Brontë

by Polly Teale

A compelling literary detective story about the turbulent lives of the Brontë sisters - dramatised by Polly Teale and Shared Experience, the team behind After Mrs Rochester and Jane Eyre.

In 1845, Branwell Brontë returns home in disgrace, plagued by his addictions. As he descends into alcoholism and insanity, bringing chaos to the household, his sisters write…

Polly Teale’s extraordinary play evokes the real and imagined worlds of the Brontës, as their fictional characters come to haunt their creators.

Brontë was produced by award-winning theatre company Shared Experience in 2010, in a co-production with the Watermill Theatre, Newbury, directed by Nancy Meckler.

Shared Experience are acclaimed the world over for their powerful, visually-charged productions.

'Breathtaking... a rare feat of theatrical imagining' - Evening Standard

'Ambitious, intelligent and absorbing' - Financial Times

'Soars on the wings of imagination' - Daily Telegraph

'Riveting... a tantalising glimpse through the window of a uniquely haunted family home' - The Times

Genres: Plays, Fiction, Drama, 21st Century, Gothic

104 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2006

Reviews

[Parnian.K · Rating 5 out of 5]

So beautiful, so poetic, so tender, and deeply contemporary. It truly touched my heart and brought me to tears more than once. One of the most stunning and poetic plays I’ve ever read; a gem discovered by coincidence while searching online for a monologue. I can only imagine how breathtaking it would be on stage. I’m going to hold it very dear to my heart and will definitely come back to it in the future.

[Zahra Sh · Rating 4 out of 5]

درهمه‌ی زندگی‌ام آرزو كرده‌ام تحسين شوم، آرزو كرده‌ام براى موفقیتی چشمگير ستوده شوم. وبا اين حال هر چه بيشتر زيسته‌ام، بيشتر به اين نتيجه رسيده‌ام كه خوشبختى را نمى توان در ستايش‌ها و تمجيدهاى ديگران يافت. اكر خاص باشى، اگر استثنايى باشى، از ديگران جدا مى مانى، اصلاً شايد همين علت تنهايى ما باشد. رضايت در معمولى بودن مان است، در كامل نبودن مان و در جزئيات كوچک زندگی. دست كم اميدوارم كه اين طور باشد.

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[Grace Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't believe it has taken me so long to come across this masterpiece. Just sheer perfection. I am in awe. The play I wish I had written first.

[emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

It feels a little bit like a fan-fict., but it was executed quite well (wasn't Dante's Inferno a fan-fict. as well?). Only 3-stars because I felt like there were many parts in the play which Teale could've played more 'creatively' with. For instance - I felt like since it was already a work of fiction in itself - she didn't have to put in chunks of excerpts from the Brönte's original work (and instead did something more 'creative' with the text).

Also, I never liked Branwell even though I know that he's an essential character - so I'd expected Teale to portray him slightly differently than how everyone else did (like the film adaptations/whatnots) but she didn't really 'spice things up'/make him more interesting and/so he appeared 'boring' and very predictable to me when I was reading the play. It made me skim the page(s) a little because he's just the same old Branwell everyone's already made him up to be.

[Moira · Rating 1 out of 5]

All you really need to know about this thing is that one actress is supposed to play Bertha/Cathy, one actor is Branwell/Arthur Huntingdon/Heathcliff, and another actor is Patrick/Arthur Bell Nicholls/Rochester/and "Mr" Heger.

That last job is a lot of versatility for even an actor, the poor bastard.


(Also the actresses are required to play the sisters as adults and as children. Never never a good idea, unless your name is Dennis Potter.)

[Madeleine Rose Healey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t know which part I’d want to play more!

It’s full of some strange sexual moments and I’m not sure I like the part where the actor playing Charlotte’s father doubles up as Mr Rochester when she plays Jane Eyre … uncomfortable.

[Nat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mean it was great read don't get me wrong, but I didn't really get the point of it, except to show how the Brontës lived. So like good for an 80 page play or whatevs...

[themistyugly · Rating 3 out of 5]

slow start - but i related to literally all of the brontë children LOL and there are some COLD lines in this play

[Paul Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this. How did these sisters write such powerful and passionate stuff? Great play about how the events of their life influence their fiction.

Great quotes
‘Our lives may have been different. We would be gone. Lost. Sunk without a trace. In the deep dark river that claims us all’

‘He had been infected by that strange sickness, the belief that life has no meaning unless it is perceived by others and you are forever known’

‘We are all alone and never more so than when surrounded by strangers, trying to convince them we are not the hopeless failure we believe ourselves to be’

‘I do not believe you don’t want to be read. What are words if not the means God gave us to reach, to grope towards one another through the darkness in hope, in hope of being found. In hope that we might become visible, to ourselves and others. Become known’

‘I write to be unknown. To exist outside and beyond myself. To be in the is-ness of things as I was once before I knew’

‘He gave us not only the power to see but the knowledge that we could be seen and with it came the desire to hide, to show only what is admirable, what is enjviable in ourselves. To conceal that of which we are ashamed’

‘This need to be special and exceptional may be the very cause of one’s loneliness. It is our ordinariness, in our imperfection, in the details of life that contentment is found’

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I loved this. Some of the theatricality doesn't necessarily play well on the page, but the central through-line here of three sisters and their brother is just something I've never seen explored on stage before.

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read after studying in drama. I enjoyed it a lot, though I think I missed some of the point of it.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was OK - but I find it difficult to judge a play script without seeing the work on stage. Characters from Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights also appear on stage to illustrate aspects of the characters of Charlotte and Emily. The dilemma of wanting to have recognition for their literary work, whilst not wanting to step into the limelight themselves is very well explored.