Dear Charlotte

‘Dear Charlotte’ is a fascinating exploration of Charlotte Brontë’s imagination at her coming of age, as considered by American stage and television playwright, Joy Gregory. Joy does not avoid difficult topics, one of her latest plays being ‘How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel about the American Obsession’.

Curtin’s Performance Studies, in conjunction with the Hayman Theatre Company, is presenting this charming, award-winning play. It can be seen at The Studio (with well-tiered seating), Subiaco Arts Centre, 180 Hamersley Road, Subiaco each evening until Saturday 13^th April. The 135-minute performances all start at the earlier time of 7.00 pm.

Charlotte Brontë was born in Thornton, West Yorkshire, and spent most of her life in that area, dying in Haworth (only a few kilometres from her birth place, and now part of inner Bradford) just a month before her 39^th birthday.

       It is the 1820s in a Yorkshire parsonage. In the dim glow we see massive, neat stacks of books (designer Tessa Darcey). It is from these piles that the Reverend Brontë (Jack Middleton) daily selects books for his five children to read. With a sick wife (Maryanne Fonceca), it is an easy way to keep his six ‘loathsome’ children away from him whilst he is working.

      All of the cast have books that glow when opened, and as they wander around, interweaving as they read their texts, they form a line at the front of the stage and introduce themselves. Their individual spotlights are extinguished as their premature deaths are announced. Sadly, the mother is first to depart followed by the three youngest daughters and then the son. Soon Charlotte, the ugly runt of the litter, is the only child left.

      We flash back to when Charlotte is still a young lady. She decides to visit her publisher in London, taking her sister Anne (Amelia Tuttleby) who is also an author, for company. Their publisher is horrified to find that the company’s best author is a mere woman and that the name Currer Bell was in fact a pseudonym, after all ‘ladies’ couldn’t possibly know about life and be able to write!

      The father finds it increasingly impossible to look after his children, and so sends four daughters to a church sponsored, boarding school under the strictly repressive supervision of the Reverend Wilson (Waseem Parkar). It isn’t long before poor daughter Maria (Mary Soudi), quickly followed by Elizabeth (Catherine Bonny), dies of consumption exacerbated by the starvation and the unrelenting winter cold at school.

     Back at home, the only son, Branwell Brontë (David Valent) is becoming a talented artist and soon gains a place in a London School of Art. Two of the remaining daughters, Emily (Róisín Bevan) and Charlotte return home and become trainee governesses. Charlotte relates a horror story to her sisters, (superbly presented by Tessa) which showed how rich her writing skills and imagination had developed over the years. To help their chances of self-improvement, the girls go to Brussels to study French and continental etiquette.

     Will the future pick up for this tragic family?

Director Leah Mercer, who last year achieved acclaim for her ambitious direction of the Blue Room production ‘Eve’, the life story of a NSW mad woman who, amazingly, was a wonderful writer.

Once again Leah has - with the help of her assistant director, Madeleine Currie and dramaturg, Brittany Young - brought alive another true biography, Jill Gregory’s riveting and captivating story of the Brontë family.

Tessa Carmody is a wonderful actor; she can display a character with her whole body and spirit. Here, as the frail, nervous yet feisty author. With the help of her imaginary mentor, the debaucherous, Duke of Zamorna (Mary Soudi), we see her develop throughout the play into the assured talent we respect today.

The incidental music was composed by Robert Clark, it is sensitive and lively. Mixed with various sound effects (Polly Seah), as passages were read from books, the atmosphere created was poignant and alive. The sound operation, quality of effects and sensitivity of operation was much higher than normal (Seth Woolley).

Dialect coach (Luzita Fereday) had her work cut out with dialects from the very good Irish brogue of the Reverend Brontë, through the Yorkshire (average) inflections and onto the Belgian / French intonation of the Brussels scenes. The French accent and pronunciation of both Tessa and Róisín were excellent.

The lighting effects that can be achieved with the new, but expensive, LED lights are wonderful and designer Duncan Sharp and his team (Jesse Daniels, Amri Moriso) made full use of them. The huge range of costumes required was all well-fitted and perfect for the era (designer Jacinta Grando, assisted by Georgia Nottage, Nattida Thongin and Holly Dodd). Thought had also gone into the style and colours, with plain Charlotte being in a drab brown dress, the outfit accurately captured her self-imposed insignificance.

There were a few special effects which worked perfectly so congratulations to the stage and props crew (Angela La Macchia, Jim Maxwell, Michelle Enderbee, Amy Johnston, Samantha Barrett, Tanaya Harper and Madison Stirling). The scene changes, carried out by the cast, were smooth, quick and perfectly co-ordinated.

As the two hours unfolded, the acting skills were superb throughout. The chemistry between the actors was strong, with the depth of emotion and suffering being clearly conveyed to the audience.

A most interesting story, especially for Brontë fans with a clear insight of the hard everyday life two hundred years ago. An excellent production that will pull your heart strings but still has plenty of laughs thrown in.