Happy 196th, Charlotte!

Charlotte Brontë is rapidly approaching her bicentenary and there are several plays based on her most famous novel on the go. Precisely, Whitby This Week reviews the Canadian production:

"Basically, they end up falling in love and want to get married, but he has a nasty little secret," [Linda] Rosling says."
Throughout the play, and throughout the book, there are hints that there's a strange person in the house. Jane thinks it's a servant."
She says the play is "very dramatic, very intense," with a lot of romance and good chemistry between Jane and Rochester. For those who know the novel only, there are differences. First and foremost, in the play there are several Janes. Well, sort of."
They're called narrators, actors who come on the stage and play the mind of Jane ... in order for you to understand a few things," Rosling says.
As well, she says director Janice Stevenson has enhanced the humorous parts of the play.Other themes in Jane Eyre include morality, God and religion, social class, gender relations and love and passion.
Rosling says the cast and crew for the production are a mix of very experienced people "and then there's people like me." Rosling recently moved to Whitby from Calgary. And while she's never been involved in theatre before, "I've always wanted to do some theatre work." When she found WCT after an Internet search, she saw Jane Eyre was next up and decided to get her feet wet.
The cast features Amanda Langille of Courtice as Jane and Robert Calvert of Ajax as Rochester. Also taking the stage are Mark Kalzer of Whitby and Isabelle Blanusa, Ellie Bridle, Jessica Caldwell and Judith Edmondson, all from Oshawa. (Mike Ruta)

The Brussels Brontë Group joins the celebration with their traditional Brontë Weekend:

Saturday 21 April 2012Room P61, Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis, Bld. du Jardin Botanique/Kruidtuinlaan 43, 1000 Brussels

10.00: Jane Eyre from Then till Now. Talk by Dr Patsy Stoneman, Emeritus Reader in English at the University of Hull, on the reception of Jane Eyre from its publication in 1847 to the present day, focusing in particular on readings of the novel from feminist angles.

Patsy Stoneman has specialised in the novels of the Brontës and Elizabeth Gaskell. Her publications include Jane Eyre on Stage 1848-1882, a collection of 8 Victorian stage adaptations of Jane Eyre.

14.00: The Brontë Parsonage Museum. Illustrated presentation by Andrew McCarthy, Director of the Museum.
Andrew McCarthy, the Director of the Brontë Parsonage Museum, the former home of the Brontë family, will give us a virtual tour of the museum and tell us about its history and the work done by it, and life in the Parsonage in the Brontës’ time.

Sunday 22 April 2012

10.00: Guided walk around Brontë places in Brussels followed by lunch and AGM

And more talks. In Cumberland, MD:

South Cumberland Twisted Jane Book Club
April 21 - 2:00 PM Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
An orphan girl who accepts employment as a governess finds herself involved in a family secret and in love with her employer.
Everyone is welcome to join us for this or any of our discussions.

Not to mentions books on library shelves all over the world, films being screened all around, online shops featuring creations inspired by her words, etc. It's quite an afterlife and one that we are pretty sure that this quiet-on-the-outside-but-fiery-on-the-inside provincial woman could have never imagined, not even with her remarkable imagination.

Happy 196th birthday, dear Charlotte!