"I was like, ‘Do you want to be my Rochester?’"

Harrogate Advertiser announces a new, local production of Jane Eyre to go on the stage at the end of this month.

The Harrogate Dramatic Society production of Jane Eyre throws up big challenges for both cast and production team.
In particular it presents an opportunity for newcomers to the society to showcase their talents on the stage of Harrogate Theatre.
Sue Rawson and Judith Howe’s production – with its cast of 21 actors playing 42 parts – is an adaptation by Willis Hall of the Charlotte Brontë classic and opens the new soceity season with four performances from Thursday October 24 to Saturday October 26.
The role of Jane Eyre will be in the hands of 19-year-old Natasha Davidson from Harrogate. [...]
“I am beyond excited to be playing Jane Eyre and I hope I can do this beloved character justice,” she said.
Carole Carpenter, who will be seen as three characters in Jane Eyre, first trod the boards at Harrogate Theatre when she was five. [...]
Carole said: “I love the range of different parts I get to play in Jane Eyre: the calm integrity of Miss Temple at Lowood School, the bubbly mother-hen energy of Diana Rivers and the determination of socialite Blanche Ingram; she’s the one who gets to wear the loveliest dresses – always fun.”
Emma Towning [...] relishes playing the terrifying character Bertha Mason, better known as the Mad Woman incarcerated in the attic of Mr Rochester’s Thornfield Hall.
“It’s one of three parts I am taking,” Emma said, “but I’m especially excited to be bringing some creepy wild energy to the role of the Mad Woman.”
The fourth newcomer to the society Matthew Weilding will be playing two parts, St John Rivers and Mr Naysmith. [...]
Matthew [...] said: “I now devote a lot of myJane Eyre.”
spare time to drama, and, as much as I enjoy music and singing in musicals, I am looking forward to playing a serious role in
Jane Eyre is on daily at 7.30pm with a 2.30pm matinee on the Saturday. (Sue Wilkinson)

Brisbane News is all about the upcoming Qpac Jane Eyre production in Brisbane:

Fresh Eyre
The creative minds at Brisbane's Shake & Stir theatre company are no strangers to giving new life to old tales, and this time they're turning their talents to Charlotte Bronte's masterpiece.
It's one of the greatest romances ever written — a brooding Gothic mystery that has spanned the generations and captivated millions across the world. And soon Charlotte Bronte's classic novel Jane Eyre will be catapulted into the modem age, as award-winning Brisbane theatre company Shake & Stir prepare to reimagine the story with a musical score.
The production opens at QPACs intimate Crethome Theatre this month, and co-artistic director Nick Skubij says audiences are in for a surprise — not least because the music has been written by Superjesus frontwoman and multiple ARIA-award-winning rock star Sarah McLeod.
"It, not a traditionalist piece," Nick says. "'We have stayed very tore to the story but this is a modem interpretation, so it will feel like the book but as though you are seeing it with fresh eyes. It's not a
musical as such because the music is much more integrated.
"Like a film, it underscores and guides the viewer through the emotion of what, happening. We hope the audience will feel like they are part of the show and that their hearts are beating alongside the characters."
It's not the first time Shake & Stir has adapted a much-loved literary classic, with previous triumphs including Wuthering Heights, Dracula, Fantastic Mr Fox and George Orwell's 1984. Nick says Jane Eyre was the perfect choice for a contemporary stage adaptation. "We love the idea of taking classic literature which has possibly become a bit dusty over the years, brushing it off, and reimagining it for audiences today," he says. "Gothic lit lends itself to such dramatically. It is so atmospheric and there are so many opportunities for the design team." (Hannah Davies)

More theatre announcements, this one from Detroit via Broadway World.

Just in time for Halloween, St. Dunstan's Theatre Guild is proud to present Zom-Bride!, an original play written by Jake Zinke (West Bloomfield). Zom-Bride! is a parody of the 1943 film I Walked with a Zombie, which was loosely based on the novel Jane Eyre.

Cosmopolitan interviews Héloïse Letissier from Christine and the Queens.

“I read too many books. Jane Eyre shaped my love life. It had to be extreme. I was like, ‘Do you want to be my Rochester?’ They’d be like, ‘Chill out!’” she says, laughing. (Nicola Fahey)

El asombrario (Spain) features 'library activist' Marisa Mediavilla.

¿Qué libros manejó de niña? “La verdad es que no lo recuerdo. De pequeña no recuerdo libros en casa y en el colegio de monjas, donde estuve interna los seis años del bachiller, tampoco nos animaban a leer salvo los libros de texto. Supongo que empezaría a leer más cuando fui a la Universidad, y sí tengo un recuerdo muy especial de Jane Eyre, de Charlotte Brontë, que me regalaron a mis 16 o 17 años”. (Sol Alonso) (Translation)

DG Reads posts about Jane Eyre.