In 1995, Maryse Condé published La Migration des cœurs, a major work in her body of writing that had long gone unnoticed. Her ambition in this book is staggering: to transpose the plot of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights to the Caribbean. The windswept moors of Yorkshire thus give way to post-slavery Guadeloupe at the turn of the 19th century. Set against this lush landscape is the tumultuous story of Razyé, a young Black man adopted as a child by Hubert Gagneur—a prominent figure of Béké descent—and Cathy, Gagneur’s daughter. A blend of romantic passion, pride, and social violence, their unbreakable bond unfolds over three generations, allowing Maryse Condé to bring to light what remained hidden in Emily Brontë’s work: first and foremost, the issue of racism, but also the political dimension of the processes of vengeance and fate.
On stage, Anne Monfort brings the language of both authors to life through meticulous editing: Wuthering Heights thus appears as an underlying thread behind the Caribbean narrative, as if to better highlight its driving forces. Exploring the political dynamics at play within intimate relationships, the director unfolds the story of these torn characters in a Guadeloupe undergoing profound change, crafting a production that straddles the line between a passionate saga and a social fresco.
