Difference between revisions of "Brontë (2013)"

Revision as of 16:18, 19 April 2013

Poster by Poster Designer

by Polly Teale

Directed by Lisa Thomas

Performances: 16th - 20th April 2013, Prompt Corner

Introduction

Three sisters, living in an isolated parsonage at Haworth at the edge of the Yorkshire Moors, wrote some of the most passionate and enduring literature of all time. The play centres around the return of the drug-addled and alcoholic brother, Branwell, to the family home, following an affair with the mistress of the house where he was employed as a tutor. His turbulent presence brings chaos to the household and the sisters write and lose themselves in the fictional works they have written. Reality mixes with fiction as several of their most compelling characters haunt the sisters.

Cast

• Charlotte Brontë - Fiona Daffern
• Emily Brontë - Lucy Fletcher
• Anne Brontë - Hannah Casey
• Branwell Brontë / Arthur Huntingdon / Heathcliff - Charles Doyle
• Patrick Brontë / Arthur Bell Nicholls / Mr Rochester / Mr Hegar - Derek Dempsey
• Bertha Rochester / Cathy Earnshaw - Laura Yandell

Crew

• Assistant Director - Francesca Bastiani
• Stage Manager - Siobhan Campbell
• Assistant Stage Manager - Francesca Bastiani
• Lighting Designer - Gavin Parker
• Lighting & Sound Operator - Dominic Liversedge
• Set - Chaz Doyle and the cast
• Costumes - Lisa Thomas, Caroline Doyle, Kathryn Ramsay, Naomi Liddle
• Photos - Siobhan Campbell, Phil Gammon

Reviews

Caroline Beckett Came to see the show last night and enjoyed it very much - great insightful play, really well acted by a focused and versatile cast who've been skilfully directed. Set looked good too - liked the "floorboards"!

Well done to cast and crew and really hope you get packed houses for the rest of the run - you deserve it. Go see it people!

David Cox I must confess that I have never read Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre or Agnes Grey. So I couldn't claim to be a Bronte buff before seeing this play. But that presented no barrier to my understanding of the plot or performances. As the play progressed I was surprised by how much I was familiar with, through our general cultural osmosis.

Each performance was very convincing and well defined. Some of the actors played multiple roles and deftly transformed between them without causing any confusion. (Chaz Doyle’s hair acting versatility alone deserves a special mention). It’s a thought provoking play, not only on a biographical level, but also on the philosophical nature of writing and our need for recognition. I really enjoyed it.

I just realised I may becoming a Bronte buff.

Sarojini Excellent play and superbly acted. Brill you are involved in something like this. Thought provoking and makes me want to know more about that family.

Naomi Liddle Saw this last night and it certainly inspired a great deal of discussion in the bar, both about the play, the production and the subject matter. Which is always a good sign!

I have to say I am not a fan of the writing itself - as with many biographical pieces, I personally felt that it seems to have been written by someone who knows a lot about their subject and really wants to impart all that knowledge on to the audience, often at the expense of 'real' conversation and human interaction. I found myself often just starting to see the relationships between the family in an intimate scene when suddenly a big chunk of historical exposition - about mills, or poverty, or the railways - would be crowbarred in. I could never quite get a handle on who they all really were, rather than what they did or wrote, and as such rather than being swept away by their stories I left feeling a bit like I was going to have to write an essay about it all when I got back to school.

BUT my issues were all with the writing, not the production, which was handled beautifully by both cast and director. Lisa has dealt with the eposodic nature of the play with fluid and smooth transitions; I loved the mixing of reality and fiction with Laura Yandell's masterclass in madness as the embodiment of the literary heroines of the Bronte's novels, and there were some genuinely lovely moments between the sisters; not a single weak link on the stage. Chaz's hair was ably assisted by its owner as the lesser-known Branwell in an exhibition of belligerent drunkeness which was all the more impressive considering we all know that in real life when Chaz gets drunk he runs around like a puppy for a bit then falls asleep.

There is a worry with this sort of play that you need prior knowledge of the works referred to, but chatting to a wide cross-section of audience last night it's clear that even if all you know about the Brontes you learned from Kate Bush, you'll still be able to keep up.

This might not be everyone's cup of tea - I'm not sure it was mine - but it's really, really worth catching if you can get one of the remaining tickets. It has inspired me to dig out and re-read those old A-Level texts, so it must have done its job, after all!

Hazel Hindle The character portrayals were great, it really brought to life the difficult circumstances of the relationships within the family. Well done one and all.

Helen Jones Very strong performances last night from a uniformly excellent cast. Chaz's lightning costume/character/accent changes were remarkable!

Gallery

The below is a captioned selection. All are copyright Phil Gammon.

• 

  MC (Peter Stevens): That's a lovely dog you have there Madam. A dachshund you say? From Frankfurt?

• 

  Les Francais (Laura Yandell and Chaz Doyle) wonder why Britannia (Helen Chadney) is wearing her hat the wrong way round.

• 

  Austro-Hungarian secret police (Peter Stevens), Serbian secret police (Chaz Doyle),stallholder (Matthew Lyne): ve liquidated you yesterday.

• 

  Chloe Beecham and Laura Yandell: 'Ya and Papa says France must stand by Russia.'

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  Catriona Laing: 'Damen und Herren: the German ultimatum to Russia has expired.'

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  The Kaiser (Christopher Vian-Smith): Kiboshed.

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  The French cavalry (Peter Stevens, Neil Forster, Chaz Doyle): pour la gloire - charge!

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  'He stirred up little Serbia to do his dirty tricks: Christopher Vian-Smith and Catriona Laing.

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  Chaz Doyle: 'Nothing more terrible could be imagined. We advanced much too fast.'

• 

  Neil Forster, Dean Wicks: bayonet practice with the Sergeant Major (Matthew Lyne)

• 

  'In out, in out.'

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  Helen Chadney: I'll make a man of you …

• 

  'On Tuesday I'm out with a baby Boy Scout'.

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  Sir Henry Wilson (Neil Forster), Sir John French (Christopher Vian-Smith) and their moustaches are driven to meet the Allies by Chaz Doyle.

• 

  'Huy. Ache. U. Ygrec.'

• 

  Sir Henry Wilson (Neil Forster), Sir John French (Christopher Vian-Smith) and General Lanzerac (Matthew Lyne): 'I say sir, don't you think we need a translator?'

• 

  Laura Yandell: Hitchy Koo.

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  'He's writing to his lady love.'

• 

  'Oh What a Lovely War.' The company.

• 

  Part 2 of the War Game: France (Neil Forster), Switzerland (Dean Wicks), Germany (Christopher Vian-Smith), America (Chaz Doyle) and Britain (Helen Chadney) discus the perils of peace over a little grouse shoot.

• 

  Neil Forster: 'We shot every pacifist we could find.'

• 

  Helen Chadney: 'I say, no need to lose your rag.'

• 

  Helen Chadney and Matthew Lyne: 'Canter in the row before breakfast tomorrow, Doris.'

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  Christopher Vian-Smith and Chloe Beecham: 'Trade!!'

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  Sir Douglas Haig (Matthew Lyne): 'The loss of another 300,000 men could lead to outstanding results.'

• 

  'Up the Irish!' The ginger army find themselves in a bit of a spot: Neil Forster, Peter Stevens, Chaz Doyle.

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  'Seamus is gone. Someone's got to go.' Peter Stevens, Chaz Doyle

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  Mrs Pankhurst (Catriona Laing) petitions for peace.

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  Dean Wicks: Then there is a corner of some foreign land that is forever England.

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  'Where are you going with that body M. Landru?' Christopher Vian-Smith burying his 12th wife (Catriona Laing).

• 

  Chloe Beecham: 'Keep the home fires burning.'

• 

  Laura Yandell, Helen Chadney: 'Eee all those Arkwrights.'

Reminiscences and Anecdotes

Members are encouraged to write about their experiences of working on or seeing this production. Please leave your name. Anonymous entries may be deleted.

See Also

References

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External Links

• This play on Wikipedia