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Author
Charlotte
Bronte
Aadapted
and Directed by
Polly Teale
Composer
Peter Salem
Management
Shared Experience
Cast
Jane
Monica Dolan
Rochester
James Clyde
Miriam Acharki
Sarah Ball
Joan Blackham
John Lightbody
Philip Rham
Octavia Walters
Design
Angela Simpson
Lighting
Chris Davy
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Trafalgar
Studios
9 May - 29 July 2006 |
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The 'mad
woman in the attic' is Jane
Eyre's compelling contribution
to literature. Charlotte Bronte
gives Jane, the plain repressed
governess a counterpart in
a dangerous, passionate, depraved
woman who has to be hidden
away under lock and key in
the upper reaches of Thornfield
Hall. Polly Teale's brilliant
innovation is to make the
psychological relationship
between the two the centre
of her drama. She keeps the
mad woman on stage for the
entire three hours of the
play, her howling and writhing
or murmuring and twitching
a constant gauge of the inner
torment that Jane cannot outwardly
show.
The play starts in Jane's
miserable childhood, and I
must say my heart sank to
see the show opening with
two adults playing children
interweaving their movements
in a dance-like way as they
crossed the stage. This is
the period in which the two
parts of Jane's psyche are
still united - it seemed a
pedantic device and reminded
me of the sometimes self-indulgent
nature of physical theatre.
'Shared Experience' is a witty
and athletic company however,
kept chaste by Charlotte Bronte's
strong story, and the play
developed into a hugely enjoyable
performance. It drew out the
quiet agony of plain Jane
Eyre's experience and somehow
managed to be very funny at
the same time.
Monica Dolan's Jane Eyre is
strong and quiet, passionate,
forceful and shy. She endures
the cruelty of her adoptive
'aunt', suffers the death
of her only friend at school
and learns to live a life
unloved. She is constantly
punished for lying as a child
but of course her real sin
is to speak the truth to adults
- and truth is Polly Teale's
main theme. How can Jane be
true to herself without destroying
her own life? What will happen
to Rochester if the secret
of his mad wife is revealed?
James Clyde plays Rochester
as a gruff, Byronic hero,
dressed in black and accompanied
by his faithful, fawning hound
- winningly played by a bare-chested
John Lightbody. It takes the
loss of his sight for him
to see the possibility of
an honest life.
This is a welcome revival
brought to the stage by a
company of dizzying talent.
Members of the cast play multiple
and varied roles, swap sex
and even play animals. Miriam
Acharki's act from the attic
is a marathon performance
for which she has good need
of the pads strapped to her
knees, but the outstanding
star is Monica Dolan as plain
Jane herself, given psychological
depth and a lascivious underbelly
by the clever staging and
sharp directing of Polly Teale.
Charlie Taylor |
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