is an impulsive character, but her character faces major twists twice in the plot: one when she stays at the Lintons’ and is bedazzled by their wealthy, lavish lifestyle; two, is when Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights. No wonder it is an extremely complex plot, where the characters, the generations, timelines, and narrators are intertwined. Even on the crust of the novel, the names of the characters can be confusing for the reader- there is Catherine, Cathy, Heathcliffs, Lintons, and Linton Heathcliff. [...]Everything is very extravagant; the actors did a great job. But following Theseus’s Paradox, if a director replaces the contents of a Novel to adapt it, does that remain the same work? Amidst censoring the main plot, characters, and changing the characters, where is Emily Bronte? Among many things that make “Wuthering Heights” (1847) unique is the yearning. The audience craved for the characters to be unified, but Brontë brutally sets them apart till they die.Fenell messed with this important part and united them physically. She laced the plot with sadomasochism, clandestine sex, and, as I mentioned before, sitophilia. Brontë provided two narrators, which made the plot even more intricate. Mr. Lockwood and Nelly Dean both narrate the story, and it is affected by their personal preferences. Fenell debarred Mr. Lockwood, which messes with the audience’s perspective.To conclude, I will repeat, as an admirer of “Wuthering Heights” (1847) and a movie buff, its adaptations do not do justice to it. While I discussed this point, referring to other works, the major focus here is on recent work by Emerald Fenell. The novel does not define hate, love, obsession, or revenge. It is totally upto the audience how they decide to fill the silence. In the future, maybe there will be more adaptations, and they’ll be the versions of the directors. As an audience member, I eagerly wait to see when someone actually portrays Emily Brontë’s version on screen. (Shivangi Thakur)
I’m not a canon truther. I do not believe that you need to be scholarly about the original anything in order to engage with its adaptations. But I do believe that the party who adapts it (Fennell and the LuckyChap team) should at least respect the original material. Since the Elordi casting, the whole film has left a sour taste in my mouth. (Sara Li)
After completing nearly a month in theaters worldwide, Oscar-winning writer-director Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights has passed what will likely be its final major box office milestone. The movie opened to divisive reviews around Valentine's Day, and rode a wave of controversy to bona fide blockbuster success. It has surpassed its reported break-even point after accounting for the exhibitor–studio revenue split. [...]With around $80 million domestically and another $130 million-plus from overseas markets, Wuthering Heights has grossed $213 million worldwide so far. (Rohan Naahar)
Other scholars cite the genre’s pedigree. Though canonized as literary classics, 19th century novels like “Pride and Prejudice,” “Jane Eyre” and “Wuthering Heights” can also be read as romances — stories written by women and centered on women’s emotional lives, courtship and desires. In a world circumscribed by the era’s narrow gender roles, these works featured clever, often headstrong women who exercised agency over their love lives and fates.In my view, this explains their popularity: 19th century readers may have found vicarious pleasure in Jane Eyre’s journey from timid governess to independent heiress and happy wife. Likewise, Catherine Earnshaw’s decision to marry the wealthy Edgar Linton, thus abandoning the penniless Heathcliff, may have struck the female fans of “Wuthering Heights” as an understandable choice.As readership grew and men penned their own novels, aiming to cash in on the expanding market, their perspectives dominated, pushing women’s fiction to the side. Changing social mores also made the once popular “woman’s novel” seem dated. (Diane Winston)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (1847)Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is a literary mainstay today, but it sparked a bit of a scandal when it came out. The book was criticized for its perceived feminist themes and was considered “coarse” and uncouth by Victorians at the time of its publication. One particular review, published in the Quarterly Review, accused Brontë—then writing under the male pseudonym of Currer Bell—of “moral Jacobinism,” or essentially trying to spark a revolution. At the time of the review's publication, rumors that Bell was a woman had begun to swirl, and the critic claimed that if this was the case, Bell had “forfeited the society of her own sex.”The book was not actually formally banned in England, though it did face harsh criticism and attempts to censor it, particularly among young women. It was, however, censored by the Chinese Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution along with many other Western texts, when it was deemed to have the potential to influence and corrupt young people. (Eden Gordon)
Still, if anyone in pop music has come close to making a truly forlorn, misty, and gray soundtrack for Brontë’s work, it is not “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now,” nor is it Charli XCX’s accompanying album to Fennell’s film, nor is it even Kate Bush’s breakout hit. The closest anyone has come to capturing Wuthering Heights is an odd, middle-period Genesis album called Wind and Wuthering.Somehow, Genesis averted disaster. For years, the English prog-rock band was best known for the theatrics of its frontman Peter Gabriel, though the group’s music was written collaboratively. After Gabriel’s highly publicized departure from the band in 1975, the remaining members regrouped as a quartet and tapped drummer Phil Collins to be its lead vocalist. The band’s first post-Gabriel album, 1976’s A Trick of the Tail, was a surprise success, rebuking any doubt from fans and press that the band couldn’t survive without Gabriel. It landed in the top 3 on the UK album charts, and its tour was “their most successful tour of America ever,” according to contemporaneous press materials.Eager to follow up Trick, Genesis churned out another record in their first post-Gabriel year. Wind and Wuthering is A Trick of the Tail’s moody sister: it’s lush, dreary, and gloomy. The LP is also Genesis’ last with guitarist Steve Hackett, who felt his contributions were ignored in favor of keyboardist Tony Banks’s expansive, spacey arrangements. The result is a transitional moment in Genesis history, captured directly between the band’s two main eras. The group was not yet the sleek, drum machine-powered juggernauts penning pop hits in the ‘80s, nor were they the high-concept band donning costumes for multi-act live shows. Wind and Wuthering finds them trying to solidify what that new iteration of the band was capable of.There are explicit references on Wind and Wuthering to Brontë’s work. The album was named after the novel, and its two-part instrumental tracks “Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers…” and “…In That Quiet Earth” directly quote its final line. Colin Elgie’s album artwork is monochromatic, misty, and empty, evocative of the wild moors Brontë’s book is famous for. Some fans consider album-closer “Afterglow” to be sung from the perspective of Heathcliff.But what makes Wind and Wuthering a surprisingly effective interpretation of Wuthering Heights is not its direct references to the text, but the way Genesis conjures the novel’s spectral setting—its cold winds, empty houses, and lonely rooms. Unintentionally, Genesis stumbled on the feeling of the place. When Gabriel departed the band, he left behind a colossal amount of space in their musical arrangements. His vocals employed accents and different intonations. No matter what he did, he had a magnetism that could be pompous, irritating, and entertaining, sometimes all at once.Collins was a more direct singer. Rather than try and fill the space that Gabriel left behind, Wind and Wuthering feels cavernous. Three of the nine tracks on the album are instrumentals, and songs like “One for the Vine” or “Eleventh Earl of Mar” contain long, meandering instrumental passages. Its lyrics—entirely absent of any Brontë-related details—are an afterthought. It’s prog-rock without any of the play-acting. The focus here is solely on atmosphere, one that is panoramic and eerie. Banks’ keyboards curl like smoke on “One for the Vine”; his layers of organ blanket “Eleventh Earl of Mar,” like the snow that locks its inhabitants into Wuthering Heights. As is the case for Brontë’s writing, Wind and Wuthering could be unexpectedly tender (“Your Own Special Way”) and violently unpredictable (“…In That Quiet Earth”).Every musical adaptation of Wuthering Heights falls into the same trap—artists recontextualize Catherine and Heathcliff’s relationship into one of pop music’s favorite tropes: unrequited love. On her Wuthering Heights album, Charli adopts an overtly lyrical, metaphor-driven writing style, singing of the cruel “Chains of Love.” Apparently this is a necessity when adapting a Victorian literary classic, though the lyrical method doesn’t suit her nearly as well as BRAT’s directness. On “Wuthering Heights,” Kate Bush assumes Catherine’s perspective, pining for Heathcliff and escaping from the cold. It’s certainly the best song inspired by Wuthering Heights, but it also reframes this novel as a story of tortured love. Genesis circumvents the problem of portraying Cathy and Heathcliff by not portraying them at all. This very English, very creaky, and very hollow album conveys well the central feeling of Wuthering Heights: isolation.Frankly, there’s no reason that Wind and Wuthering, an album made by four music nerds who showed little actual interest in Brontë’s novel, should receive the recognition of “Best Wuthering Heights Soundtrack.” Unlike other adaptations, the band had no intention of actually invoking Wuthering Heights. It just felt right, considering the album’s windy, frozen tone. Perhaps the fact that a band like Genesis made a worthy Wuthering Heights interpretation isn’t a reflection on their robust engagement with the text but as a testament to Brontë’s un-adaptability. For all our fascination with Wuthering Heights, the novel’s incomprehensibility is what makes it so compelling. As text-purists criticize Fennell’s untethered reading of the novel, it begs the question: Can anyone really do this book justice? (Andy Steiner)
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