After an exaggerated beginning, in which the visual of the wind blowing the novel’s narrator, Mr. Lockwood, about seems more important than getting on with a story, the Wise Children’s production of “Wuthering Heights” at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre settles into a clear, vivid telling of one of literature’s earliest and most involving soap operas: Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel set in the English mansion that gives the work its name.
Conceiver, adapter, and director Emma Rice uses every theatrical device imaginable — from dance to puppets and a chorus of commentators and agitators she calls “The Moors” — to show the passions and intrigues of the Earnshaw and Linton families and, particularly, the torrid, eternal, borderline tragic love between the foundling Heathcliff and the first and fastest friend he makes, Catherine Earnshaw.
Rice’s “Wuthering Heights” is strongest in its characterizations. Eleanor Sutton’s Catherine exudes the headstrong capriciousness, impulses, wildness, and longing for the bold that so much informs Brontë’s heroine. The first time we see Heathcliff (Ricardo Castro), he is cracking a whip and showing command of the estate we watch him acquire through cunning and ruthless determination.
But Rice also takes liberties and converts the novel’s integral relator of the love story, Ellen Dean, to the Leader of The Moors. Played with aplomb by Jordan Laviniere, “Nelly” elides some sequences, mostly for welcome and effective economy.
“Wuthering Heights” proves itself as being truly susceptible to theater. And audiences attending Rice’s rendition will have a full sense of Brontë’s intentions and see an accurate picture of Catherine’s free spirit and Heathcliff’s rough and vengeful manner.
I enjoyed watching the characters be their complete and well-drawn selves. I liked that Catherine and Heathcliff were allowed to show their abandon and that Isabelle Linton was as pathetic as I’ve always pictured her.
The production, which never stints at being visceral and gives large characters free rein to rage and lets weaker characters cower, was marvelous to behold.
The only thing that keeps Rice’s admirable, exciting production from being complete is a feeling of detachment.
While all one could ask from a dramatic rendition of “Wuthering Heights” was fulfilled, Rice’s production never moved me to shed a tear, feel righteous anger at mistreatment, or revel when Catherine and Heathcliff had the chance to demonstrate their instant and eternal attraction for each other.
Although I couldn’t take my eyes off of what Rice was doing and wanted to catch every nuance, the experience was cold.
Despite that, I loved all that Rice provided for her audience to see and the detail, particularly in terms of setting, that brought so much of Brontë’s work to vibrant life. That includes the casement frequently wheeled in to denote Catherine’s Wuthering Heights room and gave solidity and structure to an image I’d only imagined as a reader. And the ghostly Catherine at the window neatly made real what Lockwood describes on his first night at Wuthering Heights and what haunts Heathcliff — his ongoing longing for his beloved.
Eleanor Sutton is a magnificent Catherine. She has a dancer’s grace and a cat’s instinct when it comes to moving and lashing out in anger. Sutton’s is a Catherine full of life who wants to see and experience the fun of the world. She immediately lets you see the excitement and rush of adrenaline Catherine has when Heathcliff is near her, even when she’s angry and determined to be difficult with him.
Ricardo Castro is a commanding Heathcliff. You see his strength, and his haughtiness, from the production’s beginning. The whip in his hand only adds to that image.
In her brief time as the sickly Frances Earnshaw, Stephanie Hockley impresses by conveying how wrong a decision Catherine’s brother Hindley made by choosing her. Georgia Bruce brings color and texture to the deluded, unfortunate Isabelle Linton. And Tama Phethean wittily uses his size to show the stolidness and original denseness of one of the Earnshaws and then deftly humanizes him. (He also portrays another Earnshaw in decline).
Rice cannot resist an occasion to set “The Moors” dancing and singing. The group provided an atmosphere that showed the precariousness of the Yorkshire terrain, but the best moments came when Nelly leads the characters to the next part of the story.
In addition to turning Catherine’s window into a reality, set designer Vicki Mortimer did a thorough job with settings that were often rolled off minutes after they arrived. Mortimer provided a view of Wuthering Heights, particularly its decaying entrance, and the contrasting comfort of the Lintons’ Thrushcross Grange.
McCarter, in the Sara Rasmussen era, seems given to the big and the theatrical. Productions Rasmussen directed have been big, complex, and full of movement. Rice’s “Wuthering Heights” fits the paradigm Rasmussen has established. Its many parts fascinate because they either depict characters living naturally, going about their business, or inhabiting their homes in ways that look routine, or showing their range and depth of feeling. This is theater, writ large, and it quite fulfilling when all coalesces as well as it does in “Wuthering Heights.”
Wuthering Heights, McCarter Theatre, 91 University Place, Princeton, through Sunday, March 12, Wednesday and Thursday, 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m. $25 to $60. 609-258-2787 or www.mccarter.org.
