Love, Loss, and Laughter: Emma Rice on her adaptation of WUTHERING HEIGHTS
Emma Rice’s critically acclaimed production of Wuthering Heights is set to captivate Australian audiences in 2025, with an exclusive and limited three-week season at the Roslyn Packer Theatre, Sydney, from January 31. This extraordinary adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic, co-produced by Wise Children, the National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, and York Theatre Royal, will feature many of the original London cast in their celebrated roles.
This adaptation of Wuthering Heights reimagines Emily Brontë’s gothic masterpiece with a bold, theatrical flair. The story follows the intense and turbulent relationship between Heathcliff, a foundling taken in by the Earnshaw family, and Catherine Earnshaw, whose love for Heathcliff defies social norms but ultimately leads to devastation. Rice’s version infuses the dark tale with humour, live music, and a striking ensemble style, transforming the moors into a character in their own right and emphasising themes of obsession, revenge, and the enduring impact of love and loss.
Emma, the Artistic Director of Wise Children, is an internationally acclaimed theatre-maker celebrated for her bold and imaginative productions. At Wise Children, she has adapted and directed works such as The Buddha of Suburbia, Blue Beard, Wuthering Heights, and Romantics Anonymous. Her tenure as Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe included acclaimed productions like Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Previously, as Joint Artistic Director of Kneehigh, Emma directed celebrated works such as Brief Encounter, Tristan & Yseult, The Red Shoes, and The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk. Recognised for her exceptional contributions, she received the Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre award in 2019 and was named one of Sky Arts’ 50 most influential British artists of the last 50 years in 2022.
Can you tell us about your background in theatre?
Emma: I always knew I wanted to work in theatre. As a child I loved nothing more than dressing up, creating dances and putting on plays in my bedroom. My mum and dad took me and my sister to the theatre from an early age, and these outings were some of our happiest times as a family. We’d put on our best clothes and there was a palpable sense of excitement. It was intoxicating. I hold onto this memory, and hope that my audiences might feel the same heady thrill in anticipation of one of my shows. I didn’t study Drama at school – I was smart enough to know that it would be far too embarrassing for a shy, chubby 13-year-old. However, at 16 I went to a local college where I took a low level practical theatre course. It was the making of me. We were a mixed group who met in a dilapidated ‘Drama Hut’ and were largely left alone to play. We threw ourselves into it; writing, stage management, lighting, sound, costumes, design. We all tried everything – but it was acting that was my passion. At 18, I went to The Guildhall School of Music and Drama to train as an actor; I learnt the tools of my trade and developed a keen work ethic. However, I never quite felt I had been ‘seen’. I remember wishing that someone would notice me, see what I was capable of…. But largely, they didn’t! I entered the profession a fairly unremarkable young woman dreaming of playing Juliet at the RSC. The RSC didn’t call, but I started telling stories to the under 11s. Here, in these smelly school halls, I learnt my passion and talent for telling stories. From there I joined Kneehigh Theatre and stayed for 25 years. With them I was nurtured and seen in ways that seem almost miraculous to me now. I grew from actor to choreographer, choreographer to director and eventually, director to Artistic Director. I set up Wise Chjildren in 2018 and with this company have been able to combine all my passions and make the work of my dreams freely and joyfully!
Could you share the initial inspiration behind choosing this particular story, and describe some of the challenges involved in bringing such an intense novel to life on stage?
Emma: This might be a long answer! My relationship with Wuthering Heights started in my childhood. There was a family trip to the Yorkshire Moors where it was decided that we would try and find Top Withens; the house said to have inspired Wuthering Heights. I recall my mum saying “One day you will love Wuthering Heights and remember that you came here and saw it with your own eyes”. She was right. I did remember that day and when I finally read the book as a teenager everything fell into place. I lost my best friend to Leukemia when I was 12 and, in a deep mess of secret sorrow I became a gothic punk as soon as I left school. I dyed my hair blue and wore black. Clothed in this armour I strutted into sixth form and discovered Wuthering Heights for myself. How could I resist a world filled with ghosts, betrayals and passions? I loved its drama and its intrigue but most of all I loved a story that spanned not only generations – but life and death. Emily Brontë felt death everywhere and understood loss as sharply as I felt my own. Then life happened and I forgot about the book for decades. Then, in 2016, I was horrified by scenes from Calais refugee camp and enraged by the negotiations about how many unaccompanied children the UK was willing to take. Something triggered in my brain. Wasn’t Heathcliff an unaccompanied child? On a fresh adult reading I realised that Wuthering Heights was not a romance – it was a tragedy; a tragedy of what might happen if, as individuals as well as a society, we allow cruelty to take hold. This production of Wuthering Heights is woven from the talent, passion, truth and experience of all who have contributed to the show. Rich with humanity, it holds our own stories, our losses, hopes, fears and dreams. Made with love, this is a Revenge Tragedy for our time and one that warns how our actions today will affect the world for decades to come. I said it would be a long answer!
In bringing Wuthering Heights to an Australian audience, is there a particular impact you hope to leave, and how do you envision it resonating with viewers here?
Emma: Sadly, I believe the story is still urgently relevant. The number of applications from unaccompanied children still in need of asylum in the UK today shocks me. And that’s just the ones we know about – how many others have vanished into dark corners of Europe and the UK, lost to traffickers and abusers? Sadly, this issue is not isolated to the UK and Europe. This is a frightening matter that almost everyone around the world recognises. I have used this production to suggest that, perhaps, if we choose to seed compassion and kindness, we might have a fighting chance of creating a future filled with hope rather than fear. I think Australian audiences will enjoy the radical freewheeling of this production. It is fun, theatrical and emotionally complex. It challenges and charms and weaves a profound (and deeply punk rock) spell!
When adapting Brontë’s novel, which elements did you feel were crucial to maintain, and where did you feel the freedom to innovate?
Emma: I felt very free to innovate. Brontë is out of copyright and, besides that, anyone who loves the book can still read it. I wasn’t planning to damage anything, so I worked freely and joyfully. Yes, I used much of Brontë’s glittering dialogue. Why not? It was one of the reasons I wanted to make this piece. I didn’t feel Emily Brontë hovering over me. I felt I was working with her and that it was a pure and joyful collaboration! I knew from the beginning that I wanted this production to be epic – and the book’s narrator Nelly Dean is quite domestic. I cut this character, overlayed the form of a Greek tragedy and created a chorus of The Yorkshire Moors. It is The Moors that tell the story of Wuthering Heights in my production. Singing and dancing as one, they warn us that “A Scatter of yellow stars might seem to welcome hope, but the adder slides beneath”. This production is epic, the characters superhuman. I wanted the characters to feel like gods, and they do! We renamed Catherine, Heathcliff and Hareton the Gods of Chaos, Revenge and Hope. If they could, they would blast the roof off the theatre!
What’s your process for selecting pieces to adapt, and what advice would you give other directors looking to breathe new life into well-loved stories?
Emma: Choose something that you love! Choose something that speaks to you personally, something that surprises you and illuminates your understanding of life. Then, when you have chosen it, forget it! Let the ideas and dreams form and swirl freely. Find the unusual and poetic and be brave. I think it’s important to treat the source as a story, not as a text. By doing this, you’ll find that the landscape of choices gently alters. There is no need for reverence, just invention and care. Lastly, don’t be scared. It’s just a story and you have every right to understand, enjoy and change it. I think of myself as one in a long line of storytellers, re-telling tales for this moment and for this changing community. I think Sydney is going to fall in love with Wuthering Heights, rich and delicious with all its wild and wobbly passions!
Wuthering Heights plays at Sydney’s Roslyn Packer Theatre from January 2025.
For tickets and more information, visit wutheringheightsaustralia.com
