The lights drop in the theatre and Jane Eyre strides out onto the stage as muffled conversations fade around the stalls. From the moment the audience sat down, it was clear this would be a very different version of Charlotte Brontë's masterpiece.
The set is stark: a mesh metal staircase rising to oblivion, dotted with half a dozen boxes that soon emerge as speakers. It feels suitably gothic and atmospheric, especially in the intimate surrounds of Storyhouse's theatre, maintaining the essence of Brontë's classic while dragging it into the 21st century.
A powerful lead performance
Jane is instantly likeable, with actress Olivia Marcus proving a powerful presence on stage as we meet 10-year-old Jane as a ward of her cruel Aunt Reed at Gateshead Hall. The speakers are used to dramatic effect, stacked around Jane and glowing with fiery intensity as the child is locked in the infamous Red Room, a cacophony of noise building uncomfortably around the auditorium.
Jane is soon packed off to Lowood Institution, where the orphaned youngster meets a new set of tormentors and finds a first real friend in Helen Burns. The small cast does a wonderful job of chopping and changing between characters, all revolving around Jane's intense orbit.
Andrea Gatchalian as the ill-fated Helen is quiet and meek, but full of energy and life when we meet her again as Adele, Mr Rochester's young French ward. Kate Kordel is repellent as the heartless Aunt Reed, but hugely warm and ingratiating as Mrs Fairfax, the housekeeper at Thornfield.
Condensing a classic novel
It is quite an undertaking to condense a 38-chapter novel into two and a half hours, especially one with such complex themes and characters. As a result, some portions of the show feel more like vignettes racing the story along. In no time at all Jane is teaching at Lowood, nurturing her students at the institution that tried to break her, but her eye is on the future, on the "purple mountains" in the distance and her freedom.
Jane advertises her services and arrives at Thornfield Hall as a governess, encountering the intense and charismatic Mr Rochester, played by Gabriel Akuwudike, when she unseats him from his horse. The review notes little chemistry between Jane and Rochester, with the character described as a complex and flawed hero archetype of the 19th century whose behaviours are, by today's standards, a walking red flag.
He taunts Jane, gaslights her and lies to her face when she tells him she saw an intruder in her room. His immense gratitude at her saving his life when his bed inexplicably catches fire is later cooled when he brings home Blanche Ingram, a mean-spirited socialite it is thought he intends to marry.
Modern set, true-to-text language
While the set pieces for this adaptation are thoroughly modern, the language of the script remains true to the text. It is a stark contrast hearing Brontësque language while the cast is surrounded by glowing speakers blasting out Jane's inner narrative.
When Rochester's secret is finally exposed, the audience meets Bertha Rochester, hauntingly played by Robyn Rose-Li. She sings a harrowing lament, clinging to Rochester as Jane looks on in horror, her world destroyed. In these final moments the set really comes to life, the stairs spinning to reveal Bertha in her "attic", the edges bursting into flames as Jane races back to Thornfield to find the mansion ablaze, the fate of all inside unknown until she happens on Mrs Fairfax.
The ending comes as abruptly as the start, Jane and a badly injured Rochester clinging to each other as the stage falls dark, the audience hesitant to start applauding in case there is more to come.
This is a bold adaptation of a much-loved classic, but it moves at such a pace you barely feel you have time to build an affection for the characters. While Gabriel Akuwudike is superb as the brooding Rochester, the review finds that Jane, one of literature's famously strong-willed, independent and resilient women, could do far better than him.
Jane Eyre is on at Storyhouse Chester until November 21. Tickets start at £21.50 for non-members and can be booked by visiting the theatre's website.
