[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of A Noise Within’s Jane Eyre, written by Charlotte Brontë, adapted by Elizabeth Williamson and directed by Geoff Elliott.
Jane Eyre is possibly the most perfect example of a bildungsroman in English literature. Namely, it is a story of hardship and self discovery, romance and loss, extreme heartbreak and redemption. If it were not so beautifully and compellingly written, it might be a fluffy romance novella.
But Emily Bronte’s unmistakable brilliance as a writer elevates this dark, tempestuous, psychologically intense story to legendary status. It is considered to be one of the greatest novels in the English language with very good reason.
There have been many film adaptations and TV shows. Pick your favourite version…but a play always brings something more to a story, doesn’t it? Something magical. An element of chance, a thread of electricity, an otherwise unattainable vividness. A play more closely resembles one’s imagination, as if we, as an audience are sitting in a darkened room, the book on our laps, the cold night at the window. A Noise Within has captured the romantic hearts of Los Angeles with forays into the greatest works of fiction. Kiss of The Spider Woman, or any number of the works of Shakepeare and Dickens come to mind.
But this version of this particular epic and revelatory story is something altogether different. Jane Eyre moves passed performance. It effortlessly, almost imperceptibly, enters our hearts. I could have heard a pin drop throughout most of this astonishing performance, so utterly riveted was I and the audience all around me.
Of course, we all know the story. Jane Eyre is an orphan, brought up in a school for children such as her, where she becomes a teacher once she graduates. But she yearns for more, and the story of this quiet young woman, all alone in the world, unwilling to settle for a small life, quite changed the world it was published in. It gave voice to hearts and thoughts and dreams. Jane Eyre in her simple bravery and passionate longing to be seen, gave substance to the lives of every woman in the crushingly patriarchal Georgian world.
The play distills the novel with complete perfection. The essence of the story and its urgent sense of longing and loss, with always the hovering impending sorrow on the edge of love. A Noise Within has cast from the very core of its company of actors for this wonderful play, and I was thrilled to see Frederick Stuart in the role of Edward Rochester. He fully captured the rakishness and the maddening arrogance of this broken lonely man. But it is Jeanne Syquia as Jane who is the heart of the story and the heart of this play. She is incandescent. Brittle yet sweet, removed yet kind and always intensely compelling. She brings a humor to the role, without being obvious. There is an almost alien quality to Jane Eyre. How else can she forgive everyone in her life who wronged her, including Rochester? Her heart, although repeatedly broken, remains open and unable to judge. It is that quality that bewitches Rochester and maintains that connection through time and distance, and is ultimately what reunites them. Jeanne Syquia stands on the stage, unblinking, unstirring, her eyes wide and deep and she is Jane Eyre.
But then the entire cast is quite unforgettable. All working together to create the world of Jane Eyre and its layers of pain and forgiveness with sublime dedication. All of this makes Jane Eyre an absolute triumph. Unquestionably one of the finest plays I have had the pleasure of seeing at A Noise within or anywhere else for that matter!
Geoff Elliot directs with nuance and lightness of touch. He knows these actors so well and the connection they all have is palpable. The staging, the lighting, the music…all utter perfection and all designed to tell this beautiful story of devotion and love. A Noise Within has that magical ability to focus all and everything on the story they tell. Whatever is on the stage is absolutely everything to them and the result of this devotion is that an audience believes absolutely everything it sees. That is the exchange. A play is performed and an audience is transported. Who could wish for more…
Tickets:
When:
Performances March 29 – April 20
• Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. / Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. (no Saturday matinee on March 29)
Where:
A Noise Within
3352 E. Foothill Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91107
The Jane Eyre Cast
Jeanne Syquia as Jane Eyre, Frederick Stuart as Edward Rochester .The cast also includes Deborah Strang as Mrs. Fairfax, and Bert Emmett, Julia Manis, Trisha Miller and Riley Shanahan, who each take on multiple roles. Young Stella Bullock plays Jane as a child, as well as Mr. Rochester’s ward, Adele.
The Creative Team
The creative team includes scenic designer Frederica Nascimento; costume designer Angela Balogh Calin; lighting designer Ken Booth; composer and sound designer Robert Oriol; wig and make up designer Tony Valdés; properties designer Stephen Taylor; dialect coach Andrea Odinov; and dramaturg Miranda Johnson-Haddad. The production stage manager is Candice Segarra-Stroud, assisted by Katelyn Hampton.
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