Jane Eyre and the Secrets of Thornfield Manor

A very curious Jane Eyre adaptation opens today in Greater London. No less than a version of John Courtney's Jane Eyre or The Secrets of Thornfield Manor (1848), the first theatrical adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's novel.

Jane Eyre and the Secrets of Thornfield Manor
by John Courtney and Catherine McDonald

Through the Window Theatre Company
The Colour House,
Merton Abbey Mills

Date(s): Fri 26/06/2009 - Sat 27/06/2009
Friday and Saturday Night Only
Time(s): 7:30pm

Overview

Supported by research by eminent Brontë Scholar Dr Patsy Stoneman, Through The Window Theatre were commissioned in 2008 to adapt and perform a new one-act version of Jane Eyre for the Brontë Society, based on John Courtney's 1848 adaptation The Secrets of Thornfield Manor. Now, one year on, we have revised and extended the play and will be premiering the new work in June 2009.

Synopsis

The year is 1848. Legendary playwright John Courtney is finishing his adaptation of Mr. Currer Bell's Jane Eyre...
The actors are preparing in the dusty corridors, the audience are making their way through the foggy London streets...
On stage, Jane Eyre grows from a lonely orphan into a young woman, and finds work as a governess at Thornfield Hall. She meets the dark, mysterious Mr Rochester and explores the even darker secrets of her new home.
Meanwhile in Haworth, Yorkshire, Charlotte Bronte, still disguised by her male pseudonym of Currer Bell, discusses Courtney's adaptation of her beloved novel with her brother Branwell. She is not best pleased by Courtney's ‘improvements' ...
The delicious Betty Bunce and the knavish Joe Joker are Courtney's delightful servant characters. They serve Brocklehurst, Rochester and other characters whilst getting into scrapes, fights, love triangles and, as Courtney says, "all the uproarious escapades of the lower order..." Their fate is now tied in with that of their masters!
From an unlikely friendship, and the frightening events which occur in Thornfield, Jane and Rochester learn to trust one another, and then begin to fall in love...
But Rochester has a secret, which will shatter all...

The Surrey Comet brings some details, like the origins of the project:
Picture: Catherine McDonald and Emily Jukes as Jane Eyre and Mrs Fairfax (Source)

It seems the indignant act of re-writing your favourite book to suit a Hollywood audience - Captain Corelli's Mandolin anyone? - was happening way back in the 19th Century as told in the new play, Jane Eyre and the Secrets of Thornfield Manor, showing at Merton's Colour House Theatre this week.
Charlotte Bronte’s passionate story of Jane and Mr Rochester was written to popular acclaim in 1846, but within three months adaptations and blatant rewritings of the book were being performed on stage.
Last year playwright and actor Catherine McDonald was commissioned by the Bronte Society to develop the first of these adaptations, written by John Courtney, into a one-act play that was performed at their AGM.
McDonald says: “Courtney’s adaptation is a raunchy comical farce. He creates new servant characters called Joe Joker, Betty Bunce and Sally Suds who romp their way through the story focusing away from Jane and Rochester.
“At the time Courtney was like the Shakespeare of his day having written 54 plays, though far removed from Bronte’s book this one was a sell out smash.”
In the one-act play McDonald used the character of John Courtney to narrate his own play.
McDonald has now cleverly expanded this show to weave together the story of Charlotte Bronte’s novel along with her well documented horrified response to the madness that had become of her work on stage.
McDonald says: “This play offers a dissection of what makes a novel work and what makes a play. It provides insight into life on the brink of change and looks at Charlotte Bronte, a woman ahead of her time.
“Bronte hates what has become of her book and more to the point that people love it.
"For those who are a fan of the novel I went back to it for the faithful retelling of the love story that sits alongside the farcical, comedy element of Courtney’s characters.”
McDonald worked with the eminent Bronte scholar Dr Patsy Stoneman, who discovered the lost manuscript for Courtney’s play and wrote the authoritative book, Jane Eyre on Stage 1848-1898, that explores the adaptations of Jane Eyre and explains their popularity.
Stoneman wrote that nineteenth century playwrights had no reverence for a text we regard as canonical and deleted and twisted it to suit their own purposes.
She adds that by focusing on the servants Courtney’s play becomes about class rebellion which is why it is so popular with the audience.
McDonald says: “Courtney’s play was appropriate for the audience of the time who were, what is named, the lower order. Ninety percent of society were illiterate and trawling through the novel would have been boring for them.
“In our play there is a discussion between Charlotte her brother Bramwell who understands the need to appeal to the different audience and acknowledges that people will still get to know and love her story.” (Claire Cain)

Categories: Jane Eyre, Theatre