Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is an iconic saga novel of betrayal, lust, revenge, jealousy and ultimately an extremely dysfunctional love story with the two main protagonists Heathcliff & Cathy mercilessly tormenting each other. The U2 quote “can’t live with or without you” could most definitely have been written with these two in mind.
Many purists of the novel would argue there are far too many intricacies spanning a few decades all of which cannot be covered in a stage or screen adaption of this classic. However David Nixon OBE (Artistic Director of Northern Ballet) brings us his spectacular depiction of this rich tapestry of a tale. With Golden Globe winner & Oscar nominee Claude- Michael Schonberg providing the delicious haunting score, this partnership packs a delightful punch within the first minute.
Focusing on the doomed relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff, Nixon gives us characters we not only care about but fall in love with. The production starts with young brother and sister Hindley and Cathy (who’s played by Rachel Gillespie in early scenes as a youngster). Home life is rudely disrupted when their much-loved father returns from a trip with a young scruffy urchin boy named Heathcliff (Jeremy Curner) in tow.
Hindley takes an instant dislike to the new arrival, mostly due to the fact that his father dotes on the boy but Cathy quickly warms to him, intrigued by the seemingly feral child. Hindley grows increasingly hostile towards Heathcliff and when his father dies sets out to make the foundling’s life a living hell.
With the barren & eerie back drop (set designed by Ali Allen) and the score pounding, the scene is beautifully set for the rambling North Yorkshire moors on which Heathcliff & Cathy’s unhealthy obsession with each other is played out. It’s on the moors that some of the show’s most intense, goosebump-inducing scenes occur including a lift that made me gasp and had me automatically raising a hand to my mouth.
The outstanding Tobias Batley plays our grown up hero with devilish grace giving us a man that is brooding, angry, passionate, vulnerable and at times very cruel. Martha Talbot Is red hot, captivating and sensual as adult Cathy, playing her as the mixed pot of contradiction we know and love.
Delicate yet fiesty, devoted to Heathcliff but easily swayed into the arms of another (Linton played with exquisite elegance by Guiliano Contadini) who can offer the stability that Cathy yearns for even if it is for financial & social standing. This of course sends Heathcliff further onto the course of revenge against all those who’ve wronged him.
After seeking his fortune far from home and returning clothed in finery, he sets about seducing Linton’s naive sister Isabella (played by the beautifully charming Hannah Bateman) we as the audience are uncomfortable viewers of an intense and thoroughly graphic domestic violence scene. When Cathy finds out that Heathcliff is now with Isabella she is overcome with jealousy and in a fit of rage flees to the stark unforgiving moors where a storm is brewing.
It is here that her last encounter with her one true love Heathcliff occurs. Sadly her health deteriorates due to the harsh storm and she loses her fight for life. This in turn sends our antihero over the edge and in the last painfully poignant scene, Heathcliff is seen clawing at the ground a broken man trying to unearth poor Cathy’s grave on the moors, a real tearjerker.
The man we have all loved and hated in equal measures finally lets go of his bitter hold on life. The final fantastic scene sees the young Cathy and Heathcliff dance playfully across the moors with childlike enthusiasm holding us the audience tight in their grip as the tears flowed . Northern Ballet have the enviable ability to make this art form totally accessible. This phenomenal production will delight the seasoned ballet fan & engage the ballet novices.
Reviewed by Amanda Wignall on 17 November 2015, Alhambra Theatre, Bradford. See www.northernballet.com for details of current productions.