VISITORS to Haworth can put on earphones and get involved in a Brontë-inspired radio production set in the village.

Tiny Shoes allows people to listen to the story of a married woman reflecting on her troubled personal life during a visit to the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

The unique 'audio experience’ is part of the West Yorkshire Playhouse’s new Brontë season, which also includes a new stage version of Charlotte's novel Villette and a rock musical about her family.

Crossflatts woman Emma Adams, writer of Tiny Shoes, was inspired by her time working as a tourist guide at the Brontë Parsonage Museum 25 years ago, while aged 21.

She said: “The main character Carrie was inspired by one woman in particular that I met while doing a guide. She came to visit the Parsonage, we got talking and her story was incredible.

“I had started doing some research into the Brontës and when approached to write this audio drama I thought, ‘wow, brilliant, that sounds ace’. I have a history of doing unusual things such as headphone shows.

“Tiny Shoes is a 20-minute audio experience and very different from a radio play because you are asking the audience to listen in a certain environment.

“When we go to a play, we go into a dark room and what’s happening on stage is important. With this audio drama you go outside the Parsonage and walk down to the graveyard.

“You experience Carrie’s journey. You are in the play. At the same time, it will really work for people as a radio play.”

Emma was prepared to be compared to the Brontës because of her Haworth story. She said: “You have expect it if you choose to use that source of material. It did cross my mind a few times and I thought, ‘Blimey!’.

"You do have to acknowledge them, do your research, be really really aware of them – and then have fun."

“One of the things I wanted to do was reference the novels. When those books came out they really, really shocked people.

“The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, for instance, was an amazing book in which a character leaves her husband because he is being abusive. Absolutely astonishing. Their novels were ahead of their time so people were freaked out but drawn to them.

“I thought it was important to tell a story in Tiny Shoes, not one that is necessarily immediately comfortable. They had transgressive female characters and had the audience going, ‘I still care about you’.

“There may be some people in the audience for Tiny Shoes who go ‘she’s an awful character and I can’t forgive all she has done’ and others who say the opposite.”

Visitors to the Parsonage can buy Tiny Shoes at the cash desk for £3, with a returnable deposit for the equipment. Tiny Shoes is also available at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, offer download at wyp.org.uk/events/tiny-shoes.