I would never have thought you could do Jane Eyre as a play, but I was proved wrong at the National Theatre the other evening. I think I was most keen to see it because it was a new play, first performed only last year, and I love Jane Eyre. It's one of my 3 favourite Bronte books, and with a female director, I couldn't resist. It seemed that the last few times we had gone to the National Theatre it was see an Irish play written decades ago. So it was good to see something a bit more modern, and not set in Ireland.
I was surprised at how well they had adapted it to stage, I guess it helps if you know the book really well, since they have to cut a bit out to make it fit in 3 hours. Certain characters were dropped, and the St John Rivers part was sadly shortened. But they focused a lot on Jane's desire to be free and to live the life she wanted as a full and complete human. Which I really liked. She was so fierce in some of her speeches. This is definitely the type of play I like to see, even if the seats at the NT are super uncomfortable.
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