Review: Brontë: The World Without works beautifully in open-air production

I was worried that Jordi Mand’s Brontë: The World Without (Rating: ✭✭✭✭) might not suit an al fresco production at Scarborough’s Guild Festival Theatre. After all, it’s pretty much entirely set in the West Yorkshire house that the literary sisters Brontë — Charlotte (Laura Del Papa), Emily (Hilary Scott) and Anne (Lara Lucia) — shared in the 1800s.

But director Helen Juvonen’s sensitive staging, a trio of passionate performances and the solid classical columns of the GFT stage give the production a grandeur and airiness it lacked in its rather cramped premiere eight years ago at Stratford’s Studio Theatre.

As the title suggests, this is the famous literary siblings’ world without. If their inner worlds were full of plots, characters and vivid descriptions of fictional things, their outer ones were concerned with more mundane, practical matters like household budgeting, finding employment as governesses, and attending to their irresponsible brother Bramwell and their ill curate father, both of whom are mentioned in the play but never seen.

When one of them gets the idea to supplement their income by attempting to publish under male pseudonyms, things become more intriguing. First they collaborate on a collection of poems. Then, they bundle and mail three novels — one by each of them — to various publishers, waiting to hear back.

After publication, they have to deal with things like book sales, criticism and the question of whether they should inform their publisher of their true identities. Jealousy and envy rear their heads. They question their gifts, or are confident in their talents. None of them knows that at least two will eventually achieve literary immortality.

I think I was a little harsh on Mand’s play when it premiered in 2018. It doesn’t want to show where the Brontë’s works came from — how could you begin to depict the genesis of Emily’s impassioned, unusual Wuthering Heights? But it does capture the sacrifice and hard work that goes into artistic creation, especially when, as a woman, you’re expected to do so much else. It also nicely illustrates the bond that connects the three sisters, who are each so different and intimately know each other’s insecurities.

I wasn’t familiar with any of the actors, but they are as marvellously distinct as Alex Amini’s period costumes for them. Del Papa’s Charlotte is clearly the organized one — and the most worldly; Scott’s Emily is spontaneous, very quick to get emotional; Lucia’s Anne provides lots of comic relief as the youngest and most brutally frank.

I love a detail we get about Charlotte and Anne’s trip to London, in which they attended the opera. Maddie Bautista’s sound design evokes the unseen sounds of the Brontë men (usually upstairs) and some of the authors’ more famous lines, while some choral moments in which the sisters sing songs help the play in transition moments.

One highlight is a terrifically physical set piece (choreographer is Leah Wilton) in which Anne and Emily wrestle over a letter before Charlotte comes home. And I loved the quiet, understated way that Mand and Juvonen communicate the passage of time, when one sister is left at the end. (I defy you to stay dry-eyed during a rendition of “The Last Rose of Summer.”)

In a clever marketing move, the Guild Festival Theatre has branded its summer season the “Gothic Girl Summer.” Its second show, Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, begins performances in August. (Look for a feature here soon.)

If that ploy gets you to the east end to check out either work, then good. When so many outdoor theatre events focus on the Bard of Avon, it’s nice to have some refreshing, female-forward alternatives.

Brontë: The World Without continues at the Greek Theatre, Guild Park & Gardens (201 Guildwood Parkway) until August 2. Ticket info at guildfestivaltheatre.ca