06.05.2009

Swapping icy wastes for scalding Rajasthani heat

Jim Moody reviews Wuthering Heights (director: Kristine Landon-Smith). At Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, until May 23

Although some of the comments  about this play have suggested that Wuthering Heights is merely an inchoate mix of Bollywood extravaganza and late 18th century Yorkshire, this is a superficial view and misses a fascinating transposition that in fact carries Emily Brontë’s original storyline exceptionally well. Indeed, its Gothic and supernatural elements lend themselves to this particular mode of retelling.

Much literary criticism has been levelled at Emily Brontë’s work since it first appeared in 1847 under the pseudonym ‘Ellis Bell’ (it was published under her real name posthumously by her sister, Charlotte). This has largely centred on what has been categorised as the novel’s poor structure and incompleteness, yet the holes some see in Wuthering Heights are, rather, striking hiatuses that mark it out as a novel many years ahead of its time.

While Charlotte found that her conventionality was challenged by what she decried as the work’s relentless and implacable nature, she was honest enough to declare that when reading it, “We seem at times to breathe lightning.” In fact, much of the novel’s richness and pleasure for the modern reader depends precisely on its multi-layered narrative and a complex structure that nonetheless moves steadily on to doom and denouement. Its non-linear narrative and use of flashbacks evoke cinema-like tropes nowadays familiar to everyone on the planet: 160 years ago it must have seemed altogether too outré to be at all easily accepted.

In this Tamasha production, the highs and lows of the novel come to life in an amazing way, accompanied by a variety of songs - some of which, it has to be said, are more memorable than others. For those familiar with the output of Bombay’s film industry this might be a disappointment, but this play is not about attempting a screen version on stage: it is an altogether more immediate and affecting experience. However, this is not primarily a musical, but an entertaining telling of a tale that can relate to a wide range of life’s experience, which is why this manifestation of it works.

Although there is a liberal sprinkling of Hindi words and phrases throughout the piece, scriptwriter Deepak Verma (who played market trader Sanjay in Eastenders) has ensured that any intelligent British theatregoer can enter fully into the spirit of the venture. If those at the first performance are anything to go by, the Lyric’s audiences will be well able to appreciate the humour, human foibles, romance and tragedy on show here.

Characters from the novel have become characters in the play, with but a change of name to reflect the change of geography; the societal relationships are surprisingly similar. So it is that in Cathy’s place we have the irrepressible Shakuntala (Youkti Patel) and instead of Cathy’s old nurse, Nelly Dean, we have Rina Fatania’s magnificent Ayah. Heathcliff here gives way to Krishan, admirably played by Pushpinder Chani. And, while there is no bible-thumping manservant, as in the novel, we do have a Muslim chowkidar who abjures alcohol and keeps berating the unbelievers (Hindus) around him for their godlessness. Plus ça change.

So the playmates Shakuntala and adopted Krishan grow up. But she proves fickle and chooses to marry her Edgar Linton, the aristocratic Changoo (Divian Ladwa), breaking Krishan’s heart. But when he returns after a few years his wealth and power is a match for her husband’s.

Shakuntala is again torn, while Krishan is implacable in his pursuit of her. As to her brother, Hari (Anil Kumar), who had turned upon Krishan upon his father’s death, revenge is sweet, or maybe bittersweet: Krishan takes advantage of the wastrel son and heir’s fall and becomes his personal tyrant. Krishan marries Hari’s sister and makes her life hell to punish him remotely. He really is a horror.

Unlike the novel, though, the end is romantic and fanciful, in much more of a Bollywood style. Although Shakuntala dies after falling very ill, Krishan joins her in death, their long wait to be together redeemed at last.

Swapping the icy wastes of the wintry Yorkshire moors for the scalding heat of Rajasthan’s deserts is not so fanciful after all. Human beings existing in adversity, their trials and tribulations set out for us to draw upon, class and caste exposed for the tawdry chains they are - director Kristine Landon-Smith and her cast and crew have succeeded in carrying the spirit of Emily Brontë’s creation to another time and place, allowing us to enjoy a layered experience of it anew.