Wuthering Heights (Roslyn Packer) ★★★★

Adapted by Emma Rice (from the novel by Emily Brontë). Roslyn Packer Theatre. 31 Jan – 15 Feb 2025.

Iconic and iconoclastic, British director Emma Rice’s Wuthering Heights hits Sydney like a gale-force wind whipping across the moors. Three hours long, darkly funny, with musical interludes and a fourth-wall-breaking genealogy lesson, it lives up to Rice’s reputation for bold, entertaining, and unusual theatre. It’s unfortunate that no one seems to be turning up!

When I saw Wuthering Heights, a few days after its opening but early in its three-week run, things looked dire. Despite a host of four-star, very positive reviews, the Roslyn Packer was barely one-quarter full. Is it a lack of interest or a lack of advertising that’s scaring people away from this admittedly challenging show? Or is it bad timing—at the end of the Sydney Festival, even the most adventurous theatre-goer might be tired and cash-strapped? Either way, it was sad to see. Thankfully, the cast didn’t seem dampened by the lack of local enthusiasm—the show was fantastic!

This Wuthering Heights has a very literary and sly sense of humour that is disarming (not unlike the musical Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of some year I can’t remember). It takes a fraught, insanely toxic romance and unapologetically points out all its faults. Heathcliff and Catherine are simply the worst people you’re likely to meet. A quick primer at the start reminds us that many of the characters have very similar names, and most end up dead. “What did you expect?” asks the ensemble with a shrug.

Don’t come looking for a literal presentation of the gothic text. Emma Rice has deconstructed the staging, reducing the grand houses to an odd door or window, always letting the outside world into the space. Two simple wooden chairs have been converted into animalistic thrones, adorned with antlers and lights. The band—this is a play with songs—sits at the rear, always in view. When the cast aren’t on stage, they spend most of their time watching from chairs just off to the side, joining in as a “Greek chorus.” The characters speak directly to the audience—there is no pretence of a fourth wall.

John Leader’s Heathcliff is cold and cruel, yet highly engaging. Stephanie Hockley’s Catherine is manic and unpredictable. Their “love” is more toxic than a Coalition energy policy. For me, Nandi Bhebne (as the leader of The Moors, the show’s Greek chorus) was the key. She holds the audience’s hand, acts as a moral compass, and drives the story along. Her “three years later” dance was one of the show’s funniest little moments. Rebecca Collingwood plays pure comedy, both as the young Isabella Hilton and Hilton Heathcliff.

Ian Ross’s music taps into a dark, folk-rock space that reminded me of Tori Amos and Fiona Apple (though that may just be my age speaking). Vicki Mortimer’s costumes play with classic silhouettes in recycled and patchwork fabrics, while her set ingeniously works wonders with suggestion.

I believe Emma Rice is one of the best theatre-makers to come out of the UK in the last 20-30 years. Her adaptation of Brief Encounter (which toured here in 2013) is stunning. She gave Cynthia Erivo one of her first major roles in an adaptation of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (my friend Alan’s favourite show). And her adaptation of Romantics Anonymous is one of my all-time favourite musicals (would someone please produce it here? It’d be perfect for the Hayes!). She blew through Shakespeare’s Globe like a breath of fresh air (and was sacked for it—oh, the theatre drama). While I don’t think this Wuthering Heights is quite up there with her best work, it’s still a great example of a fierce creative mind at work.

If you’re a theatre-maker, go see Wuthering Heights immediately—it’ll expand your horizons just a bit more. If you’re a theatre-lover, go for the invention and fresh take on a classic. If you’re a more casual theatre-goer, I’d say give it a shot—it may be a bit too much for some (a few people didn’t return after the interval when I went), but cheap rush tickets seem easy to get at this stage. If you’re a purist of the book, well, it’s hit and miss whether you’ll enjoy this radical take on the material. But either way, no one I know is making theatre like this, on this scale, in Australia, so let’s enjoy it while we can.