Fortune Theatre head of design Peter King felt a family
connection while designing the set for Jane Thornton's
adaptation of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. Photo by
Linda Robertson.
They say every artist gives something of themselves to
one of their creations, but Peter King has a different
connection with his latest work.
As head of design at Dunedin's Fortune Theatre, Mr King was
charged with making the set for Wuthering Heights.
What made the experience special for him was his family link
to the novel's author, Emily Bronte.
He is understood to be Bronte's great-great-great-grandson.
Emma Branwell, his great-great-grandmother, was thought to be
an illegitimate Bronte child.
She married Thomas King and moved from England to New
Zealand.
A fragment of a story by Charlotte Bronte, Emma, was about an
illegitimate child and referred to people who settled far
from their land of birth, and the Bronte Society of England
acknowledged an illegitimate daughter was born to one of the
Bronte siblings.
This "strange enigma" was discovered by Mr King's cousin
about 20 years ago while she was putting together a family
tree and relationships "got a bit tangled up".
He thought it was "quite cool" and "interesting" to be
connected to such a well-known literary family.
While "none of us can write for nuts", many of his family
shared Bronte ailments, including asthma.
Jane Thornton's adaptation of Wuthering Heights
opens at the Fortune on April 10.
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