However, Sally Cookson’s clever and inventive production is a brilliant piece of theatre, lively when necessary but also capturing the relationships between the main characters most effectively.
The set is a minimalist structure rather like a 3D version of Snakes and Ladders which the cast clamber around with the sure-footed confidence and energy of mountain-goats.
Benji Bower’s music mixes pop and folk, delivered by an on-stage group of musicians, and with Melanie Marshall particularly making a powerful vocal contribution. I’m not sure, though, that the Kyrie extract or Mad About The Boy were entirely congruous with the events on stage. (Jerald Smith)
The Gay UK gives it 4 stars and sums it up as 'a rollercoaster of emotions that kept on plunging'.
The rawness of emotion and the simplistic style of setting captured the audience’s attention and tugged on heartstrings.
The acting and the synchronicity of movement were astonishing in Jane Eyre. The ensemble pieces were performed to such a high standard, even the breathing was in sync. Nadia Clifford, who plays Jane Eyre, was formidable in her captivating portrayal of Jane’s life. Nadia embodied Jane Eyre with so much sincerity and passion, it was as though Nadia had been through similar tribulations. Her movement and voice, as well conveyance of emotions throughout the play, were so strong and authentic. Nadia stole the show.
Every cast member showcased uniqueness and dexterity with multipart playing, while acting, moving and singing. I particularly enjoyed Paul Mundell’s representation of Pilot, Mr Rochester dog. Paul used a device which he smacked against the side of his leg to simulate tail wagging which was a fresh take to a human portraying a dog without costumes or gimmicks. Paul’s canine mannerisms and movements really contributed to the sophisticated and brilliance of this production. Evelyn Miller was a fierce multipart player, portraying different characters so uniquely that, if it was not for the small-ish cast number, I don’t think I’d recognise her. She was soulful and powerful in delivery and the characters were really earnest. The queen of playing a plethora of characters was Hannah Bristow. Hannah played five characters and she was brilliant with every one. Her portrayal of Helen Burns was very touching and emotional. Lynda Rooke was really great at playing the revolting Mrs Reed and then playing a sweet and homely Mrs Fairfax – great contrast of characters. The music trio were not only pleasing to the eye, but they were supremely talented both vocally and with playing different instruments – and acting too! I also really enjoyed Melanie Marshall’s angelic and demonic vocals as Bertha, creating an eerie and surreal atmosphere. (Alex Da Silva)
The Reviews Hub gives it 4.5 stars out of 5.
As one enters the theatre, one is struck by the monochromatic set, rough-hewn and on several levels linked by ramps, ladders and steps and surrounded by white drapes. This is supplemented at times by sticks of furniture, strong lighting and window frames carried on or flown in. The cast is forever on the (carefully choreographed) move making the whole a feast for the eyes despite, or maybe thanks to, the basic nature of much of the set.
Costumes, too, are largely monochromatic, leading one, for example, to ask the significance of the occasional appearances of a stunningly red-clad lady (Melanie Marshall) whose powerful and heartfelt bluesy singing complements the action – all is, of course, revealed in time. Costume and stylised movement are used effectively to punctuate Jane’s journey from orphan at Gateshead Hall where she is barely tolerated and mistreated by her aunt and cousins to her time as governess at Thornfield Hall where her love for her “peculiar” employer, Mr Rochester begins to grow only for their marriage plans to be confounded by a dark secret leading her to move on, alone again.
The use of a chorus of other actors at times of stress for Jane is particularly effective as its members provide her inner dialogue, their movements apparently chaotic as Jane’s thoughts cast about in her attempt to make some sense of the world.
On stage pretty much the whole time, Nadia Clifford gives us the feisty Jane. Clifford brings each stage of Jane’s life vividly to life, a technicolor performance against a monochrome background. We share her bewilderment at some of the slings and arrows cast at her by outrageous fortune as well as enjoying her triumphs along the way. Clifford ensures that, while headstrong, Jane never becomes unsympathetic. A powerful performance indeed.
Lynda Rooke takes on two quite contrasting characters. Firstly, she is Jane’s aunt, Mrs Reed who is tasked by her dying husband to care for the orphan as her own but who signally fails to do so. Malevolent towards Jane, she is almost entirely unsympathetic, her only redeeming features being her feelings towards her family and some sense of duty towards Jane. Later Rooke will play the altogether more pleasant Mrs Fairfax, housekeeper at Thornfield Hall, whose wise words and counsel help Jane settle and find her feet as governess. Evelyn Miller similarly takes contrasting rôles with aplomb. Initially seen as Bessie, the maid at Gateshead Hall who is Jane’s only friend there, she also plays the rather unpleasant gold-digging Blanche Ingram, Jane’s rival for Rochester’s hand. Her physicality shows us everything we need to know about the contrast between these two characters.
Paul Mundell plays several male parts, including Mr Brocklehurst, the proprietor of Lowood. But he really lights up the stage as Pilot, the enthusiastic dog of Rochester with a tremendous physical performance.
And what of Rochester, the gruff man troubled by his own past? A well-rounded performance by Tim Delap brings him to life making us sympathetic for him even as we develop our knowledge of the impact poor decisions as a younger man have had on him. We see his troubled nature clearly as well as his softening as he gets to know and admire Jane.
At three hours including interval, this is certainly not a sprint but one never feels that it is dragging, rather one is sucked into the action, waiting with baited breath for the next revelation and plot twist as Jane’s life unfolds. The need to be selective does mean that some sub-plots and characters are undercooked or omitted leaving a few loose ends; even so, this is a theatrical coup leaving one’s emotions in shreds and fully deserving the rapturous reception it receives. (Selwyn Knight)
There's another Jane Eyre on stage in New Zealand and Stuff reviews it.
In repose Rebecca Vaughan's face is benign, quietly humorous but otherwise unremarkable. That is until she steps on stage to launch her solo performance as one of literature's greatest heroines. By the end of 90 minutes you recognise that what you have just witnessed is a remarkable performance by an equally remarkable actor.
In this adaptation by writer and director Elton Townend Jones, Vaughan takes Charlotte Bronte's sprawling 1847 romance Jane Eyre and distils it, all 38 chapters, into a potent retelling of the English lit classic
Admittedly, Jane Eyre: An Autobiography provides Vaughan with not merely one but an entire cast of meaty roles into which to sink her acting teeth. But solo performances are treacherous beasts capable of savaging even the most confident of individuals.
There's nowhere to hide and no one else to hide you when you confront the audience alone. For Vaughan, outwardly demure in a simple grey Victorian dress, this means occupying a stage with only a solitary and very small couch for company. The rest is up to her and some very skilful lighting. Nothing and nobody else can help her.
The other potential difficulty with Jane Eyre is that everyone imagines, or likes to imagine, that they know the story inside out. There is always an invisible sense of collective ownership. Vaughan and Jones, however, open up new dimensions, revealing Jane not as some vapid Victorian victim or a 19th century proto-feminist but someone strengthened by experience and hardship.
This Jane Eyre is not an easy personality but she is a woman of character and steely determination. When Vaughan utters the final line "I married him!" we share her heartfelt cry of affirmative triumph.
She injects a similar strength and credibility into all the roles from the flawed hero Mr Rochester to the sadistic Calvinist overseers of the Lowood Institution. From beginning to end, Vaughan fills the stage with an elegantly expressive, flawlessly delivered and utterly focused presence.
As an outstanding evening of theatre, this is a production which definitely should not be missed. (Chris Moore)
Westword reports that Amanda Berg Wilson will be directing theatre group The Catamounts in Jaclyn Blackhaus’s You on the Moors Now, in which
four well-known literary heroines — Jo from Little Women, Cathy from Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and Elizabeth Bennet — do the unthinkable: They turn down marriage proposals. “This is a feminist piece,” says Berg Wilson. “It’s also about love and loss and who we think we are when we’re young versus when we get older. But it’s not political in an overt sense. The characters are seen through a postmodern comic lens: What if we put these women in the modern world being proposed to by condescending pricks?” (Juliet Wittman)
Film Inquiry reviews the film God's Own Country.
I was reminded of Andrea Arnold’s 2011 adaptation of Wuthering Heights in the portrayal of beautifully miserabilist Yorkshire vistas, that manage to deliver an epic scope without overly romanticising the scenery. The Andrea Arnold influence can also be felt in the bluntly depicted sex scenes – in Arnold’s films, sex occurs quickly and in a purely primal manner, the lust of the characters frequently overcoming (no pun intended) any illusions to a stronger connection. (Alistair Ryder)
Bustle recommends YouTube series Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party.
There are tons of familiar faces here; in more ways than one. Not only do world-famous authors Charlotte Bronte, Ernest Hemingway, Oscar Wilde, Mary Shelley and more all have seats at the table, you'll recognize Ashley Clements, Mary Kate Wiles and Jessica Jade Andres from The Lizzie Bennet Diaries; Joey Richter and Lauren Lopez from A Very Potter Musical; and even Jim O'Heir from Parks and Recreation. [...]
And it's this that makes Poe Party one of the best web series out there for lit-fans; because the writers don't take time to explain why their jokes about Hemingway's proclivity for brevity, or the competition between Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen, or Oscar Wilde's flair for the dramatic are funny...they just assume that you know. And because of this we get tongue-in-cheek references to the books they wrote and lives they led without any preamble or over-the-top, eye-rolling comedy. This, paired with the actors' finesse makes characters out of the classics in one of the best, and wittiest, takes I've ever seen. (Kerri Jarema)
Coming Soon discusses horror movies.
The appeal of the Gothic horror film ebbs and flows, like any subgenre. The earliest Universal films locked the two key Gothic horror properties in Frankenstein and Dracula to forge their initial spate of films and those two titles — along with Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw and to a lesser extent, Bronte sister novels like Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre — have been cornerstones of the sort of cinema lovers of all things ornate and romantic and lurid thrive on. (Chris Alexander)
Keighley News reports that the Brontë Society will be taking over the Haworth Visitor Information Centre, which is great news. According to SparkLife, one of the '40 Questions You Should Definitely Ask In Your English Class' is '39. Why did Emily Bronte do that to me with Wuthering Heights?'
