Passion And Power Of Brontes
Recreated
The Brontes wrote of passion in
their novels and poems and “Glasstown”, which opened last night at
Southampton’s Nuffield Theatre, tells of those passions with all their power
and ferocity.
The play notches up another success
for the Cambridge Theatre Company who in the three years of their existence
have shown themselves a vital part of theatre today.
Glasstown was the name of the world
invented by the three sisters and their brother, Branwell, as children. “A
city of such magnificence and splendour that beside it Nineveh and Babylon
are puny villages”, was how Branwell later described it.
The play covers a year in the life
of the Brontes - the year in which they discover Glasstown cannot withstand
the pressures of adult life.
Anne Stallybrass - Anne Onedin in
BBC’s “The Onedin Line” - is marvellous as the frank and domineering
Charlotte. Down to earth and level-headed she abandons the illusions of the
make-believe world for reality. Her humour is dry and caustic, always at
the expense of others.
Withdrawn
Robert Powell gives a memorable
performance as the fundamentally unstable, weak willed and intemperate Branwell. Dismissed from his job as a tutor because of a love affair with
his employer’s wife, Branwell looks for comfort more and more in drugs and
drink. His imagination builds up his love for the woman to Glasstown
proportion.
Emily Bronte, withdrawn and content
with her own company, who in the end realises she cannot live like this, is
played by Angela Down - last seen on television in “War and Peace”.
Vicky Ireland plays the third
sister, Anne - a fragile and Christian girl who finds it difficult to reach
out for life and its challenges. John Robinson is the Brontes’ father; John
Rowe the local curate; Daphne Heard completes the cast as Tabby, the
housekeeper.
“Glasstown”, directed by Frith
Banbury, is the first stage play by Noel Robinson, an Australian, who has
spent the last eight years writing extensively for television. It finishes
its run on Saturday night.
© Southern Evening Echo,
Southampton
1 May 1973
Glasstown