Wuthering Heights: Summer outdoor tour of Emily Bronte’s classic story comes to Bishop’s Stortford
A touring open-air production of Wuthering Heights is coming to Bishop’s Stortford this month in a spellbinding fusion of classic literature and atmospheric outdoor theatre.
Audiences can experience a haunting rendition of Emily Brontë’s 1847 timeless masterpiece in two performances at Bishop’s Stortford College on Sunday July 21.
It is presented by Broadway World award-winning and OFFIE-nominated Midnight Circle Productions, and is directed by Nicholas Benjamin, who was raised in Stortford.
Nick, who will be 33 two days after the Stortford performances, attended Birchwood High School from 2002 to 2009. His parents, Charlie and Janice Smith, still live in Thorley.
He attended the former Snap youth theatre in Stortford and played the leads in Blood Brothers and Dracula.
Nick also appeared in South Mill Arts productions by Stortford-based theatre company Contexture, run by Simon Anderson and Gailie Pollock. He played Sir Andrew in Twelfth Night, Mason in Journey’s End, both in 2014, and Jacob Ward in The Ghost of Chesterton House (2018).
He is directing a cast of nine for Wuthering Heights, led by Renny Mendoza as Heathcliff and Niamh Handley-Vaughan as Catherine. Nick himself plays Mister Lockwood, and the rest are Miles Blanch as Edgar Linton, Nadia Lamin as Isabella Linton, Oscar Mackie as Hindley Earnshaw, Lara Deering as Young Cathy, Sam Bird as Hareton and Jacqueline Johnson as Nelly Dean.
Set against captivating backdrops, this passionate retelling promises an immersive journey into the depths of love, obsession and the wild beauty of nature.
The production brings to life the tumultuous tale of Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, weaving a narrative of desire, revenge and the haunting echoes of the past.
As the sun sets over the College grounds, audiences will be transported to the windswept Yorkshire moors, where love and loss collide in a whirlwind of emotion accompanied by movement, music and immersive elements.
Nick said: “Wuthering Heights is known as one of the greatest love stories ever told, and while I’m not disputing that accolade, I often feel that it falls a little short of doing the text justice.
“Yes, there’s love, but there’s also lust, betrayal, pain and vengeance, all wrapped up in the mystical spirituality that is the moors.
“Cathy and Heathcliff are so much more than ill-fated lovers. They’re elemental. A burning fire constantly on the brink of destroying each other.”
Wuthering Heights will be performed at Bishop’s Stortford College on Sunday July 21 at 1pm and 6pm. Tickets priced at £20 are available online at https://www.outsavvy.com/event/20325/wuthering-heights-bishops-stortford-college-hertfordshire#anchor.
