Sarah Gordon’s Underdog is advertised as an irreverent retelling of the life and legend of the Bronte sisters. A publicity sheet declares: “This is not a story about well-behaved women. This is a story about the power of words, it’s about sisters and sisterhood, love and jealousy, support and competition.”
It was hard being a woman novelist in the Victorian age. Women were liable to get bad reviews from male critics because they were women. Poet laureate Robert Southey was adamant: “literature, he said, “cannot be the business of a woman’s life.”
The Brontes did not want their novels to be judged because of their being women and they took on male pseudonyms. Charlotte published Jane Eyre in October 1847 under the name of Curer Bell. Emily published Wuthering Heights in December 1847 under the name of Ellis Bell. Anne published The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in June 1848 under the name of Acton Bell.
Charlotte comes across as the least likeable of the three sisters. Such was the sibling rivalry; she actually went so far as to prevent a reprint of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Emily is sidelined. Anne, the least well-known, comes off best. All three died young. Charlotte was 38. Emily was 30. Anne was 29. Branwell, their wayward brother, hardly registers. He died at 31.
Charlotte is played by Gemma Whelan. Emily is played by Adele James. Anne is played by Rhiannon Clements. Gordon’s script, vigorously acted, has a jarring modern foul-mouthed bullish feminist approach. The Dorfman Theatre was packed with women.
Underdog, a joint production by the National Theatre and Northern Stage, is directed by Natalie Ibu and designed by Grace Smart. Performed on a revolving stage, the production is full of witty inventive caricature and more appealing than the play itself.
To learn more about Robert Tanitch and his reviews, click here to go to his website. 
