Review: Underdog: The Other, Other Brontë at Northern Stage
Sisterhood, love, jealousy and legacy are the poignant themes which make up Underdog: The Other, Other Brontë starring Leeds's star of stage and screen Gemma Whelan
Northern Stage’s Stage One has been transformed into the Yorkshire Moors with a circle of pretty purple heather when we take our seats, but this show starts unconventionally (as the best Northern Stage co-productions do) with Charlotte (the fabulous Gemma Whelan) entering the audience with no introduction, asking those on the right-hand side of the room to share their favourite Brontë book. ‘Jane Eyre,’ someone quickly chirps – obviously having read their programme.
Charlotte heads to the stage to tell her story with the first F-bomb of many (it’s a curse-heavy script). That pretty ‘high waving heather’ set is quickly raised (and sadly never lowered) revealing a Hamilton-style rotating stage which from now on is cleverly utilised, allowing cast members and props to enter and leave seamlessly.
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We quickly learn this is Charlotte’s story – well, confession actually – about how she, the eldest sister, became an idol, and how Anne (the youngest, and author of Agnes Grey) became the third sister – The Other Other Brontë, if you will.
Laced with quips and jibes (one aimed at Jane Austen for getting her face on a banknote and many sticking it to the man), the script is clever and Gemma delivers her lines with gusto. Joined by a stuttering and timid Anne (Rhiannon Clements) and a boisterous Emily (Adele James), Charlotte shares where the inspiration came from for their forever-loved stories, how their male pen-names were the making and could’ve been the breaking of them, and how (no matter what happened between the three sisters and their brother) Charlotte was always determined to be ‘forever known’.
While the one-liners and swears bring laughter to the audience throughout what is a pretty heart-wrenching tale, the ensemble (who also play various male characters) bring plenty of humour too – their playful costumes are great fun!
Very little is known about the sisters themselves, although their stories have been told over and over. But this play tells us it was Anne who came up with the idea for the pseudonyms (whilst Charlotte supposedly took the credit for that), and it’s suggested that Charlotte envied Anne’s looks and seemingly charming personality (whilst romanticising her Agnes Grey character to come up with the idea of Jane Eyre). A maternal figure and determined rival, we begin to love to hate narrator Charlotte. We just wish we’d heard a little more from Emily, who’s off-stage a little too often for our liking.
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The second act is half the length of the first but jam-packed with scenes from London (finally featuring the disco ball we spotted hanging from the ceiling in the first act) and heart-felt and emotively performed conversations between the sisters, as well as the deaths of Branwell, Emily and then of course Anne.
Whilst the spotlight appears to have been on Charlotte throughout (with consistent fourth wall breaks), the light is now shone on us, the audience, in the final scenes as we’re accused of being judgmental (us? Never!). It’s food for thought. What we feel, like, dislike and say about the Brontës and their work is far more a reflection of us than it is of them. Whether some of the claims about the sisters that Sarah Gordon has made in her script are true or not, Underdog is a visually exciting production with a strong script that any literary or theatre buff would (and certainly did in this case) applaud.
