Jane Eyre Reviews. Theatre and Opera

Today we found in the news a couple of reviews for two different on going Jane Eyre adaptations. Polly Teale's theatrical adaptation currently on stage in London and Michael Berkeley's operatic adaptation that is being performed in Saint Louis, US.

The Epoch Times covers the London performances and gives and overall positive review but with some interesting insights:

Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre is remembered by many as a powerful Victorian romance with dark undertones. This theatrical version directed by Polly Teale brings the passion and complex emotions of the novel's characters to life, while adding a lighter note that makes them seem all the more realistic. (...)

(Monica) Dolan offers a brilliant performance as Jane Eyre, capturing her "poor, obscure and plain" exterior, as well as her fiery inner spirit. Creatively alternating between her public actions and private thoughts, Dolan exposes the audience to the internal battle raging between Jane's passionate desires and her pious wish to do what is right.

With shoulder-length hair and dressed in black, (James) Clyde is every inch the clever, arrogant and passionate Rochester. The chemistry between Dolan and Clyde is palpable and the scene in which he confesses his love and proposes, one of the play's most powerful.

With a cast of only eight actors playing twenty characters, the other members of the Shared Experience troupe alternate roles regularly, at times between wildly different personalities. Adele (Octavia Walters), the young girl whom Jane is brought to teach, and Pilot the Dog, wonderfully played by John Lightbody, add delightful comic relief to the drama.

The costumes are simple but used creatively, particularly in terms of the symbolism of their colors: the passionate, mad Bertha Mason wears red; the reserved, pure Jane blue; the tortured, mysterious Rochester wears black; and Jane's childhood friend, the angelic Helen Burns (also Octavia Walters), white.

The set is equally simple: a staircase leading to a platform that serves as the attic where Bertha is confined. Dark clouds sail past on a screen in the background. This all serves to add realism and depth to the play's atmosphere, but appears somewhat misplaced in scenes when the characters refer to it being a beautiful, summer day. A live cellist further draws the audience into the emotional space of the story.

In all of the above, Teale remains faithful to Brontë's text; it is in the aspects that depart from the novel where the piece is less successful. The heavy-handed portrayal of Bertha Mason as Jane's alter ego, while an interesting interpretation of Brontë's characters, becomes confusing and at times distracting when depicted on stage. And, while Jane Eyre is seen by many as an assertion of women's strength, Brontë's novel does so in a subtle manner as appropriate to Victorian England, while some overtly feministic utterings in Teale's adaptation seem anachronistic.

All in all, though, a thoroughly enjoyable play, especially for long time Brontë fans like myself. (Gail Lemish)
Picture: Jane Eyre (Monica Dolan, left) and Bertha Mason (Myriam Acharki, right), who is portrayed as Jane's alter ego, in a theatrical adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's classic novel (Robert Day).

The Riverfront Times reviews Michael Berkeley's US premiere of Jane Eyre:

One reason Opera Theatre of St. Louis draws opera lovers and serious opera writers from around the world is the company's willingness to take chances. Last Sunday night's American premiere of Jane Eyre, the opera adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's Victorian novel, was typical of such risk-taking. The payoff is a fascinating production, drenched in the gothic spirit of the book, driven by an edgy, swirling score and sung to perfection by some of OTSL's finest young voices.

Frank Zappa once wrote a piece called "Music for Electric Violin and Low-Budget Orchestra." His goal was to create a big, complicated, classical-type sound within the economic constraints of a rock & roll budget. Music Theater Wales had a similar goal when the company commissioned composer Michael Berkeley and librettist David Malouf to create an opera out of Jane Eyre for the 2000 Cheltenham International Festival of Music. It's designed to be performed on a tight budget. The 28 characters in Brontë's 500-plus-page book have been whittled down to 5, and most of Jane's life was left on the cutting-room floor. (...)

As Malouf pared down the story line, Berkeley hacked his orchestration to the bone. Here, though, the original setting, for a "chamber"-size group of a dozen or so musicians, has been expanded; Berkeley rewrote the string parts for a section double the size of the original. I asked the composer if this was intended to sweeten the sound for Middle America. Berkeley looked aghast. "Quite the contrary," he says, explaining that "it allowed the addition of more swirling textures" to the less harmonic string parts.

It also allows for more richly passionate swells as the lovers pledge their love, then renew their ardor in a later scene. Conductor Andreas Mitisek, making his OTSL debut, leads a fully engaged crew in a compelling reading of this simple-sounding but harmonically and rhythmically intense score.

Kelly Kaduce, who brought down the house with her OTSL debut in the title role of Sister Angelica in 2004, does not disappoint as Jane Eyre. Although the orchestration is thick and deep, Berkeley, who began his musical career as a singer, covers it with graceful melodies, and Kaduce wraps her luscious soprano pipes around the tunes.

There's little vocal interaction between the characters outside of a couple of brief love duets. Cast members get to harmonize for a few bars here and there but do not sing the duets and larger ensembles that enrich most operas. Still, Scott Hendricks as Edward, Robynne Redman as Mrs. Fairfax, Elizabeth Batton as the mad wife and Elizabeth Reiter as their ward play off Kaduce and one another effortlessly. Eerie offstage voices and choirs add to the mix, coming off more like musical instruments than like voices, adding depth to the sonic texture.

Like the score, Erhard Rom's set is deceptively simple. A series of flats insinuates the basic features of the Rochester mansion. To alter the setting and mood, Rom projects images and colors over these plane surfaces. In combination with Mark McCullough's lighting, the projected images accent changes in the interior lives of the characters. Colin Graham's no-frills direction matches tempo of this streamlined classic. There's not a jigger of waste in this brisk, intermissionless 80 minutes.

The Riverfront Times also publishes an article about Jane Greenwood, the costume designer of the Jane Eyre Saint Louis production.

Categories: Theatre, Music, Opera, Jane_Eyre, In_the_News