After Mrs Rochester in Surrey

A new production of Polly Teale's After Mrs Rochester opens today April 22 in Surrey:

After Mrs Rochester
by Polly Teale

April 22 - May 1 2010

This tells the true story of the novelist Jean Rhys, a white Creole born in the West Indies, who came to England when she was seventeen. She led a restless and self-destructive life, feeling misplaced in English society. But she had a passion for literature, especially for Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. This followed her discovery that the story of the book introduced the character of Bertha Mason – the first Mrs Rochester, the mad woman in the attic – and that she was also a West Indian. That a West Indian character should have been tucked into the pages of English literature fascinated her. The play takes place in an attic room as Jean, battling with depression, remembers her own past and finds herself in the company of her alter ego, Bertha Mason.

Jean Rhys ... Nikki Packham
Bertha Mason ... Denise Scales
Ella ... Emma Bugg
with Dawn Cato, David Love, Rachel Poulloin, Irene Amos and Roger Dale

Director Jacquelyn Wynter

Categories: Theatre