|
NEW FARNHAM REPERTORY Actors' Company |
|
|
|
Jane Eyre - review |
|
What the press said about NFRC's Jane Eyre
"A masterpiece ... ... another outstanding success for the NFRC" "Another exceptional offering from the NFRC" Farnham Herald |
 |
Links: Jane Eyre: - Review Racing demon: - Reviews Previous seasons with the NFRC
|
From the Farnham Herald 25 November 2005
Come face to face with Jane Eyre at St Andrew’s
It was all so real: we were there in that time and place with the characters as the story of Jane Eyre was played out in Farnham’s large and shadowy parish church by the New Farnham Repertory Company.
So close is the proximity of the audience to the players as they move back and forth, using the central aisle to bridge scene and venue, that they cannot help but take the watcher with them. It was a theatrical feat requiring utter concentration for all the cast, who never faltered or lost conviction under such close scrutiny.
This is the last production that NFRC’s founder Ian Mullins will direct. And, what a final masterpiece for a man who has spent his life in theatre, directing her and abroad.
Ian, with his actress wife, Helen Dorward, dramatised Charlotte Brontë’s enduring 1847 novel for this production. Although the original story has necessarily had to be condensed, it has lost nothing of its power, passion or impact.
With actress Charlotte Parle in the title role, and Andrew Wincott playing the dark and sardonic Mr Rochester, here is another outstanding success for the NFRC, which really does deserve greater recognition for its contribution to the local, and possibly national, theatre scene.
Andrew Wincott, sporting designer stubble, is perhaps a tad too young and too good looking for the master of Thornfield, but he did capture the imperious and impetuous character of a man driven by a dark and dreadful secret - that of the mad woman hidden in the attic who is guarded by Grace Poole (Christine McDerment).
When Ian Mullins cast Christine Parle he must have seen in her an almost perfect physical recreation of a Jane Eyre with the acting skill to bring Charlotte Brontë’s character to life.
Dressed throughout in an unbecoming grey with her hair scraped back into a severe bun, she looks the epitome of a plain Jane governess. However, her demeanour, delivery and the glint in her eye (and we were close enough to notice) give credence to the depiction of a bold and passionate young woman with the strength to follow her moral convictions.
The Mullins’ play makes full and clever use of its venue, using few props and subtle lighting, with a little artificial mist, to create the Brontë atmosphere.
Jane’s story takes her from the harsh Lowood Institute (Jane, the child, is played by Harriet Dolton from Showshack Theatre School) to Thornfield Hall on the bleak Yorkshire moors. As governess to the master’s ward, Adele (played with confidence by 11-year-old Sophie Davis from All Hallows School), she finds love, only to be denied when the past comes back to haunt Rochester.
The stricken Rochester’s cry from afar for “Jane, Jane, Jane” and her response “I am coming. Wait for me,” played out in semi-darkness is a dramatic zenith, exemplifying Mullins’s directing skill.
Several members of the cast, who appeared in Racing Demon this season, or who have appeared in other productions over the years, have come together again for Jane Eyre.
Simon Cole, William Whymper, Brenda Longman, Christine McDerment and of course the exceptional Helen Dorward, portray one, or several, of the carefully crafted characters to make another exceptional offering from the NFRC. Suzanne Cansfield
Links:
Jane Eyre:
- Review
Racing demon:
- Reviews
Previous seasons with the NFRC