True Hollywood Talk interviews Ethan Vaughan and Maia Sky about their vertical microdrama adaptation of Wuthering Heights set on a present-day American ranch. The synopsis is: On a present-day American ranch, Cathy and Heathcliff, the orphan her father raised as his own, share a love that borders on obsession—until their father dies and her vengeful brother Hindley returns to tear them apart. It stars Jean Evans, Ethan Vaughan, Gabriel Quintella, Maia Sky, and Dante Ayala. Vaughan plays the role of Heathcliff Earnshaw in “Wuthering Heights.” [...] On starring in “Wuthering Heights,” he stated, “That was also such an honor! I had so much material to pull from. These are legendary characters, a legendary story, and a legendary original author.” “It was a lot of fun to shoot,” he noted. “What I liked most about my character is that he has contradictions, and he was a very confused person. Honestly, that was very fun to play.” [...] “I play Bella in ‘Wuthering Heights.’ I loved how she was so sweet and she was so selfless. Did so many things for other people and put herself behind them,” she said. [...] When asked if she drew any inspiration from the Margot Robbie and Jacob Elorbi movie, she responded, “No, because I was told that we were doing a slightly different version. It was very different. I wanted to create something that was unique and my own.” (Markos Papadatos)
On Literary Hub Rebecca Birrell, whose debut novel Venus, Vanishing, features an amateur artist, discusses other amateurs in literature. There are other amateurs, especially in novels from the century before. Jane Eyre paints watercolors and tells Mr. Rochester that she derives happiness from doing so. Tatler Asia lists '10 classic novels that feel surprisingly modern' including 3. ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Brontë Jane begins life with little money, few allies and an upbringing that teaches her how easily people in power can mistreat those without it. After working as a governess at Thornfield Hall, she falls in love with its brooding owner, Edward Rochester. But when Jane discovers a secret that threatens the future he has offered her, she faces a choice between the man she loves and the principles she refuses to abandon. Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel is a Gothic romance, but its emotional force comes from Jane’s insistence on her own worth. She wants love, companionship and a life beyond mere survival. What she does not want is to surrender her moral independence to secure them. Her refusal to accept a relationship on unequal terms remains one of the novel’s most powerful moments. Jane’s story also explores the vulnerability of women who have little financial or social protection. Her options are constrained by class and gender, yet she insists on being treated as a person with desires and convictions of her own. In contemporary conversations about boundaries, financial independence and unequal relationships, Jane’s determination to be loved without being diminished still resonates. (Sasha Mariposa)
While The Collector lists '5 English Ghost Stories That Redefined Fear On The Page' and one of them is 1. Wuthering Heights (1847), by Emily Brontë Emily Brontë’s Gothic masterpiece is remembered for its tempestuous lovers, windswept moors, and tragic family drama. However, when creating her novel, Emily Brontë chose to open with a violent and terrifying ghostly encounter. In the opening of the novel, Lockwood (the narrator) spends the night in a forbidden bedroom after being caught in a storm. While there, he reads the name “Catherine” alongside “Earnshaw,” “Heathcliff,” and “Linton,” all carved into the wooden window frame. As he sleeps, he is awoken by a knocking on the window pane and, thinking it is a branch, reaches out to break it. The reader is then startled to read that Linton’s wrist is grasped by the ice-cold fingers of Cathy’s ghost. Her specter cries that she has been “a waif for twenty years.” The story inspired countless other works of fiction, including the song Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush. (Lauren Jones)
The Cathy Marston's Jane Eyre ballet is now being performed in Copenhagen, Denmark:
Choreographed by Cathy Marston Directed by Chanmin Chung Written by Cathy Marston and Patrick Kinmonth Music by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Franz Schubert, Philip Feeney With Emma Riis-Kofoed, Silvia Selvini, Ryan Tomash, Sebastian Pico Haynes, Katherine Stevens, Penelope Phelan, Carling Talcott-Steenstra, Eukene Sagues, Caroline Baldwin, Ji Min Hong, Alexander Bozinoff, Jón Axel Fransson, Andreas Kaas, Jonathan Chmelensky, Mathieu Rouaux, Isabella Walsh, Stephanie Chen Gundorph. Det Kongelige Teater og Kapel, Refshalevej 173A, 1432 København, Denmark Old Stage October 30 - November 11, 20.00h /12.00h (October 31) Poster foto: Klaus Vedfelt
Profound love, painful jealousy and dark secrets. Master choreographer Cathy Marston breathes new life into one of literature’s greatest novels. After a troubled childhood in the care of a harsh foster family, the young orphan Jane Eyre resolves to shape her own destiny. Seeking independence, she trains as a teacher and accepts a position as governess at Thornfield Hall. There, her encounter with the enigmatic master of the house, Edward Rochester, proves fateful. Though seemingly ill matched, the two fall deeply in love. Yet Jane soon discovers that Rochester harbours a hidden sorrow – a secret powerful enough to threaten their happiness. Charlotte Brontë, the author of Jane Eyre and the eldest of the three renowned Brontë sisters, caused a sensation when her Gothic novel was published in 1847. Its brooding atmosphere and supernatural undercurrents captivated Victorian readers. Equally striking was its heroine: intelligent, resolute and quietly rebellious – a new and compelling portrait of a woman’s longing and inner struggle. In recent years, English choreographer Cathy Marston has established herself as one of ballet’s most compelling narrative voices. In Jane Eyre, she unfolds the heroine’s eventful life in a work that is at once an intimate and emotionally charged chamber drama and a sweeping, full-scale narrative ballet.
Inspired by the news of Jane Eyre now being a mandatory read for teenagers in China, a contributor to The New Indian Express discusses several aspects of the novel. So, the novel asks a more interesting question. Can a person love deeply without losing herself? Jane’s answer is yes, but only on certain terms. She leaves when staying would cost her moral independence. She returns only when things have changed. Here her inheritance matters. Independence is not just a matter of courage. Money changes her position. Once she is financially secure, going back to Rochester is a choice and not a necessity. Rochester, for his part, has lost much of his earlier power. Jane’s financial independence and Rochester’s changed circumstances alter the balance of their relationship, bringing them closer to equality. This is also why the novel can be read beyond the question of female independence. Love, in Brontë’s telling, is something Jane chooses and not something she surrenders to. A young woman can ask what independence means in a relationship. A young man can ask what equality demands of him. Rochester is charming and emotionally gripping, but he is also used to having his way. He withholds the truth from Jane and tries to set the terms of their life together. The novel does make him face those limits, and it offers a useful distinction between love and possession. Still, there is a reason not to treat this as a simple feminist text. What happens to Bertha Mason? We hear Jane’s voice throughout the book. Bertha hardly has one. Rochester’s first wife is locked in the attic and described mostly through the language of madness and monstrosity. Later writers have asked what the story looks like from her side. Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea is the best-known example. It brings race, colonialism, and gender into questions that Jane Eyre does not fully examine. I will admit that for years, I did not push this question hard enough in my own classes. I spoke about Bertha, but mostly as a plot device or a symbol. It was easier to stay with Jane. That, I think, is the real lesson of my reaction to the Chinese decision. Familiarity can make us lazy. We teach a classic through the same categories each time, such as feminism, patriarchy, romance and Victorian society, and we stop looking for what is new. The text remains the same, but our reading of it need not. A classic should not enter a classroom carrying one approved meaning. Students should be free to admire Jane and also to question her. They should understand Rochester without excusing him. They should ask why Bertha is denied the space Jane gets. And they should connect the book to their own experience of family, school, work and relationships. In that sense, teaching a classic is not simply about passing on an established interpretation. It is also about teaching students how to read critically. This is important because many young people encounter ideas about love through films, social media and stories they read online. These tend to offer quick answers. Literature can offer something slower. It lets a reader stay with a complicated human situation and look at it from more than one side. That, to my mind, is the book’s real value for a young reader today. It does not hand over the right model of love or independence. It refuses to separate the two questions. Jane wants to be free, and she also wants to love. She wants equality without giving up closeness. The novel does not settle that tension. It makes it part of growing up. Nearly two centuries later, that tension still feels familiar. Perhaps that is why readers in China, India and elsewhere keep returning to Jane. And perhaps this is why a decision made in Beijing is worth a second look for teachers in Indian classrooms. My first answer was “So what?” I no longer think that was the right one. (John J Kennedy)
The Guardian takes a closer look at lighting in theatre productions guided by designer Aideen Malone. Do all directors understand lighting? “Not to name any names,” she grins, “but some are very visual, and some aren’t.” She prefers “somebody with nerves of steel who is prepared to try stuff” – like Sally Cookson, with whom she devised hit shows such as Jane Eyre and A Monster Calls. “Devised work is nerve-racking,” says Malone, “because you don’t know what you’ve got till the last week of rehearsals. You have to figure it out once you’re in the space.” (David Jays) The Stage publishes the obituary of the theatre composer Simon Webb who In 1986, he wrote the music for Peter Coe’s production of Jane Eyre, with Keith Michell and Jenny Seagrove, at Chichester Festival Theatre. (Nick Smurthwaite) A new production of Jane Eyre opens tomorrow, October 28, in Ottawa, Canada:
Written by Erin Shields, based on the novel by Charlotte Brontë October 28 – November 14, 2026 Wednesdays to Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. Matinee: Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Ottawa Little Theatre, 400 King Edward Ave, Ottawa, ON K1N 7M7, Canada
Directed by Lindsay Laviolette With Lauren Reisig, Josh Sparks, Meara Gordon, Jorge Corichi Herrejón, Aili McNamara-Kilian, Sierra Sparks, Erin Hetherington, Jennifer Rowberry, Victoria Windrem, Thomas Jestin, Sharon Bernbaum, Laasya Kandula, Susanna Doherty, Sheila Burpee Duncan, Michael Clarke, Geneviève Audet, Megan Hepburn, Christina Roman, Gabrielle Dumonceaux.
Charlotte Brontë’s haunting novel comes to the stage in a new adaptation by one of Canada’s most exciting playwrights. Erin Shields brings a sharp, witty, feminist perspective to this timeless story of an accomplished, outspoken young woman overcoming the odds to rise to her potential and claim love on her own terms.
Town and Country recommends '35 Best Classic Fall Books for a Cozy Autumn Read' including Jane Eyre Jane Eyre begins on a dreary November day—“There was no possibility of taking a walk that day...”—setting the tone for the gothic novel. Autumn remains a key backdrop throughout the novel, including when she travels to Thronfield [sic] Hall for the first time (her first morning there was “a fine autumn morning”). It’s a definitive autumn classic. (Any Brontë novel, honestly, makes great fall reading.) (Emily Burack)
Speaking of anniversaries, today October 26 marks 177 years since the publication of Charlotte Brontë's Shirley.
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