The Reviews Hub and West End Best Friends review the Northampton performances of the Inspector Sands production of Wuthering Heights:
One thing that you can expect from this production of Wuthering Heights – it will most likely be nothing like you expect.Although the production created by Inspector Sands and conceived and developed by Lucinka Eisler and Ben Lewis is ostensibly set in the 1750s of the original story, it has a decidedly modern twist and contains ideas which Emily Brontë would find distinctly alien. Costumes are sometimes modern, other times period and the cast change characters by throwing on a different dress or jacket. Nothing particularly unusual in any of that, you may think, but this is not just a contemporary version of a classic novel. It’s an Inspector Sands version of a classic novel, and things are seldom what they seem – and although the script by Ben Lewis tells a story that is clearly recognisable as Wuthering Heights, it’s a long way from a mere adaptation of the novel. It’s a piece of theatre in its own right, original yet following a familiar tale. (...)It’s not a production which will be to everyone’s taste, and if you’re expecting to see Wuthering Heights played in a traditional manner you are going to be very disappointed. What you will get is something that challenges your perceptions. It’s not just a play, it’s a piece of theatre, of performance art, and something that will generate different responses in every member of the audience. (James Garrington)
High praise must go to Ben Lewis for this genius adaptation. We were expecting a hauntingly, depressing story and got the complete opposite. We left the theatre entertained, enriched, and still laughing from priceless moments of the performance (Leander Deeny as the young Linton had us snorting and crying with laughter simultaneously).Many websites report the death of the actress Barbara Young (1931-2023). She played Miss Scatcherd in Jane Eyre 1970.
A hugely talented cast, a mind-blowing adaptation, and a fantastic night of theatre! (Rachel Louise Martin)
Spring, bluebells... Anne Brontë's poem. The bluebell season is on. Country Life says:
Regularly voted as Britain’s favourite wildflower, Anne Brontë echoed the sentiments of many when she wrote ‘there is a silent eloquence/ in every wild bluebell/ that fills my softened heart with bliss/ that words could never tell’ (The Bluebell, 1839). A quintessentially British sight with nearly half of the world’s population of bluebells found on these shores, they usually flower from around mid-April to late May. (Martin Fone)
The Herald talks about the radio programme The Hidden Story of the Attic:
The real surprise in Rachel Hurdley’s The Hidden History of The Attic on Radio 4 on Sunday afternoon? That you can make a whole half-hour programme about attics and not mention Virginia Andrews. Wouldn’t a reference to her creepy cult 1979 novel Flowers in the Attic be compulsory?Apparently not, though Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray did get a name-check. (Teddy Jamieson)
Sheena Patel's On My Radar in The Guardian:
Politically, I think [Jean] Rhys and I would differ hugely, and I think she would have been a nightmare to be around, but Wide Sargasso Sea rearranged my brain when I read it.
Looper discusses films that were marketed as something totally different. For instance, Crimson Peak:
"Crimson Peak" was marketed by Universal Pictures as a horror movie set in Victorian England, and while that description isn't necessarily incorrect, it fails to capture so much of what made it such an interesting and engaging film. "Crimson Peak" is sort of like if Edgar Allan Poe had written "Jane Eyre" with his own short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher," as inspiration. It's a gothic romance with beautiful set design and costumes and a well-executed twist ending. It's not so much a horror movie as it is a nuanced, haunting picture about the perversions of a disturbing tight-knit aristocratic family with closets full of skeletons — so you can see why audiences would go into it not knowing quite what to expect. (Hannah Wylie)
The Wom Lifestyle (Italy) mentions the next project of the director and playwright Martina Badiluzzi:
Siamo una compagnia di donne ma lavoriamo anche con gli uomini. Nel prossimo spettacolo dedicato alle sorelle Brontë ci sarà anche un attore in scena (il primo che entra nella compagnia) ma dietro le quinte lavorano diversi uomini. Ma il fatto che abbiamo scelto di raccontare storie femminili trasforma il nostro lavoro in qualcosa al femminile: è un po’ come se avessimo le “nostre cose” da fare, un’espressione che sembra ingenua ma che rivela tutto il peso della disparità. (Quoted by Pietro Cerniglia) (Translation)
El País (in Catalan) and classics in Sant Jordi:
Quanta alegria despertaria en el cor dels lectors veure que, any rere any, s’apilen a les taules del carrer les grans novel·les de George Eliot, les Brontë o Stendhal; els drames de Shakespeare, sempre llegívols; les aventures del club Pickwick en la versió de Carner, la festa més gran de llengua catalana que potser mai ha produït la pàtria? (Jordi Llovet) (Translation)
La Nouvelle République (France) talks about the new novel by Katia Verba:
La Démone de Roscoff est son cinquième roman, et l’on y retrouve tous les ingrédients qui ont fait les succès des livres précédents : un décor particulier (ici un vieux manoir), des protagonistes manipulateurs au passé lourd de secrets et dont la cruauté peut faire penser parfois au roman d’Emily Brontë, Les Hauts de Hurlevent. (Translation)
La Izquierda Diario (Argentina) discusses the play Pampa Escarlata by Julián Cnochaert:
La novela europea del siglo XIX, en ese sentido, es uno de los grandes cimientos de la literatura argentina, como en el Facundo de Sarmiento. Pero en Pampa Escarlata esto tiene una vuelta de tuerca. Sobre qué inspiró a escribirla, el director y guionista dice que “la temática de la obra surge por un deseo de investigar desde la escritura el universo y el léxico de las novelas decimonónicas inglesas, en especial las escritas por autoras mujeres como Jane Austen, las hermanas Brontë, e incluso Mary Shelly con su Frankenstein, también tomando en cuenta la cuestión de la traducción y la inserción de cierto corpus de palabras en el español: cordel, doncella, jolgorio, brizna, institutriz, lóbrego... palabras características de esa época que están muy lejos de nuestro cotidiano, si bien pueden ser reconocibles para gran parte del público”. (Josefina García) (Translation)
Musikknyheter (Norway) interviews the singer Susanne Sundfør:
Jeg forteller så Sundfør jeg vet at man ikke skal sammenligne artister bare fordi de er kvinner, men alyosha gir meg sterke assosiasjoner til Kate Bush. Hun beroliger meg med at hun ikke har noe imot å bli sammenlignet med Kate Bush.– Jeg elsker Kate Bush, og det er litt artig at du sier det, for jeg ønsket at den skulle høres litt sånn… jenteromsaktig ut. Det skulle være feminint og uskyldig. Det er noe Wuthering Heights over det. (Hogne Bø Pettersen) (Translation)
El Sol de Tlaxcala (México) interviews the writer Karen Villeda:
¿Cuál es el mejor recuerdo que tienes de tu infancia?K.V.: Los días con mis abuelos maternos, Mayito y Memo Villeda. Mi abuelita me enseñaba las capitales de varios países en un globo terráqueo y mi abuelito me compraba "cuentitos" (que eran cómics). También atesoro los momentos en su biblioteca, donde descubrí libros maravillosos como Cumbres Borrascosas de Emily Brontë. (Translation)
