Stage Dragon Review: Jane Eyre, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre

Published on: 29 Jan, 2020
Updated on: 29 Jan, 2020

Ben Warwick as Rochester and Kelsey Short as Jane Eyre

By Alice Fowler

‘Do you think because I am poor, plain and little, I have no soul?’ asks Jane Eyre, in Blackeyed Theatre’s new version of Charlotte Bronte’s masterpiece, showing at the Yvonne Arnaud.

Adaptor Nick Lane stays faithful to the familiar story, showing Jane’s path from cruelly treated orphan to governess and, finally, a woman whose love for her employer, Mr Rochester, can prevail.

A cast of five, all musically accomplished, works hard to bring this 19th-century classic to life. Eleanor Toms, a graduate from the Guildford School of Acting, is particularly effective in a variety of roles: from Jane’s unpleasant cousin Georgianna to Helen Burns, the schoolgirl whose death from consumption affects the young Jane deeply.

Kelsey Short, in the title role, portrays Jane as hunched and cowed when she is young; forthright, often angry, as she grows up. Somewhere between the two, perhaps, lies the essence of Bronte’s heroine, though the pace of this retelling can make her hard to glimpse.

The balance of power between these two lies at the story’s heart…

Ben Warwick, physically at least, makes an unconventional Rochester: not the dark, brooding figure we may imagine, but lithe and long-limbed, his fair hair tousled.

The balance of power between these two lies at the story’s heart. Rochester – anguished and controlling – has a terrible secret. Jane – alone and poor – acts from love alone.

With so much to cram in, their unfolding relationship at times lacks depth. Only when they touch – in two highly sensual handshakes – is their mutual attraction truly seen.

The scenes that come most alive involve St John Rivers (Oliver Hamilton) and his sisters Mary (Camilla Simson) and Diana (Eleanor Toms, again). There is real tenderness and humour as Jane blossoms beneath their care, and the sisters tease their pompous clergyman brother. We can all urge Jane on as she rejects what must surely be one of literature’s least appealing marriage proposals.

For anyone studying Jane Eyre, or keen to revisit a much-loved classic, this is a fine night out.

Bronte published Jane Eyre in 1847, under the pen name Currer Bell. While her meditations on the place of women resonate, her depiction of mental illness is more uncomfortable. Rochester’s wife, Bertha Mason, is a Creole woman from Jamaica, a ‘madwoman’, shut up in the attic. We are told that Grace Poole, the servant who tends her, is happier to tend the violent Bertha than face the world outside.

Charred timbers – the burned-out rafters of Thornfield Hall – loom above the stage, a reminder of what must come. On Tuesday the Arnaud audience was full of teenagers: taking the chance, no doubt, to see a set text brought to life. For anyone studying Jane Eyre, or keen to revisit a much-loved classic, this is a fine night out.

Jane Eyre continues at the Yvonne Arnaud until Saturday 1 February. See Yvonne-arnaud.co.uk, Box Office 01483 440000.