Set in 1845, Polly Teale’s play Bronte tells the story of Branwell Bronte, who has returned to his family home, the remote parsonage at Haworth, Yorkshire.

He has been dismissed from domestic service following an affair with the mistress of the house.

As he descends into alcoholism and drugs, his three sisters, Emily, Charlotte and Anne, escape into their writing.

As Emily puts it in the play: “I write to be unknown, unknowing, to exist outside and beyond myself.”

Bronte was first staged by Polly Teale’s Shared Experience theatre company in 2005.

Last year, a new production was mounted at The Watermill, Newbury, directed by Shared Experience’s joint artistic director, Nancy Meckler.

This new production is now going on tour, opening at the Oxford Playhouse next Thursday.

“I was looking for something I could do with a fairly young company, living and working together at The Watermill,” Meckler explained when we met. “I wondered what it would be like if I had a go at Bronte. Because of that, I’ve read a lot about the Brontes, and enjoyed finding out about them.”

Meckler is hardly the first person to be hooked by the lives and works of the three sisters.

Why, I asked her, do we have such an enduring interest in them?

“I think most people only know about Emily and Charlotte, don’t they? They don’t know that much about Anne. But it’s interesting you say that, because I’ve recently read several times that Chekov had this family in mind when he wrote The Three Sisters.

“It’s remarkable that Jane Eyre, and particularly Wuthering Heights, have remained archetypes, haven’t they? Heathcliff and Cathy in Wuthering Heights have been an inspiration to so many people over the years — people who haven’t read the book.

“Whereas with Jane Eyre, I think an awful lot of people have read the book. When something lasts for so long, and seems so timeless, clearly the writers have hit on something universal that will always have an appeal.”

Nancy Meckler is a New Yorker who has lived and worked in Britain since 1972. Famed for her commitment to physical theatre, she is quietly spoken — at times her voice reminded me of Meryl Streep. But the chance to return to Bronte is greeted with pronounced enthusiasm.

“In countries abroad you can keep a show in the repertory for ten years or more. We can’t do that because we don’t have a permanent company.

“But we can put a show back up on its feet without having to think, ‘oh, we’re just repeating ourselves’. There’s a sort of joy in coming back to something a year later, you have the time to ask all sorts of new questions.

“You rehearse a scene, and think, ‘oh my goodness, this is fascinating, now there’s time to really delve into it’. Suddenly it all becomes very exciting again.”

Shared Experience has brought many productions to Oxford over the years, but now its relationship with the city has deepened: it has become the Oxford Playhouse’s resident company.

Is this a case of friendship turning into a marriage?

“I hope so!” Meckler laughed. “It came about because we began to feel that if we could have a home in an existing theatre, it would probably mean that more of our resources could go towards production. Running an office was using up an awful lot of money.

“The Playhouse was keen to have an ongoing relationship with a company that was producing shows, rather than always working with different people.

“It means that there’s a chance for the relationship to grow, and more chance for outreach work with schools, and in the community.

“For example, we’re doing a future project about Mary Shelley [of Frankenstein fame], and it was [Oxford Playhouse director] Michelle Dickson who pointed out that an exhibition about Shelley is currently running at the Bodleian.

“So we’re now going to do a small workshop performance at the Bodleian as we prepare our Shelley play.”

Bronte runs at the Playhouse from March 24 to April 2. Tickets: 01865 305305 or online at oxfordplayhouse.com