A review reviewed

The Bromley Times recently published a review on Polly Teale's Jane Eyre - still playing at the West End.

When Jane Eyre was written it must have had the same sort of effect as 'It's a Bugs Life' by Walt Disney in that it exposed what it was like to be an unattractive overachiever in a world full of people with deadly spray guns only too keen to use them!

Now that's funny! :D

Jane certainly had a sting, but in her mouth rather than her tail, and people were out to get her one way or another. We join her as an orphan (the Victorians loved orphans) being abused by her makeshift family and then by her Dickensian school where she is victimised for constantly telling the truth. The simple set (by Angela Simpson) of a curved staircase and an attic door with a Wuthering Heights skyscape beyond, graphically encompasses all we need to know and Monica Dolan as Jane inhabits the character as perfectly as Shakespeare puts it "to hold a mirror up to nature" it is a truly wonderful performance.
But then the doubts creep in. Rochester arrives (Ably, if irritatingly portrayed by James Clyde) and we are asked to give credence to a series of events which Coronation Street rejected years ago. People spontaneously catch fire, others travel from the West Indies solely to prevent other peoples marriages, Jane travels with unsuitable clothing and no money to find a job in T'mill, no no no where are we going? Having rejected Rochester's offer to "become my saviour" she elects to become his saviour after he has been blinded, ruined and lost all semblance of his former manhood. The audience cheered. I escaped into Whitehall muttering like Mr.Bumble "more?! They want some more?!

Just one thing: Victorians didn't 'love' orphans:orphans were only too common in Victorian times and their pledge was noticed by many.

And today we read this letter to the editor in reply to this review:

I thought your theatre critic Edward Martyn was delightfully accurate in his review of Jane Eyre at The Trafalgar Studios, Whitehall.
I saw the very same production and too groaned when I saw the weight of the programme.
However, I reckon the cast did their best with a story that is as well known as Corn Flakes. When a play has been performed so many times over the decades the big challenge for any director is to inject something different, something alluring, something noticeably dynamic from previous renditions.
In my opinion Angela Simpson's set was well worth noting and Mr Martyn's idea this was a tale about an over-achiever was correct in its analysis.
A tricky play and a tricky tale to keep a 21st century audience gripped with. I shall await Mr Martyn's next review with interest.
Amy Shenston

It seems that 'tricky' as it might be, Polly Teale et al manage to keep their audience gripped to this 'story that is as well known as Corn Flakes'. Interesting, that.

Categories: Jane_Eyre, Theatre, In_the_News