Wuthering Heights revisited

Charlotte Talbot stars as Cathy with Jonathan Ollivier in Northern Ballet Theatre's original production of Wuthering Heights.

It's a timeless tale of obsessive love that's captured the imagination and tugged on the heart-strings of generations of romantics. Set against the brooding backdrop of the Yorkshire Moors, Emily Brontë's classic Wuthering Heights tells the story of Cathy and Heathcliffe. It's been told many times on screen, and back in 2002, Northern Ballet Theatre's then newly-appointed artistic director David Nixon collaborated with renowned composer Claude-Michel Schönberg, well-known for his West End hits Les Miserables and Miss Saigon, to bring the story to the stage.

It's become a popular piece in NBT's repertoire, and this autumn it's being re-staged as part of the company's 40th anniversary celebrations.

On Tuesday the tour arrives at Norwich Theatre Royal, a venue which has long had links with NBT.

And former principal dancer Charlotte Talbot, who originally created the role of Cathy, has returned, this time working behind the scenes.

It's a ballet that is special to Charlotte in more ways than one. Not only did she get the chance to play one of literature's great romantic heroines, but she also met Claude-Michel, who became her husband.

“It's interesting for a dancer to go on the other side of the wall,” Charlotte says. “You have to know everything about the production - before I just had to know my part, but with this you have to deal with the bigger picture. When you re-stage the show you have to start from scratch and fit it all back together.”

And she's pleased with the result.

“It was a lot of hard work and we didn't have very long to re-stage it, but I think the dancers have really taken it to the next level,” she says. “I really enjoyed it. Hopefully I will be able to do something similar again.”

Charlotte danced with Northern Ballet Theatre for more than a decade. She started dance lessons when she was just three years old.

“And I just kept going,” she laughs. “When I was about eight I got to do ballet exams. I remember saying when I was about 10, and I'm not sure what started it, that I wanted to be a ballet dancer. And I never changed my mind. My family looked at me like I'd gone mad. We're not a theatrical family at all. But I never doubted it, even though there were so many obstacles in the way.”

Ballet is a very demanding and competitive career, which Charlotte describes as being like permanently in training for a marathon.

“I think it just requires self-discipline. In the case of Northern Ballet Theatre you do a show nearly every evening. It's a career for when you're young, a bit like football. It's rare for dancers to continue to 40. They tend to retire between 30 and 40. You really have to love what you're doing,” she says.

Now retired herself, with a four-year-old daughter, she looks back on her time with NBT with great fondness.

“For me it was the highlight of my career to create leads of roles. It was a really great experience because it was like working for three different companies under the different artistic directors who were there when I was.”

Are there any characters in particular which she enjoyed playing?

“I've got a real soft spot for Cathy. It's a very demanding ballet, physically and emotionally. You've really got to portray the love story and make it realistic. It's exhausting.

“I like really emotional characters. I also really enjoyed playing Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire. It was very difficult in a different way. The emotion was the same, but it was more contemporary. I tend to prefer that emotional nitty gritty. I never really go to see things that are light-hearted - I want to cry,” she says.

And does Charlotte think that her daughter might follow in her footsteps?

“She loves dancing. She's forever dancing. But all little girls like it, so I don't really know. I wouldn't stop her doing it,” she says.

Northern Ballet Theatre's Wuthering Heights is at Norwich Theatre Royal from Tuesday to Saturday, September 29 to October 3. Call the box office on 01603 630000 or book online at www.theatreroyalnorwich.co.uk