MDTheatreGuide reviews NuSass Productions' The Brontë Sister House Party: In Courtney Bailey’s offbeat, but easy-to-watch play directed by Kathleen Barth, the sisters and feisty brother, Branwell (Ty Edwards), are stuck in a time warp sometime in their afterlife. It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact years of Purgatory, but it’s definitely contemporary. The task they must complete is to reach the highest level a party can attain and, once achieved, they will be released from this punishment. Emily (Leah Ly) seems to want out of her current situation as she struggles with her distrust of men. Her T-shirt berates men, real and fictional. She has a special affection for women, especially Cathy, the character she created in Wuthering Heights, who shows up at every party. Brenna Horner is superb as this vixen whom we want to love/hate. She steals the show with her hand mic and sexy gown and leads the audience in a party song. As the actors kept filling our glasses for the expected toasts, I felt I was in the best place for a hot, August Sunday afternoon. My guess is that it would be just as special during mid-winter. (...) While it looks like nothing will be resolved, and the party dims with Branwell’s rant about hating all the women who loved him. He was my least favorite character in this otherwise all-female cast. For the record, I enjoyed this ‘party’ more than many of my earth-bound soirees. My only issue was that Alexa never revealed what the “best party song” was. My guess is Brittany Spears. I suppose I’ll have to return to find out. I would like that very much, and this time, I will toss my cane, put on some dancing shoes, and sequins, just like the house manager who was adorned with silver sparkles. (Carolyn Kelemen)
FanCarpet interviews Isabelle Methven on playing Helen Burns and Bessie in the upcoming London performances of Jane Eyre. The Musical: Isabelle Methven: My name is Isabelle Methven, and I’m playing Helen Burns and Bessie in Jane Eyre. They’re two very different women, but both have such an important influence on Jane’s life, which makes them wonderful characters to play. Jane Eyre is regarded as one of the great works of English literature. What drew you to Charlotte Brontë’s story? Isabelle Methven: It’s actually my favourite book. I’ve loved it for years, so when the opportunity came up to be part of this production, I couldn’t have been more excited. Charlotte Brontë created such rich, truthful characters, and I think that’s why people continue to connect with the story today. It’s a real privilege to be part of bringing it to life on stage. Helen Burns and Bessie are very different characters, yet both help shape Jane’s journey. What has it been like exploring those roles? Isabelle Methven: That’s one of the things I love most about them. Helen represents kindness, compassion and forgiveness, while Bessie provides warmth and comfort in a very different way. They both leave lasting impressions on Jane, even though they’re with her at different points in her life. Finding those differences has been one of the most enjoyable parts of rehearsals.
Parade discusses the 1996 song It’s All Coming Back To Me Now: Written by composer and lyricist Jim Steinman, the heartbreaking power ballad is said to have been influenced by the gothic Emily Brontë novel “Wuthering Heights,” which Steinman said was one of his favorite books. “‘It’s All Coming Back To Me Now’ is my attempt to write the most passionate, romantic song I could ever write,” Steinman is quoted as saying, according to his official website. “I was writing it while under the influence of Wuthering Heights.” (Carly Silva)
Mr Roscoe said: "I’m on a mission to help younger people connect to the landscape through adventure, discovery and education." One of his early successes was a video exploring the dark history of Haworth, home of the Brontë sisters, which sparked a new direction for the channel. He said: "I made a video about the dark history of Haworth, home of the Brontë Sisters, and discovered that people love that combination of learning about local history, nature and walking adventures that are accessible to them." (Harry Williams)
“The Song of Stork and Dromedary” (FSG Originals, 736 pages, $23), published in the Netherlands in 2022 and translated into English by David McKay this year, begins in an English village in West Yorkshire during the first half of the 19th century. This is the birthplace of Millicent and Eliza May Drayden, whom Ms. Daanje has loosely modeled on Charlotte and Emily Brontë. The book expands outward, creating an enormous system of stories orbiting the sisters’ lives and legends. Like the Brontës, the Draydens are the eccentric daughters of a widowed curate. After growing up in wild isolation on the moors, they published groundbreaking novels under androgynous pseudonyms. (Sam Sacks)
Spoilers Allowed reviews the film Incredible, but True from a Gothic perspective: In the Gothic, time is rarely linear, as the past constantly intervenes in the present. Think intergenerational trauma in Wuthering Heights, colonial mining in Mexican Gothic, or the way every room holds the past, present and future of its inhabitants in The Infamous Gilberts. Houses are one of the ways the Gothic shows the passage of time through ruins and decay. Yorkshire is synonymous with many things: its eponymous puddings, the Brontë sisters and their enduring Gothic literature, moody moors and weather-beaten heathlands, and market towns built from honey-colored Yorkstone. In Helmsley, a small town that's partially tucked inside the North York Moors National Park, you can experience all of the above — minus the Brontës, of course, the last of whom, Charlotte, died more than 170 years ago. (...) Wander Helmsley's narrow lanes and you'll soon find Helmsley Castle, a stone fortification that's been around since the mid-12th century. Folktales suggest that, come nightfall, the grounds are stalked by apparitions and ghosts. Additionally, the town provides access to trails weaving through the nearby moorlands and heathers, the very same landscapes that inspired the Brontës' most famous tales, "Wuthering Heights" and "Jane Eyre." (David McElhinney)
The Guardian has an opinion column on writers' houses turned into museums: Rydal Mount was sold by its previous owners in part due to a drop in numbers, and curators must be adept in capitalising on any new sources of interest. At the Brontë Parsonage in Yorkshire, an exhibition accompanied this year’s release of a new Wuthering Heights film; at Anne Hathaway’s cottage in Stratford-upon-Avon, Hamnet tours are on offer. I feel like the filmmaker is channelling what those movies made them feel when they watched them rather than being slavish to the plot or specific details — one of the ways this film oddly parallels Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights,” along with both films including scenes of fleshy walls. (Carsten Knox) The Los Alamos Daily Post is still excited about the recent Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever in Los Alamos. The Yorkshire Post takes its readers to Aysgarth Falls and reminds us it was one of the locations of Wuthering Heights 1992. An alert for today, August 19, at the Brontë Parsonage Museum:
Wed 19 Aug, 11am - 3pm
Join us for drawing made easy - following the shadows of plants and flowers to begin making your own artwork. The Brontës were inspired by all the nature around them and this workshop celebrates that.
ScreenRant thinks that Wuthering Heights is an overrated book and, for some weird reason, thinks that Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca is a better book (as if they were similar in anything other than being written in the same language):
Wuthering Heights is often celebrated as one of literature's greatest romances, though this reputation is misleading. Emily Brontë's novel is certainly passionate, but its central relationships are defined by cruelty, obsession, revenge, and emotional destruction. Its influence is enormous, but its place as one of the most iconic romances ever put to page does not necessarily match the unpleasant reality of its characters. Many readers finish Wuthering Heights unsure if they’ve just read a tragic love story or a gothic thriller. Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel Rebecca provides a more accessible alternative for readers drawn to the gothic atmosphere and psychological intensity of Wuthering Heights. Its unnamed narrator marries the wealthy Maxim de Winter and moves into Manderley, where she becomes increasingly haunted by the memory of Maxim's first wife, the titular Rebecca. Like Brontë's novel, du Maurier's story is concerned with obsessive relationships, but it leans harder into mystery and psychological manipulation, giving Rebecca a much clearer identity. (Tom Russell)
BuzzFeed has a quiz that matches opening lines to books. Jane Eyre is one of them. The Banbury Guardian announces the performances of Jane Eyre (adapted by Nick Young and Ross Muir) at Theatre Chipping Norton.
An online alert for today, August 18:
Zoom, Tuesday 18 August 2026, 18.30 UK time
Composer Courtney Caitlin Phillips wrote an 8-piece chamber music series for each of the Brontë sisters’ novels, including Charlotte’s unfinished Emma. Though its April 2020 live premiere was cancelled due to the pandemic, she was thrilled to resurrect her work and celebrate the legacy of the Brontës in a world premiere of her compositions at the Kilkee Brontë Festival in Ireland in September 2025. She is now delighted to be able to share her work with the Brontë Birthplace, Thornton. Her talk will include some brief, personal vignettes of how she was first introduced to the Brontës, how her connection to them has deepened over the years, and how they continue to inspire her creativity. She will also share excerpts and analyses of the chamber music series, show how each piece connects with its respective novel, and reveal a few Easter eggs hidden in the scores.
The play’s premise sounds like a gimmick, and it is: Three real-life Victorian sisters who became renowned for their novels — Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë (authors of, respectively, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall) — have been consigned by a witch to purgatory, where they are required to throw nightly parties until they attain “The Point of Celebratory Reverence” (a never-specified transcendent state of being). The sisters have thus dutifully partied on — more than 5,000 times — so far without success. We, the audience, are their guests as they try once again. Will they or won’t they reach that vague “Celebratory Reverence”? That’s essentially the suspense that sustains all the storytelling that follows. (...) This is not a play with a story arc that unfolds with revelation after revelation, nor does it attain the euphoric buzz of a good bash. In fact, the script functions more like a loopy lineup for an off-the-wall variety show, with an assortment of monologues, scenelets, and set pieces (some hits, some misses). A question one might have going in is whether Brontë Sister House Party will make any sense if one knows nothing of the historical characters’ backstories or literary output. Be assured, the playwright doesn’t assume we all will fill that in; there’s plenty of contextualizing exposition (though Brontë buffs will likely recognize easter eggs along the way). (...) Brontë Sister House Party culminates in feel-good sisterhood closure, but the play’s episodic structure feels random and aimless until then (though director Kathleen Barth manages the many tonal shifts with admirable aplomb). Moreover, on opening night, execution was uneven, with the sort of uncertainty more excusable in a preview. Still, the admittedly gimmicky premise is intriguing; the characters, both as written and as performed, are appealingly quirky; and the musical interludes are fun. A satisfying Brontë-esque saga it’s not, but its sentiments, silliness, and celebratory aspirations have modern merit. (John Stoltenberg )
Southwark Playhouse has released another clip of their upcoming Jane Eyre. The Musical production: Charlie Burn performing Sweet Liberty (via Broadway World).
#8: Much spicier than the classic novel it’s based on, what ’26 movie has been dubbed “50 Shades of Brontë”? A: “Anna Karenina” B: “Wuthering Heights” C: “Middlemarch”
D: “Mansfield Park”
An AI has listed classic books worth reading at least once in BookClub. The list includes Jane Eyre. AnneBrontë.org posts about Charlotte Brontë's 1850 letter to Ellen Nussey recounting Mrs. Atkinson's tragic undiagnosed pregnancy and death from consumption. More Recent Articles
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