Jane Eyre reviewed

The New York Times reviews The Acting Company's Jane Eyre.

As much as you would like to ignore her, there’s just no getting around the mad lady in the attic.
Hannah Cabell in the title role of the Acting Company’s “Jane Eyre.”
One of the most unforgettable and controversial figures in Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane Eyre,” Bertha Mason haunts the title character, as well as the many adaptors of the 1847 novel who struggle to make sense of this thinly drawn Jamaican who seems to be a symbol of Victorian confinement and gothic horror as much as a real person.

Jean Rhys’s “Wide Sargasso Sea,” a prequel of sorts, went so far as to imagine a back story for Bertha, but the Acting Company’s engaging new version of “Jane Eyre” keeps her as an evocative mystery. From the beginning of the play, which is staged as a kind of psychological drama by Davis McCallum, Bertha (Carie Kawa) stands right alongside Jane, a figment of her fevered imagination. The women — one rational, modest and in control; the other wild, sexual and almost demonic — make up a portrait of a mind at war with itself.

At times this conceit appears overly literal, but it’s easily forgiven since this brisk, persuasively acted production is presented with little fuss. The clunky transitions and excess exposition that are the hallmark of page-to-stage translations are mercifully absent. Faithful without being reverent, it reminds audiences of the dark undertones of this novel, and in that sense this “Jane Eyre” provides a counterpoint to the bloated Broadway musical from 2000 and the many chest-heaving screen versions that cast glamorous stars as the quintessential plain Jane.

Polly Teale’s adaptation prunes the novel to its essence: sometimes, in the scenes at school, for instance, the action flies by too fast to register emotionally. But Mr. McCallum slows down at the right places, as in the development of the central relationship between Jane and Mr. Rochester at the end of Act I. As Jane, Hannah Cabell, whose alert, intelligent eyes and flushed cheeks communicate more than a dozen soliloquies, delivers a marvelously contained performance of an almost pathologically restrained woman who refuses to let down her guard.

And why would she? With tousled hair, Christopher Oden’s overripe Mr. Rochester comes off as a bit of an infantile rogue, and even in the most heated moments you never forget that he is twice her age. Fluidly staged like a dream on an empty black stage interrupted with slivers of light, this “Jane Eyre” is a romance without an overly romantic view of the world. “Come out of the shadows,” Mr. Rochester urges Jane, but in this production it’s clear that that is easier said than done.

“Jane Eyre” is at the Baruch Performing Arts Center’s Nagelberg Theater, 55 Lexington Avenue, at 25th Street, (212) 279-4200, through May 5. (Jason Zinoman)
Picture Credits: Hannah Cabell in the title role of the Acting Company’s “Jane Eyre.” (Richard Termine)

New York is the last stop of the Acting Company's tour with Polly Teale's Jane Eyre. We hope many Brontëites have been lucky enough to see it somewhere along the way.

Another review of Jane Eyre comes from Nixpix. The format is very different: the recently edited DVD with the film version Jane Eyre released in 1944. (Check other reviews of this release)

Director Robert Stevenson’s Jane Eyre (1944) is perhaps the screen’s bleakest, darkest gothic romance ever filmed. Bronte’s novel has rather equal portions of nightmarish thrills and gushing love at first sight. The film, however, jettisons much of the latter, relying on a pervasive mood of tragic ennui that is strangely becoming to both the Bronte’s characters and the film itself.

Forced by the advent of WWII to ration expenditures on sets, Stevenson instead raided the backlots of 20th Century-Fox for old acquisitions of Victorian/Georgian architecture that were eventually patched together into Thornfield Hall, the terrifically foreboding home of Mr. Rochester. Originally, producer David O. Selznick had conceived the project for his own studio to make. However, after the release of Rebecca (1940) (virtually Jane Eyre made contemporary) Selznick balked, instead selling off all his preliminary work to Fox and Stevenson, who went forth from Selznick’s blueprint into the finished product. [...]

There is much to admire in Stevenson’s handling of Bronte’s maudlin and episodic elements, infusing the entire production with a spirited sense of immediacy and cohesion. As much as we, the audience find it unlikely that any lasting romance could be sustained amidst the craggy moors, we are captivated by the central performances of Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles – the former a portrait of sublime restraint; the latter, another gregarious and flamboyant characterization in Welles’ illustrious canon.

Fox’s DVD begins with the disclaimer that every attempt has been made to present the film in its best possible condition from less than stellar surviving filmic elements. Indeed, after 168 hours of restoration work, Jane Eyre looks far better than it ever has in previous home video incarnations. However, various sequences continue to suffer from an overly soft and slightly faded characteristic with an inherent loss of fine detail.

Intentionally shot in stark contrast, the B&W image also appears slightly more grainy than expected. Age related artifacts have been greatly tempered. A slight hint of edge enhancement intrudes now and then, but does not entirely distract.

The audio has been remastered to 2 channel stereo, though it often sounds strident and with a slight hiss. Extras are impressive; two separate feature length and very informative audio commentary tracks, a production featurette that makes short shrift of the careers of Welles and director Stevenson (who really is a largely neglected talent), an isolated score and effects track, a restoration comparison, stills galleries, and the film’s original theatrical trailer. Overall, a worth-while disc for your home library – even if the film elements are less than perfect.

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
4

VIDEO/AUDIO
3.5

EXTRAS
3

Just don't forget that you can still win a copy of this DVD by answering a very easy question!

Categories: Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Theatre