Jane Eyre: the Beginning

This week I started rehearsals for Jane Eyre with Out Loud Theatre and I'm playing Jane!

She's a sassy wench!

So far they've been really fun! We're doing ensemble games mixed in with honest and enthusiastic discussion of theatre, the show, the ideas and themes, and ourselves. Kira--the artistic director and show director--likes to use the term "mind-hive" to describe the ensemble attention and acting that she feels is vital to theatrical life and specifically for her theatre. It's a fun way to hook in--of course, every time she says "mind-hive" I hear "Mai Thai" I don't know if that's just my brain or her accent but it's a fun little flip to do in my head. ;)

The play is an adaptation of the novel by Charlotte Bronte by Shared Experience and written by Polly Teale. The adaptation looks at Bertha--the mad-wife in the attic--and Jane--the eponymous protagonist--are the same woman. Two halves, Bertha the passionate sensual active side and Jane the sensible scared desirous of love side. Too often, especially in Charlotte Bronte's society, women are expected to be a certain way and ostracized for not conforming. This adaptation looks at not only the societal ostracizing but the self ostracizing that people experience and create.

Me and David discussing--Yay!

So far my favorite line that I say in the play is in response to a question about how I will avoid going to hell, to which I reply:

"I must keep in good health and not die"

Incidentally, this is said to David (pictured above). Each actor, besides myself and Sarah (who plays Bertha), plays multiple characters. For example, David will be playing Brocklehurst, Pilot (the dog), Lord Ingrahm, and Saint John. The multiple roles are enriched by having the same actor playing them. Every time I see them onstage I see the threat and the comfort of the different roles. It gives me so much to respond to.

I really appreciate having this rich tapestry of characters in each actor because, frankly, Jane Eyre is a challenging character for me. I have so often associated Jane with virtue and quietness, self-denial and the positiveness of that, but the more I read the play and talk about it with this wonderful cast and director, the more I realize just how passionate, creative, and unconventional Jane really is. Her grown-up self struggles acutely with fear and the desire for love, which she didn't get as a child. Her education was one of self-denial and godly love over human love which leads her to run from and deny the things that make her most happy in the hope and prayer (so many Our Fathers) that this is the path to happiness. When she deny's Saint John's marriage proposal towards the end of the story, she is really denying this narrative of self-denial. Her realization is that self-denial is a personal hell. And she reclaims herself on the journey back to the life that made her happy--at Thornfield, talking with Rochester every night, spending time with Mrs. Fairfax, and drawing. 

The passionate Jane who is frightened. I relate to her so deeply. It's sometimes a little frightening. I am working on consistent practice and self-care in order to help me deal with the fear and the negative self talk [Jane has some serious negative self-talk in the play]. I think Jane's imagination is her best and worst quality, because it both sets her free and terrorizes her. Bertha fills this space, she is the imagination the heart that Jane locks away, physically, in this version of the story. 

The physicalization is my favorite part of this adaptation! Jane Eyre has been adapted so many times and each time with a stoic Jane. Jane says she is plain, people who hate her say she is plain. I wonder now, if it isn't the horrid lie that she repeats to herself trying to make it true. I am reminded of The Witch of Blackbird Pond in which Kit, the protagonist who comes from the West Indies (like Bertha does), is described as a fairly average looking woman, but when she smiles her whole self is lit up like a candle and she is really very beautiful. I think Jane, like Kit, doesn't realize what her passion and imagination do and so many adaptations don't make that inner struggle and passion visible so we consistently see a plain, stoic Jane. Sadly, I have watched her and failed to understand why she's special. I think this is a unique failing of adaptations that this Shared Experience one does not share.

Our production is working with extra physicalization to visualize, visceralize the struggle in Jane. She says at one point that in order to gain human affection "I would willingly have the bone of my arm broken, or stand behind a kicking horse and let its hoof dash against my chest". Which, by locking up Bertha, guarding her every move, verbally abusing herself, and denying any impulse or desire, she does to herself. Ugh! Gah! I love that I get to tell this story and let the audience actually see and experience the inside of it and not just the outside!  Using abstraction we can share the inner life with the audience. =D

Anyway, to that end we've been working ensemble games, trust games, movement games, that involve all of us and our bodies in real activities. =D Like lava, where we cross the length of the room and out the door on just a couple chairs, moving together without speaking or telling people what to do, just physical offers.  We persevered like crazy and when we failed, no one got off the chairs. We just stood there needing to finish, needing to make it all the way because we could. We were heroes!  

Inspirational quote = incidental awesome

There was arm holding, hugging, hand holding, breathing, sharing space, sharing weight, sharing breath, hands and arms through legs and around waists, even a little boob grabbing. But we made it and it felt so good!  

I'm excited to get back to it tonight! We'll be working on the first 15 scenes of the show tonight.

I'll keep the updates coming!