Wuthering Heights

It’s an intense gothic story about a lot of dysfunctional people ”

tre •thea t ea h t re •

Lucy McCormick has always been drawn to tragic characters. Ahead of a very different Wuthering Heights, this provocative performer tells Lorna Irvine how she brought chaos and complexity to her Cathy

Adaptations of W uthering Heights have often tended towards the traditional, with somewhat stiff, overwrought, hand-wringing clichés of doomed Cathy as histrionic heroine, with Heathcliff a one-note, brooding totem of machismo. So, leave it to Wise Children artistic director Emma Rice to bring her iconoclastic vision to the stage. This particular version, directed by Rice, aims to shake up preconceived notions of the drama, dealing in issues around racism and feminism, and featuring puppetry, dancing and a Greek chorus who are more like a gospel choir.

The lead role of Cathy is played by Lucy McCormick, best known to theatre audiences for her provocative club/performance art work such as Triple Threat and Post Popular. Her Cathy is very different, a vision in Doc Martens and with wild hair, a 21st-century version for those who were perhaps e pecting flowing gowns and braying thespians.

It’s a role that really resonated with McCormick, who read the book as an acting student. ‘I read it because I thought I should read some old classic novels, and now I’m in it! It’s a really dark, intense gothic story

about a lot of dysfunctional people. When we were making it, we decided not to be too reverential to the novel and bring some of ourselves to it. I wanted to bring wildness and complexity and chaos to the part of Cathy. I’m a bit more intense than Cathy in my real life. My Catherine is a good one! She’s me.’

It’s the essential flaws in people that are fascinating for actors. The portrayal of Cathy has to match the intensity of her narrative arc. ‘It’s one of the great love stories,’ notes Mc ormick. ‘There’s the classic tortured relationship, people who never make the right decision and are just total selfish pricks that’s timeless.’ The themes too are rooted in tough reality, also lending a timeless quality to the production. Cathy’s struggles in her life are something many women can still relate to, despite the supposed big shifts in moving towards equality.

‘I’m passionate about deconstructing patriarchal capitalist systems,’ states McCormick. ‘Cathy is steeped in a patriarchal system; she’s expected to stay at home and get married. Because of that, I wanted to bring some understanding to Cathy’s cruelty; she’s a real lesson in repressing emotion and who you really are. What Cathy is going through is essentially a nervous breakdown. I’ve always been drawn to tragic characters. In my live shows I’m trying to figure out the tragedy of life and doing that through comedy.’

McCormick’s live shows tend to tilt towards more raunchy, anarchic onstage antics, and W utheringHeights couldn’t be a more different beast. But changing this production up has been a deeply satisfying process for the performer. ‘I think all those genres of theatre, comedy, club culture and performance art are all related. I love performing and having the chance to do something a bit different. I’m such a theatre geek, I absolutely love it. I love being directed. Doing something under your own name is really, really intense. Somebody else controlling those decisions is really enjoyable. It’s just a different creative challenge. I wanted to help Emma Rice deliver her creative vision.’

It’s not, McCormick says, a conventional or linear kind of play, but still tackles issues head-on. ‘It’s not a nice, polite piece of period drama; it’s theatre with a capital T, with music, dancing, magic and trickery. It’s a bit deconstructed with contemporary elements. The show is brilliantly camp and theatrical, and I guess like some of my other work, it balances the tragic and the comic and finds a certain kind of irreverence.’

To that end, ucy Mc ormick promises that anyone coming to see the play will have the complete theatre experience of feeling every emotion and relishing in the characters’ highs and lows. ‘Audiences are going to laugh, they’re going to cry, and feel celebratory at the end. They will have gone through a journey.’

Wuthering Heights, King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, Wednesday 25–Saturday 28 May.