Bronte

Written and directed by Polly Teale
Shared Experience Production at The Liverpool Playhouse
25th October - 29th October 2005

Reviewed by Louise Scott

Flashes of brilliance illuminate the bleak clad Yorkshire Moors, in this play by Polly Teale.

The set is bare and strong, muted in colour, with beautiful use of light to create atmosphere.
With the opening scene, the girls slowly create an illusion of layers essential to the narrative, through the donning of costume.
The essence of the ‘Bronte’ story is captured throughout; the inner passions played out, give a solid contrast to the uniform personas.

All yearned to be free, breaking the loop of daily life. From the doctrine of success or failure, expressing this through their individual writings, and in the play this was shown poignantly in many ways through quiet suggestion, the use of light to create form and thereby shape the individual characters. The symbolic use props; feathers, household objects, and food. The candlelight to prompt ambience or threat. Not forgetting the well timed humour in the dialogue that was lifting and soothed the (*perceived) intensity of the characters.
The actors are to be commended on the clarity of dialogue, which was clearly, and effectively delivered till the closing scene.

Good theatre leaves us with a sense of something, we feel different in a subtle way, we have been moved.