Underdog: The Other Other Bronte - Dorfman NT

I haven't booked for this - I feel like I've had enough Brontes - but I am tempted purely because of Gemma Whelan. She is excellent in the Spanish TV series Balenciaga (on Disney plus) as the journalist who secures an interview with the reclusive fashion designer. She was just as good in Gentleman Jack. So I may cave in and book.

Front row Thursday… £25 on sale after Friday rush was finished. Interested because of the award the script won… hoping to be pleasantly surprised!

Very good. Gemma Wheelan speaks probably half of the play or more, and barely leaves the stage, but it is effortless. All actors excellent. It is an intelligent and engaging evening.

Interested to know what others make of the writing, especially the ending, which was a bit of a letdown IMO. There were some cracking moments that built it up, but then it was a bit like… hmm. I think it’s hard when a piece is so self-aware. Difficult to resolve. And maybe there just isn’t much to hang a crux-of-the-story on. Lots of excellent themes touched upon, but for me the play really became about Charlotte’s journey from self-serving and fame-seeking to a good sister… like the play becomes a second chance for her that she missed in life. Funny that the title implies it is all about Anne, because it is the Charlotte show, and she wants it that way.

I think the Elizabeth Gaskell’s biography (available online for free probably) would be the most interesting background read for seeing the play. Gaskell met Charlotte and had access to letters, which are published in the bio. The description of Charlotte the character as “self-serving” by the first person in this thread who saw the play isn’t the impression Gaskell gives of Charlotte Brontë so I guess the author of the play is using some creative license, or at least not following the narrative set by Gaskell. It’s the alcoholic brother Branwell who’s the self-serving member of the family. He’s a character in the play but he’s not featured as much in the advertising. I wonder how much of the havoc he caused for the family is dramatized. But I think Charlottes books are very autobiographical so reading those will also be a very good background and probably a lot more than the average attendee has.

I've been very interested in this but was waiting for reviews - &, as usual, the running time, which, now I see the NT have given this as 2 hours 20, definitely means a matinee for me. However, getting an affordable ticket may prove impossible, as even before previews started, I noticed that the run was gradually selling out, so I'm mystified as there could have been no word of mouth until this week. Has there been some publicity somewhere which I've missed? The names of the writer and cast meant nothing to me either.

I was surprised too by how many dates are already sold out. I am guessing schools might be booking? I think Wuthering Heights was on one of the exam syllabuses last time I looked.

Oh dear - though thank you for the possible warning!  As if Easter holidays aren't bad enough, this makes it sounds as though there might be little to choose between those & termtime, though a Saturday matinee might be safer in the latter.

I loved her in Upstart Crow. Hadn’t realised she’d done those other things, even though I watched all of GoT without knowing it was her! I’m now annoyed I don’t have tickets for this.

Saw this tonight, and for me, it's a mixed bag.

This is NOT a comprehensive account of the Brontes, but rather a consideration of whether or not Charlotte Brontë betrayed the sisterhood and shafted her sister, Anne Brontë, to get ahead?

Thus, the two actors that carry 90 percent of the storytelling (that matters) are Gemma Whelan (Charlotte) and Rhiannon Clements (Anne) and both are fabulous.

Tonally, I felt the show was wildly variable, with dramatic bits very effective but some of the raucously rude comedy bits veered into try hard unfunny territory, while others hit the mark, boosted by Whelan's comic commitment and timing.

Some spoilers follow. . .

This is Charlotte Brontë as I haven't seen her before.

Instead of the mousy practical one with pinched glasses (see Sally Wainwright's magnificent drama, "To Walk invisible," for the BBC), now she's in rock and roll red, a scarlet woman with a filthy mouth.

The one I thought was rock and roll (and who is usually depicted as such - see Kate Bush lol), Emily, is thinly characterised and barely features in this, bar some moaning.

Branwell, the debauched dissolute brother, whose shameful escapades are usually the tragic and principal focus of Brontë dramas (see the Wainwright drama or the Wasted Musical that played at Southwark Playhouse) is an afterthought in this show.

Anyone who saw that "Upstart Crow" play will know that Gemma Whelan was one of the funniest things in it, and anyone who watched "The Tower" cop show (still on ITVX) will know that Whelan can even make po-faced seriousness ultra-likeable, which is even more remarkable. Thus, you've got one of the best and most likeable actors in the country in the central role. Heck, I even liked her when she was killing homeless people in a Philip Ridley play, she's that likeable.

And that's important, because this play does a LOT to make Charlotte Brontë look bad. Even Elizabeth Gaskell's biography (which was commissioned by her Dad and written after her death) is presented by this play as a crass call for attention by Charlotte herself (which is pretty prejudiced against Charlotte, if you ask me). Further, taking Charlotte to task for writing about being a Governess, as if it was to steal Anne's thunder, when Charlotte was a governess before Anne, also felt a bit cheap to me. Though to be fair, this play always gives Charlotte a right to reply, while casting aspersions on her.

I am fine with all the rudeness in this play (Charlotte uses the F-word about as often as Sheila Hancock in "Barking in Essex"), though I know the folks who walked out of "Jerusalem" for language will be twisting their undergarments frantically.

As I see it, though, the coarse language is a dramatic device that helps us see Charlotte now the way that the hoi polloi of 1850 felt about the supposed unfeminine "coarseness" of Charlotte then. In Whelan's mouth, her irreverence is plain funny, and yes, likeable.

But the script forces everything one step too far. This sort of thing is all well and good when you are only going for maximum laughs, like in "Upstart Crow," but when you are trying to make serious dramatic points as well, biasing your script against Charlotte to the max (the poor 9 year old Charlotte practically brought up her baby sister, Anne, after her mother died, but she doesn't get much credit for that here), having her come across almost as narcissistic and inconsiderate as Trump, some of the comic caricaturing of Charlotte feels like overkill, too vitriolic and caustic for light humoured laughter.

Nonetheless, the play boldly tells a story of sibling rivalry that I haven't seen before, that is rooted in reality and that is effective dramatically and sometimes comically.

As Anne, the butter-wouldn't-melt object of Charlotte's jealousy, Rhiannon Clements is gently spoken, kindly oriented, and winning in the extreme.

If Gemma Whelan wasn't so damn brilliant at both humour and drama (her second half speeches had me welling up), it would be hard to like this Charlotte Brontë at all.



All in all, the two principal actors are terrific, and the play tells a worthwhile story, even though sometimes it strains too far to be funny and too far too make a point. 3 and a half stars from me.

PS: Tonight, the running time was 2 hours, 5 minutes (including an interval), concluding at 9:35pm.

I saw the OT's Northanger Abbey & it was OK, but in general I'm a huge fan of Jane Austen & enjoy exploring modern retellings of her novels, of which there are dozens and even sub-genres, though imo some far more successful than others. However, although I've read books about the Brontes, I've never managed to finish a novel by any of the sisters despite trying hard - which I don't like doing or think should be necessary. So I wondered whether a play about them would be more enjoyable than anything one of them wrote; also, I recently read and quite liked "Fifteen Wild Decembers" by Karen Powell, which is unsurprisingly grim but covers a key period in the life of the whole family. Still hoping to get a ticket for this but, based on Steve's review, only a cheaper one.

Sometimes it is a joy to go to the preview with few expectations or reviews (just Steve and matildaswinton so far) and be surprised. This is the case here: I really loved this.

I see Northanger Abbey at the Orange Tree has been mentioned, but I enjoyed this a lot more, as that tried to tell the story of the book as well as the characters being taken out of themselves.

It isn’t a story of all the Brontes, nor their actual books. It’s 70% Charlotte telling her version of her story, 20% Anne and the rest between Emily/Bramwell who hardly feature and the men/publishers of the time.

It’s very knowing and irreverent and uses the lens of today’s times/values to narrate the action. The first half was a very enjoyable series of mostly comic vignettes and rivalry, whilst moving the narrative forward. The second half more serious, but still darkly comic.

Quite a few themes here - do women have to step on their sisters to get ahead? The chattering classes of London and power with the men vs the judgement of women and the “out of towners” from bluff Yorkshire.

It challenges the usual story of three tragic sisters and their brother, and reassesses it - they certainly aren’t a museum piece to be exhibited. History can be reassessed, just like their writing. I can imagine some critics seeing this as woke or inaccurate, and perhaps some themes are touched upon rather than debated seriously.

As Steve says, it does play quite fast and loose with some facts, and I wouldn’t have known all of that.

Gemma Whelan and her Charlotte is a force to be reckoned with. She dominates the proceedings and somehow brings likability to a really quite difficult character.

It’s staged fluidly and wittily with good use of two revolves (contrasting to the superfluous revolve of The Human Body), great lighting and pace and never takes itself too seriously.

8/10.

Adverts for this have popped up in my 'socials' - principally Instagram and Facebook - with high frequency over the last few weeks. I'd quite fancy seeing it, but a trip to London isn't on the books right now, so hoping for NT Live or at Home to pick it up!