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Sibling rivalry is at the heart of this deliciously salty play written by Sarah Gordon with the lives of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë brought to life on stage.
This is a co-production between Northern Stage and the National Theatre and fresh from its London run, the cast and crew have brought the wilds of the Yorkshire Moors to Newcastle.
Superbly played by Gemma Whelan, Charlotte is the eldest of the sisters and she uses that status to dominate her siblings. But they are all fiercely talented and ambitious, meaning sisterhood is often cast aside as they battle to gain respect and recognition as writers in a man’s world.
Charlotte opens the show, clad in a long flame-red dress and black boots, walking amongst the audience asking for their favourite Brontë novel. She immediately sets out her stall as the heavyweight of the clan. Leeds-born Whelan, best known for television roles in Game of Thrones and Upstart Crow, is a huge presence on stage throughout the whole play.
The play’s title refers to Anne, the youngest of the trio and perhaps least known sister, despite her having written Agnes Gray and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Anne used her time working as a governess as inspiration for Agnes Gray with themes of isolation and oppression running throughout the novel. Played beautifully by Rhiannon Clements, Anne may be the youngest and most timid but she is also astute and quietly dogged in her pursuit for writing acclaim.
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Indeed it is her suggestion that the sisters write under a male pseudonym in a bid to see their novels published. They are duly published as the Bell brothers and while their true identities are soon uncovered, it gets them recognised as writers. Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte, was published under her pen name of Currer Bell with Anne writing as Acton and Emily as Ellis.
Emily, played by Adele James, is the most straightforward and no-nonsense of the sisters but she is often overlooked as Charlotte rages against the talents of Anne. Throughout the play she is certainly on stage less than her sisters meaning we get to learn less about her in the family dynamic.
Mention has to go to Grace Smart whose set and costume design is just exquisite. The opening of the play sees the stage transformed into the Yorkshire Moors and as Charlotte strides on after her interaction with the audience she stands amid the moorland before it rises above her and suspends high above with the tangled roots hanging from the bowyer. It makes for a brooding atmosphere as the sisters’ story unfolds. The revolving stage allows for fluid movement and is used to great effect as the cast glides in and out of sight.
Away from the three main characters, the supporting cast are men but they are rightly relegated to bit players in this female-centred play. Brontë brother Branwell, played by James Phoon, is a hard-drinking wannabe artist whose wayward antics are a constant source of disappointment for their vicar father at the Haworth Parsonage.
The ensemble of actors Nick Blakeley, Adam Donaldson, Kwaku Mills and Julian Moore-Cook take on a variety of roles with Blakeley’s comic timing perfectly shown off in his roles as novelist and biographer Elizabeth Gaskell and Mrs Ingham who employs Anne as a governess.
The play is fast paced and Director, Natalie Ibu, was clear she wanted to direct it immediately after reading Sarah Gordon’s script. She says: “It has such charisma as it introduces us to the women behind the iconic Brontë name.”
It is refreshing that the sisters are allowed to show unlikable traits. They are jealous, scheming and ruthless in their ambitions. They love each other but they are also fallible human beings. The enduring mark the sisters have left on the world of literature is unquestionable - something Charlotte dreamed of as she penned her first novel. What talent and tenacity they all had.
There is much levity in Underdog and the liberal sprinkling of swearing gives the Victorian setting an injection of modernity - Poet Laureate Robert Southey is called a ‘bell end’ by the sisters when he dismisses Charlotte’s desire to write insisting she undertake pursuits deemed more suited to the fairer sex.
The packed Northern Stage theatre obviously loved the performance and as the cast took their bows, Gemma Whelan was visibly moved by the applause.
Underdog: The Other Other Brontë runs until Saturday, 22 June. It is a gem of a production and it is great to see it performed in the North East.
Northern Stage has a varied programme of events linked to the play. You can check out the full programme HERE
Header Image: Gemma Whelan as Charlotte Brontë
