By Lauren Zazzara
Features assignment editor
Aquila Theatre, based in New York City, is bringing “Wuthering Heights” to the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts Sunday, Jan. 25 at 3 p.m.
The presentation is part of the 2014-15 Friends of Good Music season.
“The purpose of the performance series is to bring a variety of classical and world-music to the SBU campus and to the community from the surrounding areas, at affordable prices,” Ludwig Brunner, executive director of The Quick Center said. “To broaden the audience this year a theatre presentation was included as well.”
The performance is not one that many in this area will see. According to Brunner, “The internationally acclaimed Aquila Theatre Company is touring nationwide and production received excellent reviews on tour so far. St. Bonaventure is their only stop in Western New York.”
“Wuthering Heights,” Emily Brontë’s only novel, is a love story between Catherine and Heathcliff, whom Catherine’s father brings into the home. Heathcliff falls in love with Catherine, but Catherine marries another man. Heartbroken, Heathcliff runs away. When he returns, he must try to win Catherine over from her husband, Edgar.
The novel is a popular choice for required reading in high school. Reilly Dougherty, a freshman chemistry major, said she enjoyed the book.
“I enjoyed the doubles and foils that she worked into the story. She wrote a love story and then almost rewrote it using the same characters and the descendants of the initial characters. I thought that was really interesting.”
Dan Leopold, a sophomore history and journalism double major, said, “I liked the non-linear story line of the book. It was a lot different from other books of that period. It was by a female author and I really appreciated that because there weren’t a lot of those at that time.”
When a novel is translated into a play, audiences have expectations about how the play should be based on their ideas of the novel. Whether or not the play is successful depends on how well those expectations are met.
“I’d expect them to express characteristics within the actors… [and] the overall facial expressions that are described,” Dougherty said. “[Brontë] does a lot to describe what they look like and how they are different between body structure and how they carry themselves to show the parallels between the two stories.”
“I don’t know if the play can capture all of the emotions behind the narrator and the depth behind the narrator,” Leopold said. “All the things that happen outside of the action, all of the emotions that it expresses and all of the symbolism that it gives that weren’t spoken by characters, I don’t know how the play can express all that.”
The performance will be worthwhile for students to attend.
“Aquila Theatre is renowned for its ability to adapt works of classical literature into enthralling and mesmerizing live performances,” Brunner said. “Impeccable design and a unique physical style combine with a marvelous cast to make Wuthering Heights an exquisite and captivating theatrical experience.”
Tickets to the performance are $20, $16 for senior citizens and St. Bonaventure employees and $5 for students. Call the Quick Center at (716)375-2494 for tickets.
