“We don’t in general take to foreigners here… unless they take to us first”
A brand new contemporary adaptation of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights will be going on a UK tour! Channelling Emily Brontë’s piercing wit and fierce emotion, Inspector Sands present a retelling of this classic story of obsessive love and revenge in a thrilling new version for our times, drawing out themes of intergenerational trauma, radicalisation, and social exclusion…confronting audiences with urgent questions and home truths. Told through the eyes and memories of housekeeper Nelly, alone in her kitchen during a long night of the soul, haunted by the story she relives again and again.
Lucinka Eisler, co-founding member, said, “The show is ostensibly set in the 1750s of the story, but it is its contemporary resonances we are most drawn to, so the visual world, script and physical language all have a playful nod to a contemporary perspective on this classic. Brontë’s novel illustrates the way violence, beliefs and family dynamics are passed down from generation to generation. In turn we look at the way the story we have inherited from Brontë speaks to the huge risks of ignoring history. We’re interested in treading the line between darkness and comedy where the most human of experiences seem to lie.”
Inspector Sands have become known for their irresistible mix of comedy and pathos in their detailed exploration of human behaviour. Their work integrates heightened fourth wall realism with a more expressionistic theatrical form, often using direct audience address and drawing strongly on elements of visual and sound design. Their work is entertaining and has wide appeal whilst also pushing the boundaries of form: a combination the company are thrilled to be bringing to a larger canvas. Exquisitely crafted physical performances and fearless comedy have been at the heart of Inspector Sands’ work, allowing them to create an intimate relationship with a broad range of audiences.
Ben Lewis, co-founding member, said, “An 1848 review dismissed Wuthering Heights as “a compound of vulgar depravity and unnatural horrors” and whilst the centuries may have diminished its shock value, the novel is certainly weirder, more violent and complex than you’d expect a beloved classic and set-text staple to be.
While we absolutely want our version to be clear, accessible and engaging, we also want to capture some of that visceral, radical energy. Emily Brontë fearlessly challenges the power structures of gender, class, race, faith and our relationship with the natural world. This is not the bodice-ripping love story to which it can sometimes feel reduced: it is a portrait of an isolated rural community over time. And ultimately it’s a story of the fundamental human need for love and belonging, and the tragic consequences of their absence.”
Book now at these Theatre Tokens venues:
Royal & Derngate Theatre, Northampton
24 April – 6 May 2023
9 – 12 May 2023
16 – 18 May 2023
23 – 27 May 2023
6 – 10 June 2023