THE BRONTË sisters are alive and well and working in a Keighley hair salon.

That’s the premise of a new play due to receive its world premiere in the training salon at Keighley College on January 23.

Jane Hair: The Brontës Restyled features modern-day versions of Charlotte, Emily and Anne and portrays their rise to global fame.

The play, which is funded by the Arts Council and the Brontë Society, was created by Oakworth-born writer-producer Kirsty Smith and actor-director Kat Rose Martin.

Working together in a local hairdressers, the young women and their brother Branwell each have their own personal creative project – Emily is a slam poet, Anne writes a blog and Charlotte is working on TV and film scripts.

Kirsty Smith has previously worked as a television producer for the BBC, Channel 4 and ITV, and for this project has partnered with Bierley actor and director Kat Rose Martin.

Kat had a busy 2017 touring with renowned theatre company Northern Broadsides as well as playing Britain’s first-ever female boxer as part of Hull City of Culture.

The pair promised that in the interactive performance audiences would meet the sisters in their salon and have the opportunity to get up-close-and-personal with the actors.

Kat said: “Hair salons are the perfect setting to get all the best gossip so if you’ve ever wanted to find out who these women were, pop along and make an appointment with Jane Hair.”

Victoria Aird, head of department at Keighley College, said her staff were delighted to be involved with the project, adding: “We think our hairdressing salon will be the perfect setting for a play celebrating artistic excellence from Keighley.”

The play, which will be performed at 7.30pm at the college next to Keighley railway station, aims to both entertain and introduce new people to the work of the three famous sisters.

The production forms part of the 200th anniversaries of the writers’ births, which this year focuses on Emily Brontë, writer of Wuthering Heights.

Kirsty said she wanted to bring the Brontë story to life for people who had never read any of their books.

She added: “We want to show that you don’t need an A-level in English Literature to appreciate the incredible achievements of these three local women who became world famous.”

Jane Hair will also be performed at Bradford College’s hair salon January 26, at 2pm and 7.30pm, with a view to touring later in the year.