'Jane Eyre' Update Evokes Empathy
Published: Oct 30, 2007
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TAMPA - The Gorilla Theatre has brought Polly Teale's highly symbolic adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's novel "Jane Eyre" to Tampa. While faithful to the original story published in 1847, this contemporary play further explores Jane's true nature with visual interpretations of her often-hidden emotions.
Immediately, the audience is informed that this production is no stodgy rehashing.
The play opens with young Jane (Katherine Michelle Tanner) poring over an illustrated travel book that fires her imagination. A wild-haired woman (Shana Perkins) dressed in tattered underwear dances around her in unsuppressed glee, in tandem with Jane's excitement.
This strange figure is Bertha, who in the novel is Rochester's mad wife but here also represents Jane's unspoken desires and frustrations. She symbolizes the qualities that Victorian society deemed improper for women to express but that Jane nevertheless feels.
Jane suffers regular abuse as an orphan but, like any child, finds it hard to keep her emotions in check. Bertha voices the girl's uninhibited outrage - a sort of cloaked sound system that can't be turned off without a hammer.
As a woman, Jane learns to quiet her shadow for the sake of easing her place in society. It is clear, however, that Bertha cannot be muzzled for long.
Under the direction of Nancy Cole, this production burns with a controlled intensity. Each detail - from casting to lighting to staging and set design - brings import to the play's heavy use of symbolism.
Cole uses a handful of actors to portray several characters in rapid succession. With a few simple costume adjustments to cue the audience of a change, the actors seamlessly move from one role to the next. The tactic sets just the right pace for sustaining the story's impact.
Most compelling are the interactions between Perkins and Tanner. Professional dancer Perkins rises and writhes to the emotional pitches like an animal too beautiful to be caged, while Tanner's poise and refined acting counterbalance this ferocity.
Ned Averill-Snell plays Jane's rotten cousin, John Reed, and Edward Rochester, easily transitioning from overgrown child to sexy-ugly man. Rochester is such a distinctive character, the wrong actor can easily botch the job of conveying his complexities (for example, see the 1983 televised version starring over-actor Timothy Dalton). It is both a relief and pleasure to watch Averill-Snell "get" it.
Scenic and lighting designer Keith Arsenault crafted a stark, precarious set that emphasizes the play's message. Steep, curving stairs lead to a second level that includes Bertha's attic prison, and the narrow spaces leave the actors little room for missteps.
Arsenault's use of warm lighting in Perkins' scenes contrasts well with the pervading flat, gray tones.
These visual elements, in step with the other production parts, indicate the bleak horizon awaiting most Victorian women and the repercussions for those who tried to elude it.
THEATER REVIEW
Jane Eyre, adapted by Polly Teale
WHEN: Through Nov. 11; 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday
WHERE: Gorilla Theatre, 4419 N. Hubert Ave., Tampa
TICKETS: $15 to $25, depending on date of performance; (813) 879-2914, www.gorilla
theatre.com
Kathy L. Greenberg of Tampa is a freelance writer.
