Jane Eyre am EHG
“No, Jane”, he returned: “what necessity is there to dwell on the past, when the present is so much surer – the future so much brighter?” – Mr Rochester
On Monday the 24th of September 2018 we had the pleasure of seeing Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane Eyre” as a theatre play directed by Peter Griffith. Apart from “Jane Eyre”, the plays “The slug in the shoe”, a comedy in very easy English dealing about the way boys and girls see each other and “Move to Junk”, a play about cyberbullying were also performed by Stephanie Neill, Adam Beck, Jessie-Grace, and Joseph Donnison from the “White Horse Theatre”.
Being less excited and having low expectations we went into our school’s gym to see the play but as the actors start to perform they aroused our full attention.
The story deals with Jane Eyre (Stephanie Neill) an orphan growing up in an inappropriate manner is often exclude by her aunt who does not see her as a part of the Reed family. When Jane moves to Lowood School, her life appears to be similar as she is abused by her teacher Mr. Brockleburst. At the age of 18 Jane finishes her education and takes the job of being a governess at Thornfield, which is owned by Mr Rochester (Joseph Donnison). There she teaches Adele, a young French girl. Shortly after working there Jane falls in love with her employer who much to her surprise asks to marry him. At the church, just as the couple are about to say their vows, Mr Mason (Adam Beck) interrupts the wedding because Mr Rochester is in fact already married to Mason’s sister Bertha (Jessie-Grace), a mentally ill woman being locked in the attic of Rochester’s house. Leaving Thornfield with a broken heart Jane finds the Rivers family, a new home she always wished for. Nevertheless she dreams of her lover and returns to Thornfield where the estate was burned down by Bertha.
Therefore Mr Rochester gets blind because of his injuries. In the end Mr Rochester and Jane marry and live a happy life.
Each actor is worth noting but especially the scenes with Jane and Rochester were very interesting. To my mind, Jane can be described as a round character. At the beginning of the plot one can see her as a strong-willed, passionate and outspoken girl. As the novel progresses the reader sees Jane blossoming into adulthood where she does not see herself as a beauty. Throughout the course of history Jane finally represents a confident, smart and independent woman in the 19th century. Even Mr Rochester can be described as kind and modest although he is a very rich man. The appearance of Bertha the mentally ill woman gives the plot a mystery touch. Remarkable is also the performance of Adam Beck and Jessie Grace acting a lot of different roles even of the opposite gender. Having many creative costumes which were common at that time made the performance more realistic and livelier.
Finally I am really glad to know that Jane realizes to belong to Mr Rochester. The only fact to criticize was the acoustic in our gym leading to misunderstanding of the actors in some parts.
But all in all one can say that the theatre is worth seeing. To improve one’s English by hearing native speakers and to get some history touch I would recommend “Jane Eyre” performed by “The White Horse Theatre”.
After the theatre play we were allowed to ask questions and some students took the chance of talking to the actors. It was great to get to know some personal information about them and to have a look behind the stage. Staying in Germany for one year the actors will travel between different cities to perform at schools. Their next stops are Wittenberg and Bavaria.
We are looking forward for having them next year!
Phuong Neumann 11/Herbst