Revolutionary things are going on at the Oxford Playhouse, writes KATHERINE MacALISTER. New resident company Shared Experience premieres Bronte tonight. And before you write it off as a boring period piece, think again. Drugs, alcohol and addiction dominate. Telling us about it are Charlotte and Anne Bronte, AKA Kristin Atherton and Flora Nicholson.

everything went pear-shaped when Branwell came home addicted to drugs and alcohol, Flora Nicholson tells me, reflecting on the real-life story she will be re-enacting tonight.

“He was dismissed from his job and Bronte is all about how his dissolute life encroaches on our world and writing,” the 25-year-old explains. “He was so ill that they kept their writing from him, so when he died he had no idea his sisters were even being published, which is really sad.”

The three Bronte sisters’ works include classics such as Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey, which continue to touch people all over the world. But little is known about their home life, especially the effect their brother had on their lives and books.

So, tell us about Anne.

“She was the one who kept everything going even though she really struggled with everything underneath. She was very selfless, but she wasn’t afraid of saying how it was in her books. She really puts it out there. So she does write about a drunken adulterer, risking the Brontes’ reputations through her honesty, and I feel really proud of who she was,” Flora says.

“Anne was also very forward-thinking. And I hope when the audience leaves The Playhouse they go home and pick up an Anne Bronte book as a result because although the Brontes’ lives were tragic, there was lots to celebrate as well. And despite their sometimes gloomy lives, their imaginations were alive with colour.”

Kristin Atherton plays the best known sister Charlotte whose book Jane Eyre was recently televised again. Charlotte was also the only Bronte to marry, although she died nine months later, three months’ pregnant.

“Yes, I do feel a huge sense of responsibility playing Charlotte,” Kristin says, “because of the many people who still love her and her books. But so far working with Shared Experience on Bronte has been phenomenal. It feels very natural and exciting.”

So, describe Bronte for us.

Kristin says: “It’s a fireball of a show because it’s full of passion and action and once it starts it really goes.”

* Bronte runs at Oxford Playhouse from tonight until April 2. Call the box office on 01865 305305