Brontës (1975)

Author:
New Play:

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Music:
Bob Eaton & Peter Clough
Yes

Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre
Lecture Room, Scarborough Library
Thrust

22 September 1975
22 September 1975
31 October 1975

Bob Eaton
Helga Wood
Bob Eaton
Peter Clough
Stage Manager:
Deputy Stage Manager:
Assistant Stage Manager:
David Millard
Kevin Wood
Wendy Murray
Character
Anne Bronte
Charlotte Bronte
Emily Bronte
Branwell Bronte
Patrick Bronte
Maria Branwell / Elizabeth Branwell / Tabitha Ackroyd / Ellen Nussey
Rev Carus Wilson / Tom Spring /
William Weightman / Railway Director / George Gooch
William Robinson / Robert Southey / Francis Henry Grundy / Doctor
Actor
Alison Skilbeck
Janet Dale
Polly Warren
Malcolm Hebden
Christopher Godwin
Wendy Murray


Stephen Mallatratt


Kevin Wood

Why is this play significant?

The first of several plays produced by the company over the decades looking at the lives of the Brönte sisters; of which, Anne famously died in Scarborough. More significantly, it marked the acting debut of Malcolm Hebden with the company, who would go on to play a vital role in the development of the company over the next 21 years including a role as Associate Director.

Notes

Brontës was written to coincide with a Brontë Festival being held in Scarborough in 1975.
The play is occasionally incorrectly referred to as The Brontës in publications about theatre in the round's history.
This production marked the debut of Malcolm Hebden with the company who would later go on to become Associate Director of the company from 1990 - 1996.
During the 1974 and 1975 winter seasons at Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre, Scarborough, the Library Committee did not make the venue's Concert Room available; this room being where Theatre in the Round at the Library Theatre had been based since 1955. In its place, a smaller room on the same floor - the Lecture Room - was offered but which could not incorporate theatre-in-the-round with productions performed three-sided (thrust).
All research for this page by Simon Murgatroyd.