Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - See 'Jane Eyre' in London?

It is quite probably a sort of theatrical folly, designed to lure a few dollars from US tourists visiting London this summer. For real London theatre, check the Guardian's reviews. Meanwhile, though, here's a review of Jane Eyre published in the last few days by a sympathetic NY newspaper:

'Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre is remembered by many as a powerful Victorian romance with dark undertones. This theatrical version directed by Polly Teale brings the passion and complex emotions of the novel's characters to life, while adding a lighter note that makes them seem all the more realistic.

Though necessarily abridged, the play is faithful to the novel's original plot. Jane Eyre (Monica Dolan), an orphan raised by a surly aunt and sent off to boarding school, becomes a governess at the Thornfield Estate. There, she falls in love with the master of the estate, Mr. Rochester (James Clyde) who returns her affections. As the two are about to get married, it is revealed that Rochester already has a wife, Bertha Mason (Myriam Acharki), a woman who has gone mad and lives in the attic.

Dolan offers a brilliant performance as Jane Eyre, capturing her "poor, obscure and plain" exterior, as well as her fiery inner spirit. Creatively alternating between her public actions and private thoughts, Dolan exposes the audience to the internal battle raging between Jane's passionate desires and her pious wish to do what is right.

With shoulder-length hair and dressed in black, Clyde is every inch the clever, arrogant and passionate Rochester. The chemistry between Dolan and Clyde is palpable and the scene in which he confesses his love and proposes, one of the play's most powerful.

With a cast of only eight actors playing twenty characters, the other members of the Shared Experience troupe alternate roles regularly, at times between wildly different personalities. Adele (Octavia Walters), the young girl whom Jane is brought to teach, and Pilot the Dog, wonderfully played by John Lightbody, add delightful comic relief to the drama.

The costumes are simple but used creatively, particularly in terms of the symbolism of their colors: the passionate, mad Bertha Mason wears red; the reserved, pure Jane blue; the tortured, mysterious Rochester wears black; and Jane's childhood friend, the angelic Helen Burns (also Octavia Walters), white.

The set is equally simple: a staircase leading to a platform that serves as the attic where Bertha is confined. Dark clouds sail past on a screen in the background. This all serves to add realism and depth to the play's atmosphere, but appears somewhat misplaced in scenes when the characters refer to it being a beautiful, summer day. A live cellist further draws the audience into the emotional space of the story.

In all of the above, Teale remains faithful to Brontë's text; it is in the aspects that depart from the novel where the piece is less successful. The heavy-handed portrayal of Bertha Mason as Jane's alter ego, while an interesting interpretation of Brontë's characters, becomes confusing and at times distracting when depicted on stage. And, while Jane Eyre is seen by many as an assertion of women's strength, Brontë's novel does so in a subtle manner as appropriate to Victorian England, while some overtly feministic utterings in Teale's adaptation seem anachronistic.

All in all, though, a thoroughly enjoyable play, especially for long time Brontë fans like myself.