The brutality and imbalance of life lived as a woman in 1840s Britain is writ large, as three soon-to-be-renowned sisters, make a pact to write their novels as one mask under the brotherly pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. No-one, not even the Brontës themselves could have predicted the success of their bid to hoodwink publishers and finally (albeit by deception) become representative female ‘voices in the room’ of Victorian society.
Kwaku Mills (Ensemble), Rhiannon Clements (Anne Brontë), Gemma Whelan (Charlotte Brontë) and Nick Blakeley (Ensemble) in Underdog: The Other Other Brontë at the National Theatre (c) Isha Shah
