Maxine Peake - star of stage, screen and radio, will visit Haworth on Saturday to perform readings of Charlotte Brontë’s novels Jane Eyre and Villette.
The actress will read at The Great Charlotte Brontë Debate, a highlight of this year’s Brontë Society summer festival weekend. A panel of writers, including biographer Claire Harman and novelist Joanne Harris, will form two teams each championing one of Charlotte’s best-known novels. The discussion will be chaired by novelist Tracy Chevalier - Brontë Parsonage Museum Creative Partner 2016 - and accompanied by selected readings from both books, read by Maxine.
Jenna Holmes, Arts Officer said:
“2016 is a very exciting year for the Museum, and this event is one of the highlights of Charlotte Brontë’s bicentenary programme. We have a passionate panel of writers to champion ‘Team Jane’ or ‘Team Lucy’ led by our Creative Partner Tracy Chevalier, and a performance by Maxine Peake will make it a very special evening indeed. We’re absolutely delighted that she is able to join us.”
One of the nation’s favourite actresses, Maxine Peake has had a prolific run of top quality television dramas in recent years; Silk, Criminal Justice, The Village, Hancock & Joan, Shameless. In 2015 she appeared in The Theory Of Everything alongside Eddie Redmayne. As a theatre actress, she has performed at some of the most prestigious theatres in the country, including the National Theatre, the West Yorkshire Playhouse and Royal Court. In 2014 Maxine took the title role in Hamlet at Manchester’s Royal Exchange in a “radical reimagining” of William Shakespeare's play and the theatre has recently announced that Maxine will play the role of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire as part of their autumn 2016 season.
A very limited number of tickets for the Great Charlotte Brontë Debate are still available by calling 01535 640188.