★ ★ ★ ★

Reviewer - Hollie

*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review

Caution: This show includes flashing lights, strong language and scenes of violence.

A rebellious and realistic retelling creates a storm over the heights!

When people think of Wuthering Heights, we think of a dark gloomy gothic setting with a tragic love story and manic characters, but in this new adaptation from The Royal and Derngate, Oxford Playhouse, China Plate and Inspector Sands we get all of this and an awful lot more!

Adapted from Emily Bronte’s classic 18th-century novel, Ben Lewis as Writer, and Director Lucinka Eister, have carefully and cleverly adapted Wuthering Heights for a modern audience.

This dark romantic production set on the moors of Yorkshire, is told from the perspective of housekeeper Nelly, played by Giulia Innocenti, who for me is the star of the show. She provides a realistic and intriguing representation of the servant of the household. Nelly speaks of Mr Heathcliff as being a monster, born from the devil, and despises him for leaving Wuthering Heights to wrack and ruin.

Nelly begins her monologue by telling her story of how the events at Wuthering Heights and nearby Thrushcross Grange unfolded over thirty years from 1771.

Nelly’s monologue is interrupted throughout the evening by the other characters posing as narrators, asking her questions and prompting her to continue to tell the story correctly.

Family life changes for Cathy Earnshaw, played by Lua Bairstow, the female protagonist, when her father brings home Heathcliff, a vagabond and waif and stray and expects Cathy and her real brother Hindley to treat him like a sibling.

The monster of the tale, Heathcliff is played brilliantly in this production by Ike Bennett. As each character is introduced and leaves the story a visual family tree is updated on the black, dark and gothic set of Wuthering Heights. The choice of a diverse cast by Annelie Powell, Hayley Kaimakliotis and Alice Walters, gives the classic romance a new lease of life and the actors play a range of characters as time passes and the story moves on.

This new adaptation steers away from Cathy's wailing at the window and includes modern props and references as well as an outburst of a Backstreet Boys song! All of these elements together reminded me of Netflix’s Bridgerton and the audience were very complimentary of this new adaptation both during the interval and after the show.

The use of humour throughout the production made the audience titter and laugh hysterically at times. The acting relationship between Lua Bairstow as Cathy and Giulia Innocenti as Nelly was very natural and immersed the audience in the feelings and emotions that they were portraying.

The use of lighting and scenery created by Ben Ormerod and Jamie Vartan was particularly clever and allowed for Wuthering Heights to become an additional character in the story, which is important in this Bronte classic.

This production of Wuthering Heights continues to play at The Royal and Derngate until Saturday 6th May 2023. The UK tour then continues at The Oxford Playhouse, Warwick Arts Centre, Rose Theatre Kingston and the Northern Stage until June 2023.

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