THE story of the Brontë sisters is being brought to life by actors to celebrate the partnership between an innovative theatre company and the Oxford Playhouse.

The Beaumont Street theatre’s new resident company Shared Experience took to the stage for the first time on Thursday, to present a new play about the authors of masterpieces Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre.

The production of Brontë, written by Polly Teale, is set in 1845, as drug-addled Branwell Brontë returns home to the home of his sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne in Haworth, Yorkshire, where they were working on their masterpieces of Victorian fiction. Actor Mark Edel-Hunt, who plays Branwell, said: “The opening night was such good fun. It was great to get in front of an audience.”

The company was announced as the Playhouse’s new resident group in January.