JANE EYRE

Photography: Miles Davies

Taking on a classic of any kind is no mean feat, and to tackle bringing to any stage, let alone an open air theatre is ambitious to say the least. But Brighton Little Theatre is never short of ambition and indeed talent. So it came as little surprise that their recent fringe festival production of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre would come away with a major fringe award.

But could it survive the wilds of Brighton Open Air Theatre? Well judging by last night’s performance and the rousing reception it was afforded it certainly could. Catching it on the last night of the run was a lucky break for me, and for the company, as the weather, after a wet and windy week, took a turn for the better. That said, BOAT has a firm policy of the show must go on and Brighton’s audiences are a hardy breed.

Brontë’s book is dark and densely textured but in Polly Teale’s adaptation we are gifted a rich and carefully crafted telling of the story, it is thorough and thoroughly enjoyable. Director Nettie Sheridan has delivered a vibrant and captivating production, that whilst embracing the darkness of the whole also has energy and moments of humour too. Tragedy delivered with a lightness of touch where possible and in balance moments of genuine sadness.

With a cast of only nine players much of the story is told by actors taking on multiple roles, from Pilot the dog and Rochester’s horse to school teachers, parsons and servants. Jimmy Schofield’s horse is effective without the trappings of  huge Warhorse puppetry and he slips from schoolboy to old man with ease. Katie Ford is similarly skilled in each of her roles as is Evie McGuire, especially bounding around the stage as the irrepressible Adele. Cathy Byrne is so wonderfully stern and pompous as Mrs Reed and Mrs Fairfax, so very right in each role. Steven Adams has the task of bring both gravitas and humour to his various roles and he does so with aplomb and Rosalind Caldwell’s Pilot could take medals at Crufts!

At the heart of the story we have Bertha Mason, Rochester’s insane wife here played so very convincingly by Polly Jones. It’s a very physical performance and yet an elegant one and especially in the moments when she mirror’s Jane’s every move, sometimes side by side and sometimes at a distance, locked as she is in the red room. These carefully choreographed and executed moments are quite magical.

Edward Rochester is played by Jospeh Bentley, a powerful performance, a man driven to desperation and deceit, Bentley has the presence and skill to pull this off and does so with aplomb.

Finally and by no means least we have Izzy Boreham as Jane Eyre. I first saw this fine young actor at BLT in Bobby & Amy and was blown away by her performance (as indeed I was by Jimmy Schofield in the same production). But here she is conquering the role of Eyre with an assuredness that marks her out as a real talent. There is a calmness to the passion that she delivers, a precision to her diction and a confidence in her performance that is more than impressive. I cannot wait to see where she goes next.

My only misgiving about the whole would be that the set, a dark brown, which must have had a certain gloomy impact in the confined space of the theatre, was somewhat lost on the open expanse of the huge grassy thrust of BOAT.

Andrew Kay

13 June

Brighton Open Air Theatre

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