The Almanac reviews The Other Other Brontë at The Pear Theatre in Mountain View: The eccentric Pear is back to its entertaining tricks, thanks to Sarah Gordon’s 2024 play, “Underdog: The Other Other Brontë,” which takes a highly irreverent look at the three Brontë sisters. The outcome is a fun and spellbinding evening, laced with metaphysical side trips that will leave your brain buzzing. [...] The most delicious thing about the play is that Gordon doesn’t stop there. She takes great, occasionally absurd liberties, primarily that of having the sisters converse in modern English, complete with jarring, casual obscenities. She also throws in the occasional anachronism, such as the interview that Charlotte conducts with the BBC. This sense of freefall allows the story to focus on the many power geometries, the ones between the authors and the hostile male world, the authors and their troublesome family, and the growing troubles between the sisters. Douglas has the perfect attitudinal range for Charlotte, who even in her more festive moments radiates ambitious intensity. Charlotte seems to be the most successful of the three, but she constantly spoils it by wanting more, and more, and more. It’s not enough to be an admired writer; she wants to be the toast of London, and then to be loved for her true self. Naomi Murray plays middle sister Emily with a great and free energy, more than willing to call out big sister on her faults. She’s also just hilarious, and perhaps the only sister who’s actually happy with herself. The heart of the play goes through Anne, and Aleisha Lew’s performance reveals a baby sister with a slippery identity. Constantly called “the mouse,” she may actually be the most courageous of the three. Her sisters scold her for basing her book “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” on their own embarrassing household, but really she’s using it to address the oppression of women that permeates British society. The criticism that comes after the publication of her “scandalous” book hits her empathic heart with great force. But this kind of criticism is the surest sign that she’s ahead of her times and, also, doing the exact right thing. If the Brontë sisters were Muses, perhaps they would be Ambition, Passion and Sincerity, all crammed into one small household. The second act uses these qualities, and the magnifying element of success, to offer one sticky confrontation after another. Thanks to playwright Gordon and the work of director Wynne Chan, these scenes are sanctified by awkward silence, and operate within metaphysical stage zones. These powerful moments are the ones that will remain with you after the applause. The rest of England is portrayed by a six-pack of supporting players who display great versatility. Keith Larson provides an important symbol of the Outside World in the person of Charlotte’s publisher, Smith. Dan C. creates a few reckless moments as the unstable brother Branwell and a memorable cameo as Charles Dickens hiding behind a potted plant. Bibliophiles in the audience will love the elaborate writing books and quills, and the books hanging from the rafters. I also enjoyed production designer Qian Zhang’s floor projections of the authors’ words as they wrote significant passages. (Michael J. Vaughn)
According to The Independent, 'Jacob Elordi says filming Wuthering Heights in London left him ‘depressed’'. Elordi also revealed that he questioned whether he was “good enough” to portray Heathcliff in the adaptation of Emily Brontë's novel. “Saltburn allowed for a lot of improv. There’s a language to [Wuthering Heights] you can’t really step around,” he said. “I think I also knew what [Fennell] wanted from Heathcliff, and I really wanted to be able to bring it. “On Saltburn, I could be whoever I wanted. “But because she had asked me to make [Wuthering Heights], she just texted me and said, ‘Will you do this?’ It was the first time I’d been like, ‘I don’t know if I’m good enough.’” (Anna Loren)
An alert from the Brontë Parsonage Museum for tomorrow, November 13:
Fri 13 Nov, 5:30pm Brontë Parsonage Museum
Every member of the Brontë family was an avid reader of newspapers and magazines. The 19th-century press brought the world into the windswept Parsonage, shaping the Brontës' opinions and feeding their ambitions. Join Editor Sharon Wright to mark the 100th edition of the Brontë Society Gazette by exploring items in the Collection that reveal the key role of journalism in the writers' lives. Join us from 5pm for a complimentary drink. The event will then start at 5:30pm.
A contributir to The Atlantic has written an article on 'The Unbearable Mediocrity of Microdramas' after attending the newly established Alza Festival, the first major theatrical event in the United States devoted entirely to the microdrama format. The last showing I attended was of a contemporary adaptation of Wuthering Heights, which very much reminded me of an assignment I had in high school to modernize scenes from Othello. A group of elderly patrons sat a few rows ahead of me, and seemed taken aback by the vertical nature of what they were about to watch. (Perhaps they saw a showing for Wuthering Heights listed somewhere and bought tickets.) Before the film started, they flagged down one of the theater attendants to ask about the Alza Festival information shown on-screen; the slides highlighted vertical storytelling and one of the sponsors, the app Verza TV. After the attendant dutifully explained what microdramas were, one of the patrons asked incredulously: “How does that apply to television?” It was a reminder that, as much hype as this slice of the entertainment industry gins up for itself, vertical dramas haven’t proved they’re more than a way to make a quick buck. (Elise Hannum)
Scroll shares an excerpt from the book Every Least Thing: Rumer Godden’s India Years. Later on at school, in the Senior School play, I was put out of the name part of Jane Eyre because the girls pointed out that my nose was too big for Jane, a fact moved, I must add, by the girl who wanted the part for herself and got it. According to Collider, Wuthering Heights is one of '5 Classic Books Better Than Pride and Prejudice'. Wuthering Heights (1847) Emily Brontë understood that love could make fools of us all. She knew that, sometimes, it could make people downright awful. In Wuthering Heights, she gives us Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, two people whose feelings for each other seem to make them miserable more often than happy. There's jealousy and there’s resentment; there's wounded pride and compounding cruelty. And yet, Brontë makes it almost impossible not to conspire with them. We can see where their anger comes from, even when we can't begin to excuse what they do with it. (Scott Simone)
A most extraordinary musical evening all about the Brontës and Elizabeth Gaskell, courtesy of the Kantos Chamber Choir: Kantos Chamber Choir Spoken Word & Co-Curator - Dr Sherry Ashworth Conductor & Co-Curator - Ellie Slorach
LANCASTER | Thursday 12 November 20.00 (Pre-Concert Talk 19.30) Lancaster Arts, Great Hall, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4ZA
MANCHESTER | Saturday 14 November 20.00 (Pre-Concert Talk 19.30) Stoller Hall, Hunts Bank, Manchester M3 1DA
HAWORTH | Sunday 15 November 16.45 (Pre-Concert Talk 16.30) St Michael and All Angels Church, Church Street, Haworth BD22 8DP 'I read for the same reason that I ate or drank; because it was a real craving of nature.’
Step into the world of the Brontë sisters with Kantos Chamber Choir in an evocative evening of choral music and spoken word inspired by the lives and imaginations of one of literature’s most extraordinary families.
Seen through the eyes of their friend and champion, Elizabeth Gaskell, this immersive hour-long performance transports audiences to the windswept Yorkshire moors. Here Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë wrote stories filled with desire, devotion, depravity and despair, challenging the social expectations and constraints placed upon women of their time.
Elizabeth Gaskell specialist, Dr Sherry Ashworth, joins Kantos as co-curator and presenter for this unique performance, bringing the sisters’ isolated yet fiercely creative world vividly to life.
The pre-concert talk will be a discussion between Dr Sherry Ashworth (Elizabeth Gaskell expert) and Ellie Slorach (Creative Director - Kantos Chamber Choir) about the content of the performance and the creative process of curating it together. Program: Helen Neeves Speak of the North! Words by Elizabeth Gaskell John Ireland The Hills Words from Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë & Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë Tõnu Kõrvits The Night is Darkening Round Me Poem by Emily Brontë & Words by Elizabeth Gaskell Amy Beach Peace I Leave With You Words from Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë Helena Paish Life Gerald Finzi My Spirit Sang All Day Words from Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë Trad. arr. Charlie Perry Black is the Colour of My True Love’s Hair Words from Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë Sophie Nolan Ira Vos Totos Consumet Words from Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë Cecilia McDowall Snow No Coward Soul Is Mine – Emily Brontë Words by Elizabeth Gaskell Robert Pearsall Lay a Garland Words by Elizabeth Gaskell John Tavener Funeral Ikos I’m Happiest When Most Away – Emily Brontë Words by Charlotte Brontë Toby Hession She Walks in Beauty Words from Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë Joan Szymko Finding Her Here
A contributor to The York Tab recommends seven alternatives to 'required uni reading' and one of them is 6. Jane Eyre Jane Eyre is a quintessential autumnal/winter read; with it’s windswept moors and candlelit rooms, it is the perfect novel for a moody winters evening. The novel follows the protagonist Jane and her battle to find independence and escape her childhood troubles. Touching on social inequality, morality, and Victorian gender ideals, the Gothic and Romantic elements of the novel make it an unforgettable and poignant read- particularly for those interested in classical literature. (Evie Bettison)
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