Polly Teale's Jane Eyre opens today, May 22, in Charleston, West Virginia:Jane EyreEDIT:
by Charlotte Brontë
Adapted by Polly Teale
Charleston Stage Company
Thursday-Saturday, May 22-24, 29-31, 2008 @ 8:00 PM
Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences of West Virginia
One Clay Square
Charleston, WV
Jane Eyre is obscure and plain but locked up in the attic of her imagination lives a woman so passionate, so wild, so full of longing, she must be guarded night and day for fear of the havoc she would wreak. Teale's stunning visual imagery and powerful style transform Bronte's great novel into deeply affecting drama.
Seeing Charlotte Bronte's novel, "Jane Eyre," brought to life in an intimate setting - 400 seats will be placed around three sides of the stage - gives the audience an opportunity for a different theater experience, said director David Wohl. (...)Categories: Jane Eyre, Theatre
The show presents challenges for everyone from scene designers to actors.
Troy Snyder, the set and lighting designer, said he started with a set of "brown plans," or drawings of the theater that are on the Clay Center's Web site.
"With this kind of thrust staging, you can't have a whole lot of scenery," he said. "You tell a lot more of the story with sound and light cues. The lighting has to be a little more elaborate than usual."
Snyder, an assistant professor of theater at Fairmont State University, welcomes the challenge, however, because of what it offers the audience.
"Because of the way we've all been visually trained with movies, we like to be close to the action," he said. "So there's been this movement in theater in the last 50 years or so to do that, too. And this is one way of doing that." (...)
Director David Wohl confers with Troy Snyder, his lighting and set designer, during a rehearsal for “Jane Eyre,” being produced by the Charleston Stage Company in partnership with the Clay Center. The show, which opens tonight, is being performed on a thrust stage with the audience seated on three sides. Despite its challenges for setting, lights and even makeup, Wohl said he loves producing shows like this because it gives the audience an intimate view of the show.
Wohl said this kind of staging sometimes intimidates the actors as much as anyone.
"I think the major challenge is that actors don't tend to work in intimate settings. Here, literally, you've got the stage, a 4-foot aisle and then the first row of seats. If a big guy's putting his legs out, you're going to trip.
"That's a challenge for actors in some regard. From my purposes, though, it's a tremendous opportunity. The theater that has always excited me over the years is the kind where there's a very intimate setting.
"It can be, I think if you're not used to it, a little intimidating. Once you get used to it, it's intoxicating."
Challenges extend to every person involved in the production. Makeup, for example, has to be more subtle than it would be if the actors were standing 50 feet or more away from the audience. Costumes must have every detail taken care of - a safety pin could be seen from close quarters.
Lighting has to be designed to utilize equipment placed at different angles than if it were being projected from far away.
And surprisingly, actors have to learn to project their voices differently. They are elevated - a stage on the stage - and there is no curtain behind them.
"The sound goes directly up, so you have as many challenges (projecting), sometimes more so. I was telling my actors last night that when they're up on the platform, they really have to project."
Elaine Tapley plays Jane. Chris Terpening is Rochester, Marlette Carter is Bertha and Kelly Strom is Mrs. Fairfax. Other cast members include Taylor Horst, Terry Terpening, Joe Miller, Jim Stacy and Courtney Flint. (Monica Orosz)
The play is set in many short scenes, which are brought together with graceful transitions, aided by tasteful lighting and music. The single set was dark and beautiful, and served well in most scenes, except it sometimes seemed a bit cramped when characters needed more distance from each other.Charleston Daily Mail:
Jane begins the story as a headstrong young girl, who becomes a restrained and modest woman. In Teale's adaptation, she physically leaves part of herself behind, as her willful alter ego is locked in the attic. The play gives a vivid depiction of Jane's battle between duty and desire.
Jane's youthful self returns in later scenes as Brontë's character Bertha, a madwoman in the attic. As Bertha, Marlette Carter shows a range from youthful energy to disturbing adult passions. Bertha's reactions depict Jane's inner feelings throughout the play. Her presence is what enables this novel to work so well on stage.
Elaine Carol Tapley gives a strong, measured performance as the title character. Christopher Terpening showed Rochester as both a thoughtless entitled gentleman and a man of deeper feeling. While the love story is between Rochester and Jane Eyre, the best chemistry in this show was between Jane and Bertha as two sides of the same person.
The rest of the cast skillfully portrayed their roles, often taking multiple parts.
The greatest range came from Joe Biller, who played characters ranging from a clergyman to Rochester's faithful pet dog. (Mona Seghatoleslami)
Charleston Stage Company's current production of Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" is breathtaking.Categories: In the News, Jane Eyre, Theatre
Coming from someone who considers literary works of this nature, slushy, aesthetic, sentimental claptrap, I never would have believed that Jane Eyre, of all things, would move me so thoroughly.
This presentation works in several unique and interesting ways.
Think of theater in the round, but not quite. More like theater in Cinemascope, for all who are old enough to remember the transition of movies from a flat screen to a concave screen.
Audience seating semicircles the multilevel stage and everything is actually on the stage of the Clay Center auditorium.
Let's hear it for director David Wohl and the "techies" - Troy Snyder, set and light design, Kit Reed, costume design, and Jason Hively, technical director.
Their vision and the actuating of that vision make this one of the most aesthetically satisfying plays that I have seen in a long, long time.
In fact, the bountiful audience seems to share with me a serene comfort in the stage setting that allowed the players to cast a spell on us without being encumbered by the reality of tables, chairs and whatnot moving on and off the stage levels.
Of course, Elaine Carol Tapley, as Jane Eyre, is just out and out righteous, just as Chris Terpening, as the miserable Rochester, is forthright and commanding.
They strike a balance of believability that is rare and beautiful.
Other members of the cast, Marlette Carter as Bertha Taylor Horst as Adele and Jim Stacy, Terry Terpening, Courtney Flint, Kelly Strom and Joe Miller each performing multiple roles. They glide effortlessly on, off, across, around, behind and over the stage seemingly lubed by theatrical WD-40.
Music is very tastefully used to augment the dramatic sense of the actors and adds to the general feeling of calm tension.
Violent action begins within minutes of the opening with a rat bite, and what a lovely rat it was.
Also you will be cautioned to stay out of the way of the horse, and don't forget to feed and pet Pilot the Dog. One of my favorites.
This story of "Jane Eyre," as adapted for stage by Polly Teale, is good theater done extremely well by people who know what they are doing and is not to be missed. (Rick Justice)
Ján Figel’—EU Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and YouthThe quote is from Jane Eyre (Chapter XXIX).
Promoting Understanding and Dialogue
NAFSA Conference session: International Student and Scholar Mobility: Programs, Trends, Challenges and Impact
Washington DC, 27 May 2008
(...)In the end, what really counts is that higher–education systems are better connected and that more and more young people receive a good education in their countries or anywhere else in the world.
And the reason was simply explained by Charlotte Brontë:
Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow there, firm as weeds among rocks.
Schmidt, 37, a freelance writer who spent a decade in publishing, met another English major, Joni Rendon, a couple years ago. They not only hit it off, they realized they had similar interests that went beyond classic literature to the actual residences of the writers. In 2006, they visited together the home of the Bronte sisters - Charlotte, Emily and Anne - in England, where Rendon had moved.Coal Valley News talks with Elaine Carol Tapley, Jane Eyre in the Clay Center’s pr
"We hadn't sold the book at that point," Schmidt said. "What it did for us is that it allowed us to see how these kinds of trips could be for people."
The women stayed at a bed and breakfast that once was the home of the Bronte sisters' physician, they visited the pub where the Brontes' brother drank and they inspected the parsonage museum. They also took a walking tour of the town and rambled about the moors.
The trip turned out to be a highlight, for Schmidt, of the approximately 200 sites the women eventually visited, apart and together.
"I'll try not to go on and on about Bronte Country," Schmidt said, "but .... I was a huge fan of 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Bronte. The backdrop of that book is just so atmospheric. As you're reading, you get these vivid images of the moors and what they're like. For some reason, that really resonated with me, and I wanted to go there." (Bonnie Langston)
esentation of Polly Teale's Jane Eyre in Charleston, West Virginia: Directed by David Wohl, the play is an adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s renowned romantic classic, Jane Eyre, a novel religiously assigned to students of Literature and widely referenced as a one of the most famous of British novels.Another Brontëite, the OUP blog writer. She reveals her Brontëism in this post where she includes an extensive quote from Janet Gezari's Last Things. A book about Emily Brontë's poetry published last year and reviewed by BrontëBlog here. By the way, the book will be published in paperback this summer.
A word of caution to those planning on attending the play – do not expect to see a chapter-by-chapter rendition of the novel.
In the adapted version, the protagonist, or heroine Jane Eyre has an alter-ego, Bertha, who is locked in a “Red Room,” waiting for her chance to escape society’s stigma of “accepted” behavior by breaking a rule or two.
Bertha isn’t the only one breaking a few rules – the “powers that be” decided to build audience seating directly on the stage for the two weeks this play is scheduled to run at the Clay Center. (Joanie Newman)
Picture: (L to R): Former Boone County teacher and part-time actress Elaine Tapley poses with actors Chris Terpening (Rochester) and Marlette Carter (Bertha) during Friday's performance at the Clay Center (Source)
The Brontë sisters are three of my all-time, all-star favourite authors. I first read Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre when I was at school and was instantly bewitched by them, and have re-read them both often in the years since. Every time I read the Brontë sisters’ novels (not just those two) I find more in them to love. By the time you read this post, I will be in the midst of two long weeks off on holiday, and during that time I’m going to make my very first trip up to Howarth [sic] to see the parsonage where the girls lived with their brother and father - I can’t wait - talk about kid in a sweet shop!The Independent reviews Simon Patterson's exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in London which includes a Brontë-related piece:
Another work consists of three giant sails, all side by side, and leaning into some phantom wind. (The only movement in this room is the gentle flutter of the attendant's eyelids.) These sails have names of writers on them – Currer Bell (better known as Emily Brontë), Laurence Sterne and Raymond Chandler. The guide tells us that they are named in this way to remind us that the sea has been written about a great deal, and often very well. Not quite in those words. How lame is that? (Michael Glover)We are no one to judge Simon Patterson's works but if a critic wants to be taken seriously he can only do it checking his sources. Currer Bell was Charlotte Brontë's nom de plume ... not Emily's.
Man, do I love me some Garth Ennis. Garth Ennis could turn mind-numbing drivel like Jane-fucking-Eyre into a comic and it would rock out with its cock out, I’m sure. (Wildstar on Geeks of Doom)In this other case, at least the reviewer is more polite. Talking about a rumour about a Broadway musical based on Ugly Betty, we read:
A musical can have the best plot ever, and sucky music can just bring the whole thing crumbling down. See Jane Eyre, Cry Baby or the recent Saved as examples. Good in concept. Bland in execution. (Angel Cohn on Television Without Pity)Adventures in Reading talks about Wuthering Heights. SimplyScenic posts a nice picture of the Brontë way. Other Stories posts some pictures of Haworth and the Brontë Parsonage. Gondal-Girl (quite a Brontë name for a blog) wonders what Heathcliff's star sign would be.
Proposed Schedule:And next Wednesday, July 8, Denise Giardina, author of the upcoming Emily's Ghost is giving a lecture in Charleston, West Virginia:
By the given date, we’ll aim to have read at least the chapters specified. As I’ll be away on holiday over the end of June, we’ll start in early July.
Volume I:
July 7: Chapters 1-8
July 14: Chapters 9-15
Volume II
July 21: Chapters 16-22
July 28: Chapters 23-27
Volume III
August 4: Chapters 28-35
August 11:Chapters 36-42
August 18 & 25: Criticism
A West Virginia Author Summons The BrontësCategories: Alert, Talks, Villette
With Denise Giardina
Wednesday, July 8, 12:15 pm, Art Gallery
Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences of West Virginia
Charleston author Denise Giardina will read from and discuss her upcoming book 'Emily's Ghost: A Novel of the Brontë Sisters'. Giardina is the author of several novels, including 'Storming Heaven'. She is an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church and is writer-in-residence at West Virginia State University. The author will also sign copies of her previous books after the lecture, so be sure to bring along your Denise Giardina novels!
The Scarborough Evening News reports the results of the Scarborough in Bloom photographic competition:The competition's Under 16 category winner was Larissa Webster with her flower and coastal view (Class 5J, Gladstone Road Junior School) while a highly commended went to Jessica Speight (Class 5B, also of Gladstone Road Junior School) for her photograph of Anne Bronte's grave.Click on the picture to go to the Scarborough in Bloom website and enlarge it.
Charleston author Denise Giardina describes the realization as her "Come to Jesus moment."Well, actually what Lucasta Miller's The Brontë Myth (the "biography" which the article refers to) says is that "The great biographical Brontë novel is, however, yet to be written." and suggests not only Mr Ackroyd name but also A.S. Byatt. (Check the aforementioned comment to know more details).
The ordained Episcopal deacon was reading yet another biography of the Brontes. The book noted that a serious novel never had been written about the sisters who produced "Jane Eyre" and "Wuthering Heights." Perhaps, Peter Ackroyd should write one. (Rosalie Earle)
"No, no, I should write that book," Giardina remembered saying to herself.And Jude Morgan, Syrie James, Sheila Kohler or Juliet Gael did the same thing. Their novels have been published or will be published this or next year.
And so she did. (Rosalie Earle)
"Emily's Ghost: A Novel of Bronte Sisters" was published this month by W.W. Norton. Giardina talked about her fifth novel, read a passage from it and answered questions about her work Wednesday at Lunchtime Lecture at the Clay Center.The Wall Street Journal talks about the Salinger incident and the fair use of copyright characters:
Her obsession with the Brontes began before she was born, Giardina explained. One of the first purchases her mother made with her first paycheck as a nurse was a two-volume set of "Jane Eyre" and "Wuthering Heights."
Giardina said the woodcarving illustrations in the books "were fascinating to me as a 5-year-old. I tried to make up stories about them because I couldn't yet read."
Later, she read a biography of the Brontes before she had actually read any of their 19th- century novels.
In her 1987 novel "Storming Heaven," Giardina introduces a main character, Carrie Bishop, by talking how much she loved "Wuthering Heights." She said she consciously modeled "The Unquiet Earth" on "Wuthering Heights," beginning with its name to its structure and characters.
So when she read that no serious novel had been written based on the Brontes, Giardina said she became obsessed with writing the book. After all, she had already done much of the research.
She focused on Emily Bronte, the author of "Wuthering Heights," because Charlotte Bronte outlived her sisters and, Giardina said, "totally controlled how the Bronte story was told." (A third sister, Anne, is the author of "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.")
Giardina visited Haworth in Yorkshire, England, where the Brontes lived, and walked the moors described in "Wuthering Heights." She visited the parsonage, where the Rev. Patrick Bronte raised his daughters, and where his young, handsome curate William Weightman visited.
With a historical novel, Giardina said she is very careful to get the basic facts and details accurate.
But little of Emily Bronte's writings -- her poems, letters, perhaps a second novel -- remain. What Giardina learned about her was through others and through "Wuthering Heights" itself.
For example, a letter from a friend of Charlotte Bronte described Emily's intense look during a conversation with the curate. "I took that and ran," Giardina said.
In a March review for the Sunday Gazette-Mail, Carol Campbell wrote:
"When you open the pages of Denise Giardina's new novel, you slip into the world of the Brontes as effortlessly as one of Emily's ghosts.
"Whether you are very familiar with the lives of the famous Bronte sisters or know very little about them really doesn't matter for the success of this novel."
Giardina will speak about the novel and sign her books at a wine reception at 6 p.m. July 27 at Taylor Books on Capital Street. She will talk and sign books at 7 p.m. July 29 at Barnes & Noble, University Drive, Morgantown. (Rosalie Earle)
Fair-use copyright usually lets an author quote from another's work in a scholarly article, review or news story. But literary critique in the form of a novel is not unheard of. Jean Rhys's "Wide Sargasso Sea" retells "Jane Eyre" from the point of view of Bertha, the madwoman in the attic. Rita Copeland, a comparative literature professor at the University of Pennsylvania, calls it "a deep exploration of the political, social and racial issues that underlie Charlotte Brontë's novel. Of course Rhys' book is a great novel, but it's also an important 'reading' of 'Jane Eyre,' of the Caribbean side of the story in Brontë's novel and of the European relationship to the West Indies." (...)National Review lists several recent fantasy readings:
Margaret Mitchell was long gone, of course, by the time Ms. Randall borrowed her creations, as was Brontë when Rhys wrote her work. And though Mr. Salinger himself was not troubled by his appearance in Mr. Colting's work, the public's fascination seemed to stem from this literary layering. (Julie Steinberg)
Galen Beckett’s The Magicians and Mrs. Quent is a bit more heavy-handed as a pastiche of Austen and the Brontës, by way of Jules Verne, but I found it a delight from beginning to end. (Orson Scott Card)The Tehama County Daily News discovers new Brontëites in the Corning Healthcare District, Jane Austen's World publishes a post compiling the Q&A with Syrie James, author of The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë. The novel is also reviewed on Sharon's Garden of Book Reviews:
This fascinating novel is a delight to read, and should send readers scurrying to discover James’ previous novel “The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen.”The Blog of Oddments and Curiosities reviews Villette and Tj.blackwell has uploaded a complete set of pictures of his trip to Top Withens and Brontë country.
What are your favorite books or authors?Categories: Books, Brontëana, Brontëites, Fiction, Haworth, Villette, Wide Sargasso Sea
I have so many that I could fill pages and pages. Let’s stick to the classics, shall we? I love Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, best of all.
Bronte Sisters Bradford and Haworth, YorkshireSome days ago we posted about similarities between Wuthering Heights and Michael Ondaatje's new novel Divisadero. Today, L.A. Weekly insists:The dramatic moorland inspired the Brontës to write their many classics novels. The most famous attraction is their house in Haworth, The Parsonage, built in 1778-9, which was the lifelong home of the Brontë family. It was opened as a museum in 1928 and is set out with the Brontës' possessions. (John Walsh)
Her adoptive sister Claire digs up evidence for a San Francisco public defender, while Coop, a brooder straight out of Emily Brontë, who grew up with Anna and Claire, is an itinerant Southern California cardsharp besotted with a heroin-addicted nightclub singer. (Ella Taylor)A couple of theatres have announced their new seasons with some Jane Eyre in them:
* "Jane Eyre," May 22, 2008 - Charlotte Bronte's classic masterpiece is being performed by the Charleston Stage Company.
Jane Eyre. The Musical appears in the new season of the Valentine Theatre in Toledo, OH.Bronte Moor, taken by Tony Caunt, of Birchlands Grove, Wilsden, Bradford.
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