Such rich, truthful characters

The Fan Carpet has a Q&A with Isabelle Methven, who plays Helen Burns and Bessie in Jane Eyre. The Musical.

Jane Eyre is regarded as one of the great works of English literature. What drew you to Charlotte Brontë’s story?

Isabelle Methven: It’s actually my favourite book.

I’ve loved it for years, so when the opportunity came up to be part of this production, I couldn’t have been more excited. Charlotte Brontë created such rich, truthful characters, and I think that’s why people continue to connect with the story today.

It’s a real privilege to be part of bringing it to life on stage.

Helen Burns and Bessie are very different characters, yet both help shape Jane’s journey. What has it been like exploring those roles?

Isabelle Methven: That’s one of the things I love most about them.

Helen represents kindness, compassion and forgiveness, while Bessie provides warmth and comfort in a very different way. They both leave lasting impressions on Jane, even though they’re with her at different points in her life.

Finding those differences has been one of the most enjoyable parts of rehearsals.

Music is such an important part of storytelling in this production. How do you approach performing songs that carry so much emotion?

Isabelle Methven: For me, singing is really just an extension of acting.

You’re never simply singing a beautiful melody. Every lyric has to come from the character and from what they’re feeling in that moment. If you’re truthful with the emotion, then the music naturally becomes part of the storytelling.

Finally, what do you hope audiences take away from this production?

Isabelle Methven: I hope they leave appreciating just how timeless Jane Eyre really is.

Even though it was written almost two centuries ago, its themes are still incredibly relevant today. It’s a beautiful story, and I hope audiences fall in love with it all over again.

And The Fan Carpet also has an interview with three more actresses from the cast:

First of all, could you introduce yourselves and tell us about your roles in Jane Eyre?

Eve Shanu-Wilson: I’m Eve, and I’m playing Blanche in Jane Eyre: The Musical.

Emily-Rose Samuel: Hello, my name is Emily-Rose Samuel and I’m playing Young Jane and Adèle.

Poppy Jason: And I’m Poppy Jason, and I’m also playing Young Jane and Adèle. We share the role!

Jane Eyre is such an iconic literary classic. What was it about this story that made you want to be part of it?

Eve Shanu-Wilson: I love Jane Eyre. I read the book with my mum when I was about eight years old and we absolutely loved the BBC adaptation too, so it’s always been close to my heart.

I also think the story’s themes of feminism and female empowerment are incredibly important today, and it’s wonderful that we get to tell that story alongside two incredibly talented young performers.

Emily-Rose Samuel: I like Jane Eyre because it’s quite scary and dark. I like all the mysterious parts…

Eve Shanu-Wilson: Careful… spoilers!

Poppy Jason: I read the book with my mum as well, which made me really interested in Jane Eyre. I’m just so excited to be part of this because everybody is so talented.

Eve Shanu-Wilson: She’s talking about me, obviously! We’re all talented!

Still on stage, The Guardian reviews the play Those People.

The Wuthering Heights mickey-take is fun, but ancillary to the main event. (Brian Logan)

The Cold Magazine discusses retellings.

There are other reasons to retell our foundational stories. We may love them as works of art but be enraged by some of their assumptions – sometimes by the entire concept behind them. We return, again and again, but with gritted teeth. We say things like “they’re a product of their time”, and wonder if that’s a good enough excuse.

The retellings that respond to this impulse are some of the classics of the genre. The writers who created them were caught between two impulses: nostalgia and rejection. Jean Rhys admitted as much in describing her response to reading Jane Eyre. She was swept up in it, but “vexed at her portrait of a ‘paper tiger’ lunatic [and] the all-wrong creole scenes”.

Wide Sargasso Sea is Rhys’s modernist prequel to Brontë’s classic. It aims to give justice to the madwoman in the attic, aka English literature’s most famous Creole character. She is a walk-on part in the original, chaotic and exotic. Dominica-born Rhys’s version is both a takedown and a satire of Victorian ideas of empire, race, and morality. Mr. Rochester goes to the colonies to acquire a fortune by marrying a woman he has never met. But he can’t handle the Caribbean. Even the green is too green, the flowers too red, and his new wife’s eyes – he worries they might be too black. (Emily McBride)

AnneBrontë.org has a post on the manuscript of Jane Eyre, which reached the office of Smith, Elder & Co. on a day like today in 1847.