OUR VERDICT
Jane Eyre is one of my all-time top five books, so I was excited and nervous to see whether a cast of only five actors, The Blackeyed Theatre Group, was going to be able to do justice to Bronte’s brooding gothic masterpiece. They did.
The story should be familiar to most people – an orphaned child, forced to live with her cruel and bullying aunt and cousins, then sent to an even crueller charitable institution for orphans, rises from adversity to work at Thornfield Hall for the enigmatic Mr Rochester with whom she falls in love and becomes engaged.
On the day of their wedding, it is exposed that he is already married to a madwoman who currently resides in a remote area of the house.
Jane runs away in despair, ends up living with and befriending three siblings (who turn out to be her cousins), her male cousin wishes to marry her and take her off to be a missionary with him but she dreams she hears Rochester calling for her so returns to Thornfield; only to find it burnt to the ground.
Rochester has been blinded and injured trying to help the household escape; his crazy wife dies in the fire so he is free to marry Jane. Ultimately they have their Victorian England version of a Hollywood ending.
All this has to be convincingly recreated in two and a half hours on a small stage in Guildford.
What strikes me, in particular, is how successfully Nick Lane has adapted the novel so that those who may not remember the story can easily follow the plot, with a clever set of scenes summarising important events in Jane’s past and Jane talking directly to the audience.
Victoria Spearing’s set design is dark and sparse, yet the quality of the acting transports us from the parlours of grand houses to boarding school dormitories and modest parish accommodation via the Yorkshire moors.
Alex Harvey-Brown
Kelsey Short must have relished the opportunity to play such an engaging, outspoken and passionate character as Jane. She is authentic and believable, cleverly oscillating from passionate to vulnerable. This is a role which requires the actor to show a range of different emotions and she achieves this with aplomb.
My only criticism is that I thought that, despite his impressive brooding stage presence, there lacked certain chemistry between her and Ben Warwick as Mr Rochester (perhaps because he had been so convincing as the evil Mr Brocklehurst?)
Camilla Simson, Eleanor Toms and Oliver Hamilton all take their turn to shine by undertaking several different roles and are as believable as children as they are as mean-spirited aunts, crazy spurned wives or precocious French wards.
The actors are also talented musicians; they sing and play various instruments throughout the performance and the original score, composed by George Jennings, contributes to the play’s gothic and romantic aura.
A large proportion of the audience was made up of school children, probably encouraged to come as part of their studies.
I like to think that not only will this performance have helped them to interpret the various themes of the book, but that they will remember the evening more for the quality of the acting and production than the Haagen Dazs ice cream they had at the interval.
This is by no means a show just for those studying the set text, however, I recommend it to everyone. I also recommend the Haagen Dazs!
Jane Eyre at The Yvonne Arnaud, Guildford (book here)
Dates: 28 January - 1 February
