Jane Eyre

Taking on a major classic novel has for many years been a challenge of theatre companies. Some productions succeed, Nicholas Nickleby and Neil Bartlett’s Oliver Twist for example, and many fail, too many to mention. The scale of the works are, not only in narrative content but in geography and in time, far too demanding of stage interpretation – or are they? Bristol Old Vic with National Theatre have certainly done justice to the grandeur of Emily Brönte’s masterpiece of feminist emancipation. They have captured the harsh realities of her youth, her stubborn reaction to that cruel start and her gritty Yorkshire determination. They have not softened the edges, polished the language and sugar coated Jane to make her an easier and prettier heroine, far from it. The story is delivered pretty much in full too and the vast scale of the landscape is given breadth in well judged physicality rather than gratuitous prancing around – weather, architecture, distance… even Pilot the dog, are all represented with a skill. The set too is a masterpiece of simplicity brought to life by excellent lighting, and the cast are costumed in a way that makes their multiple role playing clear to follow.
As for that cast, there is not a weak link in there, each member of the company characterising with skill the various and disparate roles required of them. The company have entrusted the eponymous role of Jane to Nadia Clifford and it could not be in better hands, she delivers the part with a steely resolve that never once depends on prettiness or flirtation, from small child to maturity she is every tiny inch that fascinatingly attractive woman. Tim Delap’s Rochester is equally impressive, dark and brooding and still deeply attractive and charismatic. The rest of the cast shift from character to character and time and space seamlessly, depending on their dramatic skills and simple costume additions to carry it off. There’s music too, some familiar, some less so, but all beautifully played, mostly live by members of the company, and with songs delivered by the beautiful voice of Melanie Marshall whose place in the story is slowly revealed throughout the play. This was a device that at first I felt uneasy with but gradually, despite some familiar songs, Noel Coward for one, I came to enjoy not least for the exquisite quality of her singing.
All in all this is an epic theatrical masterstroke, a creative tour de force that makes on believe in the power of live theatre.
24 July
Theatre Royal Brighton
Andrew Kay

Rating: