An Appropriate Cultural Event

Wednesday 28 September


Still the sun shines. When it was very cold and wet and on our very first visit to Lancaster we booked to see a play at the Dukes Theatre. So rather than going out walking, we went to Lancaster. Brian cleaned up his email while I had a look at the shops – still haven’t found some suitable wine glasses- then lunch at the Dukes café We were amused – it got very busy, and one of the staff told some people that it might be better if they went somewhere else. This reminded us of Jim Baker when he had the take away food shop and in reply to a request for chips, the customer was told, “go across the road – we don’t do chips here – they are too messy”!


The play entitled “We are Three Sisters” tells the Bronte story. According to Charlotte’s biography, these are the words she used when she and Ann visited Charlotte’s publisher in London. They had to put the record straight when the unscrupulous publisher of Emily and Anne’s books created a rumour that their three books were the work of one man. As with most female authors in the 19th century, the Bronte sisters adopted male pseudonyms. Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell which were the names under which the first editions of Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and the Tenant of Wildfell Hall were published.


It was an excellent production and we both enjoyed it. The inevitable school group came to the matinee and I started chatting to one of the girls who sat next to me. Her name appropriately enough is Charlotte and she told me that her class is doing a project which involves a play that highlights the true to life aspects of the Bronte sisters taken from the biographies, and used by them in their novels. Sounds to me like a fun way of learning creative writing and analytic skills at the same time.