Withering Looks 1998

The National Institute for Bringing History to Life Society present this Brontes Classic.

“They sing, dance and even create their own wind machine…
one day I confidently expect them to fly”

Evening Standard

“A torrid tale of female passion”
Bristol Evening Post

“Withering on and on. Return visit of an old favourite”
York Evening Post

SYNOPSIS:

Professional actress Olivia and Society volunteer Audrey present Withering Looks, an authentic insight into the lives and work of the Bronte sisters. Featuring Charlotte and Emily Bronte. Anne Bronte has just popped out for a cup of sugar and is not on stage.

Withering Looks is our most famous show. We got the idea when visiting the Brontë Parsonage in 1988. Chatting to people in the queue, they happily informed us that one of the sisters was called Jane Eyre and she wrote Pride and Prejudice. We were enchanted with Haworth village which was like a theme park, the hairdressers was called Jane Hair, you could buy a Heathcliff Knickerbocker Glory or have a curry at the Brontë Balti. The Parsonage gift shop was full of treats such as a Brontë pac a mac, a Wuthering Heights pencil sharpener. So Withering Looks was born, a spoof of the British heritage industry. We were terrified the Parsonage would see the show and close us down. They came to a performance at the Library Theatre, Manchester and loved it and several collaborations followed, including a film shot in the Parsonage in 2016, as part of Charlotte’s bicentenary, where Sue got to hold Emily Brontë’s dog’s collar! Get in! The show won a Manchester Evening News Theatre award, the Critics Award for Comedy at the Edinburgh Festival 1992 and two US productions were mounted.

Tiddles : Withering Looks