This is the title of an article published today in the Minneapolis Star Tribune concerning the Jane Eyre performances at the Guthrie Theatre and particularly, Stacie Rice's role as Jane Eyre:Some youngsters see a production at, say, the Guthrie Theater or on Broadway and are so jazzed by stage magic that they have to be in plays. That is true for Stacia Rice, who saw her first play at the Guthrie at around age 9 -- the same year she first read "Jane Eyre."TwinCities also comments on this production:
When she headlines as the title character in the Guthrie's "Jane Eyre," which opens today on the Wurtele Thrust Stage, she will have arrived at a childhood dream in a most unusual way.(...)
"Through her dedication to broadening her range, through her tenacity, through her continuing reach, Stacia has earned it," said "Jane Eyre" director John Miller-Stephany, who has followed and nurtured Rice's talent over the past several years.(...)
Rice will need to tap into empathy and more for her Jane Eyre. While Englishwoman Charlotte Brontë published her novel in 1847 under a pseudonym, the story has resonated through the ages because of the masterful way it interlaces themes such as romance and morality, class and personal conflict. (...)
In the Guthrie production, adapted by Irishman Alan Stanford (his version of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" played the Guthrie four years ago), three actors portray Jane. Rice plays the journeying Jane most familiar to readers and viewers of many film adaptations.
"I think of family when I see Jane," said Rice. "She's simple and strong, plain but complex."(...)
When he [John Miller-Stephany] cast Rice as Jane Eyre, Miller-Stephany was confident that she could easily move into all the styles that the play calls for, including romance and gothic. But he had one concern.
"I thought she may have been too glamorous for the part," he said. "Charlotte Brontë wrote this book to expressly portray a plain person."Look at me," Rice said, going into character. "I have no makeup on. I can play plain." (Rohan Preston)
The Guthrie's adaptation of "Jane Eyre," Charlotte Bronte's classic romance novel of 1847, probably qualifies as the "oldest" show opening this weekend, even though the familiar tale will be told in a new adaptation by Alan Stanford. (Dominic P. Papatola)Categories: In the News, Jane Eyre, Theatre
The Minneapolis Star Tribune carries a review of the performances of Alan Stanford's adaptation of Jane Eyre at the Guthrie theatre in Minneapolis: Guthrie plumbs inner depths in not-so-plain version of 'Jane Eyre'. Strong performances by the two leads draw the audience into the story of an abused orphan who finds love.Ushers handed out long-stemmed roses to patrons at the end of Friday night's opening performance of "Jane Eyre" at the Guthrie Theater.Pioneer Press also reviews positively this production: Guthrie's 'Jane Eyre' satisfies fans, wins new ones:
The aromatic flowers, plus free-flowing champagne and lively music, extended a feeling from the play into the lobby. It was as if we had been guests at a different kind of production -- a wedding.
Yet, as "Jane Eyre" began with faintly ominous rumblings and with Jane Senior (played with warmth by Margaret Daly) narrating the story of her bitter childhood as it was acted out by a group of young actors, I did not imagine that mirth would be one of the by-products of the evening.
For one thing, the staging, by John Miller-Stephany, seemed at first to be quite remote, with much of the action taking place at the back of the stage -- a physical distance from the audience that matched the temporal one of the 19th-century setting. It seemed like we might be in for a historical diorama writ large on the Wurtele Thrust.
For another, scenic and costume designer Patrick Clark has chosen a mostly gray palette for the production. The sense of oppression that lends, while thematically apt, suggested an adaptation of a dreary but necessary Chekhov play rather than Alan Stanford's streamlined adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's novel of throbbing hearts.
Yet as lead actors Stacia Rice, who depicted Jane as a young adult, and Sean Haberle, as her would-be love, Rochester, dug deeper into their characters, the production drew us in. In portraying a self-controlled and consistent Jane, Rice used gestures and articulation to subtly reveal how a once-abused girl can imagine the possibility of love as an adult. Haberle gave Rochester a gruff, quaking embodiment. We get a sense from his muscular portrayal that Rochester's domineering persona is a cover for his ills.
The play accomplishes two beautiful things simultaneously: transporting us into the lives of characters created more than a century ago and making their story, even with some weird elements, feel contemporary.
Part fairy tale, part Gothic romance, Brontë's narrative carries us through the experiences of the principled and plain Jane Eyre. A put-upon orphan, she is first oppressed by her abusive relations. She lands in a religious charity school where discipline is at the tip of a cane. She survives that experience.
Jane accepts a job as a governess at Rochester's estate. She falls for him and he for her, but he's a man of mystery and tormenting secrets (suggested at times by composer Andrew Cooke's melancholy and feedback-sounding score).
The Guthrie's "Jane Eyre" succeeds because the main characters' inner lives are so palpably and vividly depicted by Haberle and Rice, who have a strong chemistry.
Rice's Jane is a character of simplicity and grace. Jane often is compared to a bird and to a nun, and Rice gives her a fluttery grace.
There are also smaller but potent performances by Barbara Bryne as Mrs. Fairfax, on the domestic staff of the Rochester estate; Charity Jones as a haunting, bat-like figure from Rochester's past; Barbara Kingsley as the sneering and sibilant Lady Ingram; and Nathaniel Fuller as the cruel and hypocritical Mr. Brocklehurst. (Rohan Preston)
(...)Alan Stanford offers a scrupulously faithful adaptation for the stage. His script bookends the tale with a mature, matronly Jane (a knowing, pleasingly unsentimental Margaret Daly) looking back over the events of her life and periodically conversing with her younger selves.Categories: In the News, Jane Eyre, Theatre
From the first words out of her mouth, it's evident that young Jane (bright-eyed fifth-grader Lucy Lawton) was born too early to live in mid-19th century England. She's lippy and she's opinionated and - uh-oh - she reads.
It's inevitable that this orphan will tangle with her bad-willed, bourgeois relations and get cast off into the world and grow into young womanhood facing a harsh world where her principles and her heart will be tested by the mysterious, brooding Mr. Rochester.
Stacia Rice might not be the plain-looking, puny Jane that Bronte had in mind, but she's the very incarnation of how young female readers probably pictured her. Her barely disguised beauty rides on a steel-spined carriage whose outward strength is belied by a fluttering smile. Jane's life is no picnic, and Rice lets us see that struggle as well as the core of unapologetic self-pride and certainty that sees her through.
Wild haired, with a face that looks chiseled out of stone and eyes always ready to taunt or tease, Sean Haberle's Edward Rochester strikes an intriguing and propulsive balance. His Rochester is a volatile man whose Dr. Jekyll seems forever at war with his Mr. Hyde, and as likely to explode in anger as in delight. With Rice, their characters struggle and strive to forge a hard-won love that starts as a meeting of the minds and becomes a melding of souls.
And they're well supported at every turn. From Charity Jones' beautiful, bestial Bertha to Barbara Bryne's bemused and dutiful Mrs. Fairfax; Peter Christian Hansen's more-righteous-than-thou St. John Rivers to Nathaniel Fuller's Dickensian schoolmaster Brocklehurst; Peggy O'Connell's rough-hewn Grace Pool to Ron Menzel's tortured and fraternal Richard Mason, they make the characters of Bronte's world come to vivid life.
Clocking in at just under three hours, John Miller-Stephany's direction - set on Patrick Clark's plain, looming set of gray battlements and circular platforms - hits the right notes and finds the wry humor that's not immediately evident on the page.
His staging drags in the same places the novel does (most notably in the time between Jane's tearful departure from Thornfield and her reunification with Rochester), but Andrew Cooke's underscoring lifts the proceedings with a cinematic sweep.
His music foreshadows dark secrets, celebrates romance with reserve and helps complete the Guthrie's not-insignificant achievement of honoring a literary classic while giving it leave to breathe anew. (Dominic P. Papatola)
Jane Eyre adapted by Alan Stanford returns to the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis from today March 8 until March 30. From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:Re-opening Saturday: Jane Eyre is back. The story of Charlotte Brontë's orphan-turned-governess, which received a mildly gothic staging by John Miller-Stephany last fall at the Guthrie, is being revived with the same cast. Stacia Rice returns to the role of Jane, which she embodied with a muted grace last year, while Sean Haberle plays her quaking employer and lust object, Rochester. In this rococo love story, Jane suffers terribly as a child but grows up to become a functioning adult, including being the caregiver for the children in Rochester's household. Both Jane and Rochester are scarred, wanting souls who, despite their differences, fall for each other. Mirth ensues. (Rohan Preston)Complete cast and crew in Playbill. More information on previous posts or on BroadwayWorld.
7:30 p.m. Sat., 1 p.m. Sun., 10:30 a.m. Wed., 7:30 p.m. Thu.-next Fri.
Ends March 30.
Guthrie Theater, 818 S. 2nd St., Mpls. $29-$59. 612-377-2224, and online at www.guthrietheater.org)
Jane Eyre is a well-loved character in and out of Charlotte Bronte's 1847 novel where she, plain looking, plain-spoken, and plainly wronged, carves out a life of purpose for herself wherever fate sends her. I love Jane Eyre. So it is hard for me not to warm up to a production that is affectionate for her reserved demeanor and sympathetic toward her steely spine and strict principles. Such is the case in Mergatroyd Production's Jane Eyre, adapted and directed by N.G. McClernan. Alas, although the play is energetically performed by all onstage, the tone, texture, and interpretation of this production didn't entirely work for me. In short, I didn't fall in love with it, which I expected to going in, being already in love with the source material.The Chicago Tribune reviews the Dance COLEctive's performances of Second Journeys which we presented some days ago:
The play tells only the part in the novel about the relationship formed between the two protagonists, Jane Eyre and Mr. Edward Rochester. Jane is hired as a governess by Mrs. Alice Fairfax, housekeeper of Thornfield Manor, for Rochester's ward. Jane and Rochester forge a bond despite their 20-year age difference and disparate social standing. But secrets and personal choices will force them apart. Jane leaves and by chance finds her cousin, St. John Rivers, who pursues her for his missionary work. The first scene is a flashforward to one of the key moments in the story—Jane bids farewell to Rochester after their botched wedding. Then the tale goes back to their first encounter and subsequent romance.
Clocking in at two and half hours, this adaptation finds key plot moments and breaks them down into short and quick scenes, some of them rather simplistic, others impressionistic, with as little as a few lines or gestures. These scenes are more cinematic than theatrical in nature—a couple of them even feel shorter than the scene change in between. This translates to a fragmented experience in which tension and suspense is hard to sustain. McClernan uses an array of clever devices to visualize the introverted narrative from the novel, and injects a few interesting twists toward the end. She also attempts humor and levity, something rarely done in the adaptation of Jane Eyre.
Yet one vital thing is missing from the flurry, and that's the emotional intensity between Jane and Rochester. Since this adaptation confines itself entirely to the love story, it is essential that this love come to life and sear through the oppressive doom of social censure and cruel fate. However, the progression of their relationship is not convincing; there lies in it very little connection between them. The rapid pacing and choppy script contribute further to a sense of superficiality and incompletion. While carried out with thought and proficiency, the play feels temperamentally scattered and abrupt. It's telling a canny, effervescent tale that should have been both delicate and impassioned. Other crucial ingredients are also largely absent: tormented souls, erotic longing, looming violence and disaster, and a genuine battle between one's desire and the social norm.
That being said, the performers are very competent and often sparkling, with most of them pulling double roles. Mary Murphy makes an earnest, and sunnier than usual, Jane. Alice Connorton's Fairfax is warm and full-fleshed. Nat Cassidy's St. John is nuanced and particularly affecting. While I'd like Rochester to be a lot darker in temper and mood, Greg Oliver Bodine's verbal delivery is smooth and refined.
Worth noting, also, is the fact that my companions—four in all—enjoyed the play. Where I found lack of depth and feeling they saw clarity and variety. Maybe this is what happens to someone such as myself who has loved the book and tried to see every adaptation available: there are particular sensations I look for, and the book leaves very large shoes to fill indeed. (Kat Chamberlain)
Death, decay, mortality. These are the ideas that permeate "Second Journeys," the Dance COLEctive program running through Saturday at the Dance Center of Columbia College. It implies travel to another dimension -- even deep within one's own soul. But, ironically, the macabre tone builds to an uplifting finale.Broadway World announces the Alan Stanford's Jane Eyre revival at the Guthrie Theatre for next month:
Margi Cole's reworking of her 2005 full-length, Bronte sisters-themed "Written on the Body" is the evening's centerpiece. (...)
The second half is devoted to Cole's multimedia sextet "Written on the Body," inspired by British authors Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte and their early strategy of writing under male pseudonyms. But it's more accurately a stark and stately dance reflection -- albeit sometimes too drowsily dirgelike -- on sacrifice and the imaginative spirit. (Lucia Mauro)
The Guthrie today announced that audiences will have another opportunity to see Jane Eyre when its popular stage adaptation of the classic Charlotte Brontë novel returns for a limited engagement in March 2008. The production, directed by Associate Artistic Director John Miller-Stephany, will play 20 performances on the Wurtele Thrust Stage from March 8 – 30. Tickets are priced from $29 to $59 and are on sale through the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224, toll-free 877.44.STAGE and online at www.guthrietheater.org.Categories: Dance, Jane Eyre, Theatre
Twin Cities actress Stacia Rice will return to play the title character opposite Sean Haberle's Edward Rochester, in the stirring adaptation by Alan Stanford, whose version of Pride and Prejudice also earned rave reviews from audiences and critics alike when it was mounted at the Guthrie in 2003.
Stanford introduces the audience to Jane Eyre at three ages: as a child of 12, a young woman of 18 and as a 50-year-old woman writing her memoirs, which serves as the framing and narrative device for the production. Margaret Daly and Lucy Lawton will return to play Jane Senior and Child Jane, respectively. (...)
The 30-member Jane Eyre cast also includes Jessie Austrian (Blanche Ingram/Barbara), Jennifer Blagen (Miss Scatcherd/Diana Rivers), Barbara Bryne (Mrs. Fairfax), Caroline Cooney (Leah), Laura Esping (Miss Temple/Mary Rivers), Nathaniel Fuller (Mr. Brocklehurst/Mr. Wood), Peter Christian Hansen (St. John Rivers/Surgeon), Charity Jones (Mrs. Reed/Bertha), Barbara Kingsley (Lady Ingram/Hannah), Ron Menzel (Richard Mason), Peggy O'Connell (Grace Poole) and Peter Thomson (Lord Ingram/Briggs). Sean Michel Dooley replaces John Skelly in the role of Davie for this return engagement.
In addition to Lawton, Makenzie Allen (Georgiana Reed/School Girl), Grace Blevins (Adele), Shane Ellis (John Reed) Shelby Flannery (Helen Burns/School Girl), Alexis Gaither (Girl Pupil #1/School Girl), Hanna Kowalczyk (Orphan/Annie), Mac Rasmus (Broughton Brocklehurst), Amy Schroeder (Orphan/School Girl), Tiara Shockency (Eliza Reed/School Girl) and Caledonia Wilson (Orphan/Marjory) join the children's cast, with Dana Clausen, Paul McGuire and Glen Stone serving as essentials for the production.
The artistic staff includes Patrick Clark (Set and Costume Designer), Matthew Reinert (Lighting Designer), Andrew Cooke (Composer), Scott W. Edwards (Sound Designer), Carla Steen (Dramaturg), Lucinda Holshue (Voice and Dialect Coach), Marcela Lorca (Movement), Peter Moore (Fight Director), Chris A. Code (Stage Manager), Amy Monroe (Assistant Stage Manager) and Suzy Messerole (Assistant Director).
We suppose that the Creole-Brontë connection is through Bertha Mason's West Indies origins. There's also a Cowan Bridge School schoolfellow of Charlotte Brontë's, Mellany Hayne, who was arguably of Creole origins. Nevertheless, recent research by Sarah Fermi (BST, v27(3), 2002) suggests that although there were West Indies family connections, she was not a Creole (see R. Barnard, Brontë Encyclopedia).There is a chance to find out about the links between Creole culture and Manchester over the next few days as local historian Dominique Tessier leads guided Black History Trails through the city.
The walks on September 6, 7 and 8 have been organised as part of a conference at Manchester University examining the blending of French, Spanish, British and Afro-Caribbean cultures, entitled ‘Creolising Europe’.
Participants will discover how 18th century Haitian slavery resistance leader Toussaint l’Ouverture and jazz legend Louis Armstrong had connections to Manchester, and what Charlotte Brontë and Karl Marx had to do with Creole culture. (Caroline Lewis)
Twin Cities native has taken that love into the leading role in the Guthrie Theater’s Jane Eyre, a tale of romance and suspense opening September 8 at the Guthrie. “I am deeply honored to have the title role at the Guthrie. I am also incredibly honored to play a character as deep and rich as Jane Eyre,” said Rice. (...)Buddytv reports a Wuthering Heights reference in today's episode of the eternal soap The Young and the Restless:
Rice admires her character’s strength and spirit. “Jane Eyre represents the pride in being a strong woman, but she also represents my personal fears,” reflected Rice. “There’s no money, no fine clothing, no physical beauty, yet she [Jane Eyre] is strong, smart, wise and kind.”
This adaptation of Jane Eyre by Alan Stanford “allows me to exist in Jane’s world. I can open up and be overtaken by her story,” noted Rice. She admires Jane Eyre’s strong moral attitudes. “I would love to be that way. I would love to share Jane’s kindness for humans, but I cannot claim to be as morally steadfast,” said Rice. (Jennifer Holder)
After the opening credits, we find ourselves with Jana and Kevin in the hospital. The doctor is about to give them the story on how Jana's surgery went, and the two prepare themselves for the news, making a reference to Wuthering Heights in the process. I can guarantee you that Kevin has never read Wuthering Heights. (Debbie Chang)Wuthering Heights also plays a role in this dramatic/sensationalist article about madness and drugs in the Daily Mail.
Jane is the woman I attempt to model my life on. That doesn’t always go well but I remind myself that Jane had to struggle in order to grow into the remarkable woman who pronounces the proto-feminist statement of choice, ‘Reader, I married him.’.The other link is this contest in Marta Acosta's blog: Best & Worst Trailer of a Classic Novel. Christina has participated with a trailer of Jane Eyre. See it here.
This is an extraordinary phrase in itself and Jane has much more to say about independence and respect. (Read more) (Jodie)
Justine Picardie's Daphne (Bloomsbury, March) investigates Daphne du Maurier's fascination with the Brontë sisters' reprobate brother Branwell, in a literary mystery of stolen manuscripts. (Justine Jordan)The Oklahoman best TV bet for this weekend is the PBS re-airing of Jane Eyre 2006:
SUNDAYThe Minneapolis Star-Tribune reviews the best theatre seen in the Twin Cities area and Alan Stanford's Jane Eyre at the Guthrie Theatre is mentioned:
BEST BET
•"Masterpiece Theatre,” 8 p.m., OETA-13.
Did you swoon over Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in "Pride and Prejudice”? Meet Toby Stephens, whose portrayal of Mr. Rochester in this four-part "Jane Eyre” drew raves. Ruth Wilson gives an equally inspired performance as Jane, the plucky orphan he hires as a governess, in what many are calling the best screen take on Charlotte Bronte's classic. Even if Toby's not your type, you'll enjoy it.
Outstanding play, larger theaters: Director Peter Rothstein and his cast sharpened Noel Coward's wit in "Private Lives," which bested a provocative "Merchant of Venice" -- both Guthrie productions -- and an incisive "Speed the Plow" at the Jungle. Honorable mentions to "Jane Eyre" and "The Glass Menagerie" at the Guthrie. (Tom Wallace)And well, we have another Brontë mention in an article by Tanya Gold in The Guardian. Yes, the same person who wrote this and this. It's a pity that Charlotte Brontë gets mixed into this article where Ms Gold plays the missing link between Valerie Solanas and Bridget Jones.
Why does the loneliness never end (© Charlotte Bronte 1855)?We don't know if Tanya Gold is quoting from Charlotte Brontë or - as is her wont - just making fun of her. In any case it's quite improbable that Charlotte Brontë would have written such a thing in 1855, months into her happy marriage and shortly before her death.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a story that will stay with you, perhaps requiring subsequent readings. Another common theme among reviewers was astonishment that such an accurate portrayal of marital strife should come from a young woman who never married. (Laura McDonald)My temporary tree posts a beautiful picture inspired by Wichrowe wzgórza, i.e. Wuthering Heights in Polish.
Living in West Yorkshire it's easy to get a false impression of how The North – those capital letters are deliberate – is represented in literature. Within a ten mile radius I'm reminded of the enduring legacy of the Brontë sisters, the work of Sylvia Plath who is buried nearby or the omnipresent Ted Hughes, whose stanzas seems to document every footpath or landmark I come across. (Ben Myers)One more example of said literary connections is Imelda Marsden's letter to the Mirfield Reporter about a recent local event:
On Saturday morning there was the unveiling of the Luddite statue at Sparrow Park, Liversedge. The Spen Valley Civic Society had worked very hard over six years to create this, so well done to them. The Rev Patrick Brontë would have been proud of them.The Telegraph and Argus shows how the planned tax on heritage buildings renovations may 'risk damaging communities across the district'.
The invited guests then went to the reception at the Shears pub where the Luddites had met to plan their attacks in 1812. Well done to the landlord Paul Black and his staff, who were dressed in costume, and their Luddite beer.
On Saturday afternoon we were at Holly Bank school (formerly Roe Head where the Brontë sisters had attended) in Mirfield where I presented two talks with a difference. One was with William Cartwright, aka David Pinder dressed as Cartwright, the Rawfolds mill owner, about his mill being attacked by the Luddites. After the interval the next speaker, who was supposed to talk about Charlotte Brontë’s novel Shirley, which features the Luddites’ attacks, was held up at Skipton Castle, so retired teacher Barbara Lumb came to the rescue and talked about the novel. Barbara’s book on the Spen Valley is to come out later this year. A descendant of the Rev Patrick Brontë’s sister, Sarah, was present.
John Huxley, chairman of the Haworth Future Committee, said it had so far raised £80,000 – and still needs £34,000 – for restorations at the Grade II-listed Haworth Parish Church where Charlotte and Emily Brontë are buried.Anyone wishing to help prevent this may sign a petition online here.
He said that when the 20 per cent VAT rise is brought in, the church could face paying £36,000 in extra tax and that the group was “watching the situation closely.”
Mr Huxley said: “Quite clearly, it could have a massive impact on us if we were unable to recover the full amount of VAT.” (Marc Meneaud)
The same year, for AIP, he made a condensed version of Wuthering Heights (1970), using authentic Yorkshire locations. (Gavin Gaughan)According to its official blog, the Maryland Film Festival (May 3-6) will be screening Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights.
When Dylan Hicks wrote his piece for the City Pages back in 2003, a survey of the past ten seasons found that only 10 percent of the plays (7 out of 70) on Guthrie's stages were by women.Journey Keeper posts about Jane Eyre.
Today, a similar look back at the number of female playwrights in the Guthrie Theater's last ten seasons, as listed on the theater's own website, finds it staged 111 shows, 18 of which were written by women (that's counting two plays based on the novels of Charlotte Brontë and Jane Austen).
That means that in the past decade, 16.2 percent of the plays were written by women.
At this rate, women will make up 50 percent of the playwrights by the year 2036. (Marianne Combs)
Categories: Jane Eyre, TheatreCharlotte Bronte's tale of romance and suspense has been adapted by Alan Stanford and will play the famed regional theatre Sept. 8-Nov. 10 with an official opening Sept. 14.
Directed by John Miller-Stephany, the production will feature Jane at three ages, played by three different actresses. As previously announced, Stacia Rice will play the adult Jane, while Lucy Lawton and Margaret Daly have been cast as, respectively, the 11 and 18-year-old Jane. Sean Haberle will be Edward Rochester.
The cast will also feature Jessie Austrian (Blanche Ingram/Barbara), Jennifer Blagen (Miss Scatcherd/Diana Rivers), Barbara Bryne (Mrs. Fairfax), Caroline Cooney (Leah), Laura Esping (Miss Temple/Mary Rivers), Nathaniel Fuller (Mr. Brocklehurst/Mr. Wood), Peter Christian Hansen (St. John Rivers/Surgeon), Charity Jones (Mrs. Reed/Bertha), Barbara Kingsley (Lady Ingram/Hannah), Ron Menzel (Richard Mason), Peggy O'Connell (Grace Poole), John Skelley (Davie) and Peter Thomson (Lord Ingram/Briggs).
The children's cast will include Makenzie Allen (Georgiana Reed/School Girl), Grace Blevins (Adele), Shane Ellis (John Reed) Shelby Flannery (Helen Burns/School Girl), Alexis Gaither (Girl Pupil #1/School Girl), Hanna Kowalczyk (Orphan/Annie), Mac Rasmus (Broughton Brocklehurst), Amy Schroeder (Orphan/School Girl), Tiara Shockency (Eliza Reed/School Girl) and Caledonia Wilson (Orphan/Marjory).
"Having survived an orphan childhood made painful at the hands of an unkind aunt and a cruel school headmaster," press notes state, "a young Jane Eyre accepts the position of governess to a ward at Thornfield Hall. There, she wins the heart of her employer, Edward Rochester, a kind yet mysterious man. On their wedding day, Jane's love, strength and determination are tested as Rochester's long-kept secrets are unveiled, changing both their lives forever."
The artistic staff includes Andrew Cooke (composer), Patrick Clark (set and costume designer), Matthew Reinert (lighting designer), Scott W. Edwards (sound designer), Carla Steen (dramaturg), Lucinda Holshue (voice and dialect coach), Marcela Lorca (movement), Peter Moore (fight director), Chris A. Code (stage manager), Amy Monroe (assistant stage manager) and Suzy Messerole (assistant director).
The Guthrie is located at 818 South 2nd Street (at Chicago Avenue) in downtown Minneapolis. To purchase tickets call (612) 377-2224 or visit www.guthrietheater.org. (Andrew Gans)
In other celebrated Pulman adaptations, Young played Anna Scherer in War and Peace (1972) and Madame Lippevechsel in Crime and Punishment (1979), both for the BBC, and Miss Scatcherd in the 1970 film Jane Eyre. (Anthony Hayward)
"She was a small lady with a huge talent — one of a kind," said former Guthrie artistic director Joe Dowling, who directed Bryne in numerous shows at the Minneapolis theater where images of her in action are embossed on the exterior and interior of the building.Dowling first worked with Bryne at the Stratford (Ontario) Festival, created by the Guthrie's founder, Tyrone Guthrie. She played a Rude Mechanical in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," the beginning of a decadeslong partnership with the director that included "H.M.S. Pinafore," "Macbeth," "Jane Eyre," "His Girl Friday" and "Pygmalion." (Rohan Preston)
Wuthering Heights, Emily BrontëWill there ever be a novel that burns with more passionate intensity than Wuthering Heights? The forces that bring together its fierce heroine Catherine Earnshaw and cruel hero Heathcliff are violent and untameable, yet rooted in a childhood devotion to one another, when Heathcliff obeyed Cathy’s every command. It’s impossible to imagine this novel ever provoking quiet slumbers; Emily Brontë’s vision of nature blazes with poetry. (Chris Harve)Jane Eyre, Charlotte BrontëYou will need a cold, dead heart not to be moved by one of literature’s steeliest heroines. From the institutional cruelty of her boarding school, the “small, plain” Jane Eyre becomes a governess who demands a right to think and feel. Not many love stories take in a mad woman in the attic and a spot of therapeutic disfigurement, but this one somehow carries it off with mythic aplomb. (Ceri Radford )
Belton House has also been used as a location for the likes of similar period dramas like The Young Victoria, Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre, but can also be visited as a National Trust venue. (Morgan Cormack)
Ripon - best known for its cathedral, which has a history dating back 1350 years - is the city which inspired Charlotte Brontë to write classic Jane Eyre. (Tom Duffy)
Heavier Than 'Eyre' [...]To compensate for this, we have read imgomez's review, which is a positive one.
If only Alan Stanford's adaptation, as well as this production directed by John Miller-Stephany, came close to measuring up to its source. Granted, the heart of the story is the love between Jane (Stacia Rice) and Rochester (Sean Haberle), and here it is the best part of the play. Unfortunately, it only occurs after a long stretch of unfocused and diluted action at Jane's horrible aunt's home and the institution to which the young girl is subsequently banished.
The audience is rewarded for its endurance with Haberle's entrance. His Rochester is suitably gruff and wry, an imperiously moody bastard whose air of brainy disillusion finds its foil in the plainspoken, hardened, no-bullshit Jane. Haberle and Rice match wits with dexterity, their characters alternately fascinated and amused by one another. In a telling moment, Rochester imploringly barks, "Speak!" at Jane. Rice flinches slightly, and their relationship is exposed: He is hopelessly smitten with her, and she is (for the moment) incontrovertibly subordinate to him.
Things change, of course, and Rochester's marriage proposal leads to the discovery of a major skeleton in his closet (almost literally). Jane, bound by her sense of propriety and self-defined morality, duly hits the road, and the action follows suit by going south. Jane is taken in by blowhard clergyman St. John Rivers (Peter Christian Hansen) and his two tittering sisters, and our emotional involvement quickly becomes more labor than pleasure.
It scarcely helps that the weight of the action is often drained by lunges toward easy laughs (Jane's denunciation to Rochester of her hypocritical former schoolmaster comes across as petulant and prim, rather than a character-defining assertion; later, the Rivers sisters ooh and aah in unison over Jane with annoying staginess). Worse still, the decision to play undistinguished and sentimental string passages behind certain stretches of dialogue comes across as needlessly manipulative.
To be sure, no one is helped much by Stanford's leaden adaptation, which tramples through Brontë's major plot points with elephantine elegance. By the end, Rice and Haberle manage to raise a poignant spark from Rochester and Jane's reunion. But by then too much tedium has passed, too many surfaces have been skimmed, and all that's left is a sense of disappointment and unfulfilled promise.
A first-edition of the Emily Brontë novel Wuthering Heights printed in 1847 went under the hammer at a Bonhams auction in London last week for £114,000.The recent performances of Jane Eyre at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis are seen as an example of how to attract young people to the performance halls or galleries:
The classic Victorian tale of romance had no happy ending for Heathcliff and Cathy but for the seller it was all smiles. Books can be a great investment if you go for a first edition in hardback. These earliest print runs are often low in number as they were churned out before the book became a hit, so surviving copies are particularly rare and potentially valuable. (Toby Walne)
“I strongly feel that at the end of the day the programming either speaks to people or it doesn’t,” says Trish Santini, the Guthrie’s external-relations director. “For me, the opportunity to be successful is to put the event around a piece of work I believe will feel meaningful and relevant to an audience.” She uses Jane Eyre, a core novel in high school English classes and now a play, as an example of a story that might just strike a chord with young theatergoers. (Kara McGuire in Minnesota Monthly)The Clearwater Christian College Campus News publishes an account or the recent performances of Jane Eyre: The Musical:
Five performances of Jane Eyre: A Musical Drama, took place at Clearwater Christian College from Tuesday, October 30 through Saturday, November 3.More pictures here.
Approximately 2,100 persons attended the musical production, which was under the direction of Craig and Robin Ralston. David Fitzgerald was the technical director.
The cast of 38 featured Alisha Boley in the title role of Jane Eyre, with Luke Perrie and Ernie Severe sharing the role of Edward Fairfax Rochester. Fourteen children from the community played orphans, and Jane as a young girl.
A 16-member ensemble, acting as a chorus throughout the musical, gave the drama added depth and strength. The acting and singing were enhanced by a 28-member orchestra made up largely of CCC students. (...)
The cast performed with vibrancy and energy, displaying the type of intensity that draws the audience into the life of Jane and the lives of those around her.
Artistic staging and lighting, the use of projected video and still photography, and realistic sound effects added to the audio and visual imagery to keep the attention of the audience throughout the 2½ hour production. (Jennifer Duncan)
Williams worked with Laennec between 1825 and 1826, shortly before the teacher himself died of tuberculosis, the epidemic lung disease of Europe. Williams came back to London, married a cousin and sired nine children, just like his father. It was a scenario straight out of a Bronte novel. (Dr. Dennis Bloomfield)Maybe a Dickens novel would be more accurate.
While it was a fun list to peruse (who reads “Great Expectations” more than they have to? And who reads “Wuthering Heights” at all?) it made me wonder why I keep re-reading certain books. (Stephen Milligan)The mentioned list is this one on the British favourite re-readings.
Great things have always been expected of Toby Stephens. He is the son of two great actors: Maggie Smith and Robert Stephens. He has already notched up a mesmerising Coriolanus and a formidable Hamlet, not to mention a brooding Rochester in the BBC’s Jane Eyre. So which great cultural figure is he playing next? “I suppose I’m Sid James,” he laughs. (Bruce Dessau) (Read more)But there are other Rochesters out there. The stage adaptation of Jane Eyre by Alan Stanford opens this week at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, as we reported in the past. The Star Tribune reports it today too.
Ah, Jane Eyre. It is a tale of love and loneliness by Charlotte Bronte that was turned into a play. This week, it opens at the Guthrie Theater for a nice little stay. The show is scheduled to close Nov. 10. (Barbara Flanagan)You can see what Stacia Rice, the new Jane, looks like in this old post. Sean Haberle plays Mr Rochester.
Good news for Jennifer Vandever, author of The Brontë Project. Her book has now been translated into Polish as Projekt Brontë. Here are the details:Publisher: Rebis, Year of edition: 2007, Format: 12,5x20 cm, ISBN: 8373018107.A good read, whatever the language.
As we have been informing on several previous posts, the performances of Jane Eyre at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, start tomorrow September 8:JANE EYREYou can find a very complete study guide here and a video of Stacia Rice talking about her role.
by Charlotte Brontë
adapted for the stage by Alan Stanford
directed by John Miller-Stephany
September 8 - November 10, 2007
(Opening September 14)
Wurtele Thrust Stage
Calendar
Price Range
$24 - $69
Pre-Play Discussion: Sun Sep 9, 5 pm
Post-Play Discussions: Sun Sep 16, matinee; Tue Sep 18, evening; Sat Sep 29, matinee; Sun Sep 30, matinee; Sat Oct 27, matinee
Inside Look Workshops: Sun Sep 22, 5 pm; Sun Nov 3, 5 pm
ASL Interpretation: Fri Oct 19, 7:30 pm; Sat Oct 27, 7:30 pm
Audio Description: Fri Oct 26, 7:30 pm; Sat Oct 27, 1 pm (sensory tour begins at 10:30 am)
A gripping, theatrical new production based on one of literature's most-loved romances. Jane Eyre accepts a position as a governess to a ward at Thornfield Hall and wins the love of her employer Edward Rochester, a kind yet mysterious man. But soon Jane's love, strength and determination are tested as Rochester's long-kept secrets are unveiled. Charlotte Brontë's classic novel receives a thrilling new adaptation by Alan Stanford, whose version of Pride and Prejudice earned rave reviews at the Guthrie by subscribers and critics alike.
Cast Jessie Austrian, Jennifer Blagen, Barbara Bryne, Caroline Cooney, Margaret Daly, Laura Esping, Nathaniel Fuller, Sean Haberle, Peter Christian Hansen, Charity Jones, Barbara Kingsley, Ron Menzel, Peggy O'Connell, Stacia Rice, John Skelley, Peter Thomson
“And when you are in one part of the country you are often asked that, while you are there, could you do this other thing?” Hence his visit to Crosby with Gabriel Wolf, the veteran actor, with whom he often works. [...]Here are the date and venue details:
His Crosby visit will find Dexter talking about other writers like Dickens, Charlotte Bronte and Thomas Hardy with Wolf reading the extracts. (Philip Key)
Crosby Civic Hall: Wednesday, October 10, at 8pm (box office 01704 540011).The Philadelphia Enquirer looks at the eternal question of classic novels - Jane Eyre among them - being compulsory reads at school.
Here are some of the books read by Cherry Hill High School West principal Joseph Meloche, with selected comments. [...]An exhibition on Paula Rego's art has just opened today at the Spanish museum Reina Sofía (Madrid). According to Revista de Arte - Logopress (and the museum's own website) the exhibition will include works from her Jane Eyre series.
12th grade
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte: "It's a hard one for the kids, but we ask them to read it as seniors, and at the level, it's appropriate." (Kristen Graham)
I’m trying to remember the last time I was so deeply moved by a live performance, and I’m not able to come up with anything. Jane Eyre was just stunning.Marcinism posts about deconstructing Jane Eyre:
Having loved Jane Eyre for thirty years (and having written a chapter of my doctoral dissertation on the novel), I was initially a little skeptical about the idea of a three-hour dramatic adaptation. Things that work well on paper don’t always translate well to the stage. And Jane Eyre presents a number of dramatic challenges. First of all, the novel is bleak. The themes are abuse, religious coercion, and a brutal, almost unrelenting loneliness. Besides that, Jane Eyre owes much of its force to Jane’s reflective and imaginative narration–a narrative style that can’t easily be embedded into stage dialogue. And finally, the novel’s love story mostly takes place in the heroine’s head, conveyed through interior monologue, and Rochester’s bullying behavior and gruff language aren’t (on the surface) very love-worthy.
But the Guthrie’s production handled all those obstacles wonderfully. Jane (sensitively portrayed by Stacia Rice) and Rochester (Sean Haberle) have great, funny chemistry. I never expected that Jane Eyre could be funny!
Even better: through the technique of creating an older Jane who comments on the action (like a Greek chorus) and interacts with the younger Jane, Bronte’s beautiful narrative style was able to be preserved. This strategy enabled the performers to showcase some of my favorite passages from the novel–like the sad scene where Jane tells herself to paint a faithful self-portrait and one of her beautiful rival and to place them side-by-side whenever she’s tempted to imagine herself worthy of Rochester.
Yes, the production was bleak. Dark sets, gray colors, restrictive costumes, and lots of repressed emotion. But these elements only made the happy ending all the more cathartic when it finally came. Jane’s crushing loneliness has ended, and she is at last in the arms of a man who knows what it is to suffer and who loves only her.
“Reader,” says the older Jane (just as half of the audience begins to weep), “I married him.”
For example, deconstructive reading of Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte would indicate that while Jane assumes the activities of the traditional woman in opposition to the male characters in the novel, that her ultimate will and power identifies her as strong and not weak. The hierarchies are then upset and begin to unravel. It is important to note however, that the deconstruction of binary oppositions is not a task to endure by the reader or critic, yet the oppositions deconstruct from within the text.Hmmmm... deconstruction - not our cup of tea.
Cathy and Heathcliff and the rest of the Wuthering Heights clan would be the best, though. Of course they would show up on the trashiest show possible. Ricki Lake? Maury Povich? Jerry Springer? I don't know what the latest trainwreck show is, but they'd be on it.Fantastic. But the following, from Tales from the "Liberry", is not less so. What's more, this is real!
shimmer shimmer dream sequence shimmer shimmer
First Edgar would come on, all downtrodden, wearing khaki pants and a French blue shirt, talking about how he loves his wife, but he just doesn't understand her. And (his voice drops with shame) he thinks she might be cheating on him.
"MIGHT BE? Hell fucking yeah I'm cheating on you," Cathy bellows as she enters. She wears a white wife beater over a black bra, and lowrider jeans that showcase the top of her thong and the tramp-stamp tattoo on her lower back that reads HEATHCLIFF.
Heathcliff trails behind her, wearing black, smirking.
Edgar rises to kiss Cathy on the cheek as she evades him to the hoots of the audience. As C & H sit, Isabella comes trailing in wearing mom jeans and a sweatshirt. When she cannot find a chair to sit next to Heathcliff she plops down next to Edgar and begins snivelling into a tissue pulled from her sleeve.
"What are you crying about? You couldn't keep your man, and someone else done got him," Cathy says. "I mean, my love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath--a source of little visible delight, but necessary. He's always, always in my mind--not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being. So step off, biznatch!"
Edgar borrows a Kleenex from Isabella. Heathcliff snickers and gets a pinch of Skoal. The audience hoots and barks.
shimmer shimmer dream sequence shimmer shimmer
SETTING: My "liberry" as a female patron approaches the circ-desk from the direction of our nonfiction section.Categories: Alert, Art-Exhibitions, Humour, Jane Eyre, Scholar, Talks, Theatre, Wuthering Heights
PATRON— Hi. I'm looking for Jane Eyre.
ME— Ah. That will be over in our fiction section, under Brontë.
PATRON— No, I need the biography of her. About her life.
(Pause)
ME— Um... (Pauses again to consider how best to politely break the news to her. Realizes there is no good way. Proceeds...) Jane Eyre is a fictional character in a book written by Charlotte Brontë.
PATRON— (Long pause) Oh. (Long pause) I must have misunderstood.
From Jane Eyre 2006 in the previous post to a Jane Eyre for the new season. Playbill publishes a reminder about a production we heard of some time ago: the upcoming performances (next September) of a new adaptation of Jane Eyre (by Alan Stanford) at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. The new Jane will be Stacia Rice:Stacia Rice will be Jane to Sean Haberle's Rochester in the upcoming production of Jane Eyre at the Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis.Categories: Jane Eyre, Theatre
Charlotte Bronte's tale of romance and suspense has been adapted by Alan Stanford and will play the famed regional theatre Sept. 8-Nov. 10 with an official opening Sept. 14.
Directed by John Miller-Stephany, the cast will also include Barbara Bryne as Mrs. Fairfax with Jessie Austrian (Blanche Ingram/Barbara), Jennifer Blagen (Miss Scatcherd/Diana Rivers), Caroline Cooney (Leah), Laura Esping (Miss Temple/Mary Rivers), Nathaniel Fuller (Mr. Brocklehurst/Mr. Wood), Peter Christian Hansen (St. John Rivers/Surgeon), Charity Jones (Mrs. Reed/Bertha), Barbara Kingsley (Lady Ingram/Hannah), Ron Menzel (Richard Mason), Peggy O’Connell (Grace Poole), John Skelley (Davie) and Peter Thomson (Lord Ingram/Briggs). Additional casting will be announced shortly.
"Having survived an orphan childhood made painful at the hands of an unkind aunt and a cruel school headmaster," press notes state, "a young Jane Eyre accepts the position of governess to a ward at Thornfield Hall. There, she wins the heart of her employer, Edward Rochester, a kind yet mysterious man. On their wedding day, Jane's love, strength and determination are tested as Rochester's long-kept secrets are unveiled, changing both their lives forever."
The artistic staff includes Patrick Clark (set and costume designer), Matthew Reinert (lighting designer), Scott W. Edwards (sound designer), Carla Steen (dramaturg), Lucinda Holshue (voice and dialect coach), Marcela Lorca (movement), Peter Moore (fight director), Chris A. Code (stage manager), Amy Monroe (assistant stage manager) and Suzy Messerole (assistant director). (Andrew Gans)
The Guthrie’s Jane Eyre, adapted by Alan Stanford, is one of those shows people love or dismiss. I count myself as a lover. John Miller-Stephany’s stark and spare staging, brisk as a wind on the moors, emphasizes the cruelty exacted on Charlotte Bronte’s heroine by those above her, with a sharp eye to class and Christian hypocrisy.Libelle gives you the chance to win the Dutch DVD of Jane Eyre 2006 that we presented some weeks ago. Check it out, the deadline is October 18.
Stacia Rice as Jane finds the perfect amount of dignified reserve at odds with romantic yearning. Her plight is evocatively framed within the spectral grandeur of Patrick Clark’s set design.
Rice is matched passionately with Sean Haberle’s rugged, sexy, and secretive Rochester. Charity Jones chills as domineering Mrs. Reed. Peter Hansen is properly Calvinistic as St. John Rivers. And all actresses playing orphans are well-spoken and heartwrenching. A compelling package all the way around. (John Townsend)
The Brontës Went to Woolworths by Rachel Ferguson has an introduction by A.S. Byatt in which she says the book affected her whole writing life - no small claim. A novel about the imagination and the creative power of creative thought (c.f. Miss Hargreaves ) it has "an astringent quirky humour". I'm intriguedCategories: Books, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Theatre
Maggie O'Farrell's three previous novels have been respectfully reviewed, but her new one radiates the kind of energy that marks a classic. Think Kate Chopin's The Awakening, Charlotte Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" or Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea: stories that illuminate the suffering quietly endured by women in polite society. To that list of insightful feminist tales add The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. At the heart of this fantastic new novel is a mystery you want to solve until you start to suspect the truth, and then you read on in a panic, horrified that you may be right. (Ron Charles)The Minnesota Daily has a passing mention of the recent performances of Jane Eyre at the Guthrie Theatre:
Mojo theater, in essence, is everything that your Jane Eyre at the Guthrie is not- blending and freeze-frying the comic and the tragic, sweeping universal scopes and jaunty, physically aware performers. (Sarah Nicole Miller)CottonKnickersForAfrica went to the Margaret Drabble talk in Haworth and shares a funny anecdote:
I took a half day’s leave in the afternoon and went to Haworth of Bronte fame to hear a talk by Margaret Drabble the novelist on the influence of the Brontes on her work. She was very good, funny and certainly knows her literature, or so I thought. I went with a retired professor of English Literature, who is a Bronte researcher. ‘Well she was wrong about that bit of Wuthering Heights, it was in the January 2 months before the baby was born that, that happened’. Sometimes you can know too much.Harukanaru...Yume posts about Wuthering Heights in Thai. Lyza Danger Gardner reviews Jane Eyre. Everyday I Write the Book Blog interviews Min Jin Lee, author of Free Food for Millionaires, who comments once more on her Brontëite background:
Casey can be a somewhat frustrating person. Do you have sympathy for Casey because you share some of her impulses, or does she frustrate you as well?Parlez Moi Blog reviews H. The Story of Heathcliff’s Journey Back to Wuthering Heights by Lin Haire-Sargeant (originally published in 1992):
MJ: Casey can be a frustrating person. I think her behavior is occasionally textbook (psychology) “acting out.” In my vain mind, she was drafted in light of the heroines I loved from the old novels who are stubborn, clever, foolish and spirited—an homage of sorts to Lily Bart (House of Mirth), Emma Bovary, Anna Karenina, Jane Eyre, Caroline Meeber (Sister Carrie), Dorothea Brooke (Middlemarch), Becky Sharp (Vanity Fair), et al.
Basically she used the tale-within-a-tale technique to describe a train trip that a fictional Emily Brontë was taking back from France when an ill-fated love affair ended. On the train she encounters a man who tells her about a trip he is taking to visit an old friend on her death bed. Soon he persuades Miss Brontë to read a series of letters sent him by this lady and the fun begins. Of course using such a construct for a novel is extremely clever because you can cover any gaps in credibility with missing pages to letters or letters to another party or simple human error but this story doesn’t really rely on this at all. (Kathleen Valentine)Finally, on Maggie Robinson means romance:
I rescued this handsome edition of Wuthering Heights (circa 1959, I’m guessing), last checked out in 1995. I think the cover artist had a little “inspiration” from John Singer Sargent’s Madame X. (Maggie Robinson)Categories: Books, Brontëites, Jane Eyre, Sequels, Talks, Theatre, Wide Sargasso Sea, Wuthering Heights
Lydia's Life talks about Jane Eyre 2006 in Dutch. feminine-genius comments Elizabeth Gaskell's Life of Charlotte Brontë which she is reading (although she calls her Gaskill). Kevin's Movie Corner reviews Jane Eyre 1944. Finally British Literature on Film confronts Wuthering Heights 1939To 'Eyre' is human; to see 'Jane' divine.
The Guthrie opened its Wurtele Thrust Stage season last month with an epic and inspired version of the beloved Charlotte Bronte novel. Adapted for the stage by Alan Stanford, who also made great theater out of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" in 2003, this "Jane" errs on the side of bigness -- a large cast, lots of scenes, three actresses playing Jane at various stages of her life, and a strong, literary script that aims high.Stacia Rice is fine as the young heroine who refuses to fit neatly into early Victorian society's plans for her, but Sean Haberle, as her lover Rochester, gets all the best lines and action. The only quibble with the script and director John Miller-Stephany's staging is that they take a pass on the theatrical climax of the tale, the catastrophe at Rochester's castle.
But as Jane herself might say, you can't have everything, and "excellent" is certainly very good. (Jay Furst in the Rochester Post-Bulletin)
It seeems far too romantic, while also being way too dramatic for my taste. It simply left me with nothing positive to remember it by.to Abismos de Pasión
At least the characters in this version acted like the ones Bronte created and the storyline was not reduced to a simple love story.Categories: Biography, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Theatre, Wuthering Heights
First, a new outbreak of Eyre's wordplay. It's a virus that affects practically all journalists trying to review something related to Jane Eyre. From St. Cloud Times, reviewing the Guthrie's performances of Alan Stanford's Jane Eyre:PHOTO CREDIT: Photo courtesy of the Guthrie TheaterThese performances are also commented on Things I have seen/heard/read and on GalleryStorage.
Stacia Rice (Jane Eyre) and Sean Haberle (Edward Rochester)
'Eyre' doesn't err on style
In the hands of lesser forces, Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre" could have been like an old war horse being given its final fling before being sent to the knackers yard.
But with the combined talents of director John Miller-Stephany and Alan Stanford, who adapted it for the stage, Brontë's celebrated novel is an exercise in fluidity of style, its darkly pendulous tones giving way to moments of hope, with indomitable spirit and patient endurance.
The gloomy opening tends to set the tone, but Stephany along with set designer Patrick Clark skillfully give us moments of light and shade that penetrate the overarching somberness of the proceedings.
Old vs. young The story is told on two levels. Margaret Daly as the older Eyre narrates and gives us an anchor from which to observe the canvas unfolding before us in epic style. Daly is a solid presence with her powerful narration and interacts beautifully with Eyre the younger (Stacia Rice) who gives a luminous portrayal of Brontë's heroine.
The younger Eyre is strong and determined. She is brought up in a church orphanage where the emphasis is on strict discipline and harsh punishment, metered out by a cane. Jane is not easily beset as she battles her way through a society in which women weren't independent and in the middle classes lived in hopes of finding a husband for their future security.
Eyre escapes the oppressing orphanage by applying for the post of governess on the Rochester estate. She is hired by the kindly Mrs. Fairfax (Barbara Bryrne).
Her appointment is not without concern. These become heightened when strange sounds are heard in the night. On returning from his travels, she comes face to face with Edward Rochester (Sean Haberle), a dark, brooding man whom she realizes is deeply tormented by something in his past. They become attracted to each other and fall in love.
Strong performances Haberle and Rice are perfectly cast in their roles. His character is fully realized by strength and fear, which he tries to cover with his blustering manner. Rice brings strength to Eyre, too, and adds a deftness that is light and compelling.
The entire cast succeeds in transporting its audience into the period of the play, and at the same time, provides a deepness to its characters as they rise to the occasion.
What could have been conceived as an evening of gloomy 19th-century melodrama, Stephany and his vibrant cast present us instead with flesh and bone characters that give us a wonderful piece of stunning theater. (Christopher Trussel)
With echoes not only of "The Sixth Sense," "The Others" and "The Shining" but also diverse films like the troubled-mother pic "Not Without My Daughter" and gothic classics like "Wuthering Heights," "Orphanage" differs in a number of ways from "Labyrinth." But with its conceit of a child who may or may not be seeing what's invisible to everyone else -- and its larger themes of lost innocence and unredressed regret -- it owes a heavy spiritual debt to that movie. (Steven Zeitchik)BrontëBlog has seen the film and besides an isolated house, we cannot think of any other similarity with Emily Brontë's novel.
Character is a vital aspect of criticism. Most effective literature is an emotional as much as an intellectual experience after all. It's the actors in the drama that generally form the focus for this emotion. What's more, our relationship with literary characters inevitably changes the texture of books and the way we view crucial scenes. (...)Needless to say on a blog like ours, we rather disagree :). We notice the unusal choice of illustration on the post: Jane Eyre 1963 with Ann Bell and Richard Leech.
And, in case all that emotionalism is troubling all those who like to apply more rigorous aesthetic judgements to their appreciation of art, just consider the skill and human empathy needed to create a successful character. Anyone can write a bore. The magic lies in conjuring - with words alone - someone we can love.
However, that's not to say that the individuals in books that we don't warm to are necessarily artistic failures. Just as often, they are salutary reminders of just how subjective the appreciation of literature really is.
I'm also pretty certain that the prospect of a lifetime with Jane Eyre would have me eyeing up the attic as a very pleasant place to go insane in[.]
If this had been a Stella Gibbons-like spoof, it would have been a lot more enjoyable. As it is, it comes across merely as a poor imitation of its great 19th-century. precursors. (Christina Koning)The Fondrem Theatre Workshop performs Charles Ludlum's The Mystery of Irma Vep. The dates: October 25-28 and November 1-3 in Meadowbrook Mart in Jackson, Mississippi.
Today we have a wide stock of Brontë references: Margaret Atwood writes in The Guardian about Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of the Green Gables saga and Jane Eyre makes an appearance:The saying might be that "it's grim up north" - but it's not for novelists as the north of England has been named the best possible literary backdrop available in British literature.
The region - loosely defined as the land either side of the high Pennines, extending north to the Scottish Borders - was the winner in a survey carried out for a new ITV show, Melvyn Bragg's Travels in Written Britain.(...)
Voters cited the perennially successful Catherine Cookson novels, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte as some of the most memorable books set in the north of England. Both the Bronte sisters lived in Haworth, in Yorkshire, and were schooled in Lancashire.(...)
Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice was also voted the favourite book set in Britain, followed by four more classics: Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Rebecca and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. (...)
The survey of around 2500 people was carried out to mark Bragg's television show, the first part of which is broadcast on April 6. During the one-hour programmes, Bragg also takes a look at the contrasting works of Scots authors Sir Walter Scott and Irvine Welsh. (Phil Miller - Reproduced with the permission of The Herald, Glasgow © 2008 Herald & Times Group)
Judging from what we know about the lives of orphans at that time, including the many "London street Arabs", as Marilla calls them, that were being sent to Canada by the Barnardo homes, a statistically accurate Anne would have continued to be poor and neglected. However, through luck and her own merits, Anne is rescued by the Cuthbert siblings, thus joining a long line of redeemed fictional Victorian orphans, from Jane Eyre to Oliver Twist to little Tom the chimney sweep in Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies.The Scotsman reviews Other People's Daughters: The Life and Times of the Governess by Ruth Brandon:
THE MOST FAMOUS GOVERNESS IN literature is undoubtedly Jane Eyre, but as Ruth Brandon points out in this slightly misfiring study, her fate as the eventual wife of her employer was hardly the traditional lot of the Victorian governess. For most, it was a lonely job with long hours, little pay and scant appreciation of their efforts.The Times once again mentions the Heathcliff/Rochester inside Gordon Brown:
Brandon's approach is to look in detail at the lives of six governesses: Agnes Porter, Mary Wollstonecraft, Claire Clairmont, Nelly Weeton, Anna Leonowens and Anna Jameson. Of these six, perhaps Wollstonecraft is the most well-known, although Leonowens was the model for Deborah Kerr's governess in the film version of Leonowens's life, The King and I, and Clairmont was the step-sister of Mary Shelley, who also bore Byron a daughter.
In that sense, then, Wollstonecraft, Clairmont and Leonowens are as atypical of the governess experience as Jane Eyre was. (Read more) (Lesley McDowell)
It's as bad as trying to find a Gordon Brown. Despite castings in the UK and global searches she can't find anyone to play him, “which is annoying as you don't know how long he'll be PM. The problem is he has very old-fashioned looks, Heathcliff or Rochester, tight breeches, muddy lanes, high collars, lambchop face. I've just found an odd-job man in Bulgaria who might fit the bill actually.” (Tim Teeman)The New York Times Travel Spring 2008 Guide devotes an article to Taipei and discovers yet another set of the-Brontës-of (insert pertinent city/country):
Chu T'ien-hsin and her sister [Chu T'ien-Wen] are a bit like the Brontës of Taiwan. They're big time novelists and short-story writers. (Taipei's dailies publish literary supplements, so high brow short stories reach an unusually large audience.) I wanted to talk to Chu about her novella "The Old Capital", which came out in English last year. (Douglas MacGray)TV Blink makes a very unlikely comparison: X-Files's Fox Mulder and Heathcliff:
During the clip reel of the nine-season show, “X-Philes” cheered for sci-fi Heathcliff Fox Mulder and savvy strawberry Sno-Cone Dana Scully. (Chad Rooney and Julieanne Smolinski)The Eloy Enterprise's editor uses a Jane Eyre quote for the title of the article:
"Your self-love dreads a blunder," a certain Mr. Rochester told a literary heroine, Jane Eyre, once upon a time. (Lindsey Gemme)Now for the blogosphere: neon epiphany posts about different Jane Eyre adaptations. Her favourite is Jane Eyre 1973. GirlDetective has seen Alan Stanford's adaptation of Jane Eyre at the Guthrie Theatre and is not at all thrilled:
I understand that details of the story must be cut or compacted to get the audience home before midnight. I missed many of my favorite scenes, such as Jane in the red room. I was disappointed in the staging decisions of others. (...) Perhaps this was enjoyable to those who hadn’t read the book at all, or for a long time. Perhaps it will inspire people to seek out the book. (...) I am too familiar and have too much affection for the source material to appreciate adaptations for themselves. And yet, I know I’ll continue to see them, if only for the brief moments that they bring to life wonderful parts of the books, like the humor in Jane Eyre that is so often overlooked in its reductive description as a dark, gothic tale.A very different reaction to the same play can be read on wonderment:
But I will say that Jane Eyre at the Guthrie was wonderful. It was yet another take on a fantastic story. I’ve watched the BBC miniseries (my favorite), read the original book (not so excellent, but must be appreciated for the beauty that the story is, even if I didn’t care for the writing), and now seen the stage version. All were special in their own way. I thought the miniseries was more true to the book than the stage version, but the modifications for the stage made sense for thatCategories: Books, Haworth, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, Theatre
