Written and
performed by Mel Dodge,
Directed by
Lyndee-Jane Rutherford
Costume
design by Letty MacphedranSet design by Marisa Cuzzolaro
The Q, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, 8th – 10th September
Reviewed by Bill
Stephens
This
remarkably informative and entertaining little show is touring widely and definitely
a “must-see” for Bronte aficionados and especially for the Bronte-curious. Written and performed by Mel Dodge, “Miss
Bronte” is an engaging look into the lives of the Bronte sisters from the point
of view of the last surviving sister, Charlotte, who now lives in an isolated
parsonage on the Yorkshire moors with only her father for company.
 |
| Mel Dodge as Charlotte Bronte |
The audience
enter the theatre to discover a crinoline-clad Charlotte Bronte busily engaged
in making notes in a tiny notebook. Every surface in the room she occupies is
covered with papers and books. A fire glows in the fireplace, and framed
pictures and books adorn the white walls, either side of the fireplace.
As the
houselights dim, Charlotte fixes her audience with a steely gaze and addressing
them directly, confides that her publisher has asked her to prepare a preface
for a reprinted volume of her sister’s novels Wuthering Heights and Agnes
Grey. However, she has challenged herself to write a novel with a heroine
“as small and plain as myself”.
Confiding details
of her childhood, and her current situation, she uses toy soldiers to represent
each, describing the deaths of her sisters Maria and Elizabeth, who died of
tuberculosis in childhood, and of Anne and
Emily, who together with her dissolute, but adored, brother, Branwell, all
died of consumption.
Revealing
her secret love for her Belgian teacher, Constantin Heger, to whom she had
written love letters for years, she reads excerpts from Jane Eyre to illustrate the similarities of her situation to Jane
Eyre’s love for her employer, Mr. Rochester.
 |
| Mel Dodge as Charlotte Bronte |
Mel Dodge’s
Charlotte is no shrinking violet. Lyndee-Jane Rutherford’s busy direction has
her constantly throwing papers in the air, books to the floor, or striding
purposefully around the room looking for supporting documentation to support
her revelations. The play is crammed with fascinating details, obviously the
result of extensive research by Dodge, much of it perhaps more of interest to
Brontephiles than the uninitiated.
But Dodge’s tour-de-force performance, during which her Charlotte covers the whole gamut of emotions, ensures that the constant stream of revelations never becomes tedious. Indeed this superbly crafted little production, with its beautifully realised set and costume, and Dodge’s dazzling performance, is an absorbing example of story-telling at its very best.
But Dodge’s tour-de-force performance, during which her Charlotte covers the whole gamut of emotions, ensures that the constant stream of revelations never becomes tedious. Indeed this superbly crafted little production, with its beautifully realised set and costume, and Dodge’s dazzling performance, is an absorbing example of story-telling at its very best.