Wuthering Heights
Those who suffer, cause pain
ITA’s Wuthering Heights does not promise a romantic love story, but rather an exploration of what power does to people. It is about how pain leads to more pain, how those who are trampled learn to trample others in return. Under the direction of Kjersti Horn and performed by the ITA Ensemble, Wuthering Heights becomes a raw, physical production about class, desire, and the cycle of violence passed down from generation to generation.
Location in ITA & on tour in the Netherlands
Duration tba
Genre Theatre
Language Dutch
Surtitles English, Thu 10, Sat 12, Thu 17, Sat 19 Dec & Thu 7, Sat 9, Thu 14 & Sat 16 Jan
Premiere Sun 6 Dec 2026
About the performance
Wuthering Heights tells the story of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. Heathcliff, an orphan taken in by the Earnshaw family, grows up in a world of passion, jealousy, and social tension. A deep, instinctive bond develops between him and Catherine, but their love is undermined by pride, class, and societal expectations.
Heathcliff is the outsider who was never truly accepted. Humiliated, stripped of language and status, deprived of everything that makes a person human. When he returns as a wealthy man, he seeks revenge.
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But the revenge does not free him. Marked by humiliation, he has learned to reproduce the violence that once shaped him. The oppressed becomes the oppressor.
Catherine is trapped in a different structure. Torn between her love for Heathcliff and the expectations of the world around her, she chooses the path laid out for her. She betrays her own heart and pays a devastating price.
Kjersti Horn
In 2026, ITA welcomes Norwegian director Kjersti Horn to create her first production with the ensemble. Horn is considered one of the leading innovators in Scandinavian theatre, with work that constantly interrogates the boundaries between the personal and the political. She explores themes such as power, marginalisation, and vulnerability, often from an outspoken feminist and social perspective.
Kjersti Horn studied directing at the Dramatiska Institutet in Stockholm and works with both classical texts and contemporary writers. Her productions are known for their strong visual and physical language. Horn spent years as in-house director at Nationaltheatret and Det Norske Teatret in Oslo, where she became artistic director in 2025. She has been nominated multiple times for the Heddaprisen, the leading Norwegian theatre award.
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In the category of “Best Direction”, she received nominations for her adaptations of Hamlet, History of Violence, Chaos is Neighbour of God and Scenes from a Marriage. In 2023, she won the Heddaprisen for her direction of Romeo og Julie at Den Nationale Scene and received the award for “Exceptional Artistic Achievement.”
With Wuthering Heights, Horn examines systems of oppression that we still recognize in our own time. The story exposes that we all play a role in the larger system of oppressor and oppressed. The positions shift, but the cycle of violence endures.
Emily Brontë
Wuthering Heights (1847) is the only novel by Emily Brontë and was originally published under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. Emily Brontë (1818–1848) grew up in Yorkshire with her father and two sisters. The Brontë sisters wrote both novels and poetry under pseudonyms. When Wuthering Heights was first published, it was not well received; only much later was it recognised as one of the great works of English literature.
Credits
by Emily Brontë
directed by Kjersti Horn
adaptation Kjerst Horn and Kristian Lykkeslet Strømskag
scenography and costumes Sven Haraldsson
sound design Erik Hedin
light design Julian Maiwald
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private producers Hendrik Jan ten Have & Gabriella de Rooij, Mike Vermeer & Ernst ten Damme
this production is supported by Ammodo
This production is supported by
