Review: Jane Eyre, Bristol Old Vic

“I’ve been with my aunt, sir, who is dead.”
“A true Janeian reply!”

Drawing most successfully on such lines from its source, Jane Eyre returns to BOV where it was conceived and devised, after its much-lauded season at London’s National Theatre (now its co-producers). There, the show underwent a nip-and-tuck from its original epic two-parter into a more compact 210 minutes. Having seen it in two parts (albeit in the wrong order), I can’t say that this production has suffered at all. It didn’t miss the trimmed 45 minutes, even though that’s an eternity in terms of theatrical real-time: a successful vanishing trick.

One striking development is that the character of Rochester has divested himself of the inherent niceness of his actor (Felix Hayes) to fully assume the capricious curmudgeonliness of Brontë’s original, and this is what ups the ante in this production by adding tension and jeopardy to the central love story.

Rochester tests Jane, slowly reeling her in like a fish on a hook, advancing and retreating, abruptly wrong-footing her affections and natural loyalties as soon as they have taken root. It’s not unlike the dynamic between Long John Silver and his protégé Jim in Treasure Island, and perhaps no coincidence that director Sally Cookson was drawn to adapting that classic for the stage too.

This production of Jane Eyre is a study in female self-determination: indeed, its first and last words are “it’s a girl”. The red thread throughout is the strength of the human spirit under adversity, which burns so brightly in its heroine: in Jane, Brontë created a legendary New Woman of her time, one who transcends the limitations of her sex, class, appearance and backstory. And, in depicting that personal victory, Cookson wisely shows us what was before trying to show us what is: the first half of the play graphically depicts the emotional deprivation Jane suffers through the vagaries of fate, as a cuckoo-child in a loveless foster home and as a pupil in a bleak orphanage school.

Jane’s struggle to suppress her passionate nature in favour of duty is fully embodied in Madeleine Worrall’s elemental performance, and made tangible by the running metaphor of fire and combustion in the visuals – the set and props spew flames at intervals and the whole set is awash with the red glow of stifled passion. Although there is much to like and admire about the production, particularly its ‘vizzy-phizzy’ (visual/physical) aspects, things are sometimes spelled out a little too clearly and formulaically, making it feel in places like very sophisticated children’s theatre for grown-ups.

Even if you’ve already seen Jane Eyre in its original two parts, it’s still well worth revisiting this more hot-housed version. And if you feel in need of some themed comic relief afterwards, then take yourself down to the new Wardrobe Theatre to mainline Publick Transport’s Gothic antidote We Are Brontë (reviewed here) straight into the same vein.

Jane Eyre continues at Bristol Old Vic until Sat 6 Feb. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.bristololdvic.org.uk/janeeyre.html