Northern Ballet - Jane Eyre
Northern Ballet’s latest tour reprises their Jane Eyre - Cathy Marston’s rich take on the Charlotte Brontë classic…
Northern Ballet’s ‘Jane Eyre’, here with Rachael Gillespie as Young Jane, surrounded by D-Men. (sadly no pictures of the reviewed cast are available). © Tristram Kenton.
Northern Ballet
Jane Eyre
★★★★✰
Nottingham, Theatre Royal
12 April 2025, matinee
www.northernballet.com
trch.co.uk
Good (or should I say ‘Reet grand’) to see Northern Ballet reprising Cathy Marston’s Jane Eyre.
It’s nine years since Marston’s take on Charlotte Brontë’s much-loved 1847 novel had its impressive premiere, and it is well time for a new generation of dancers to get to grips with its multitude of roles. At its core, this may be one of the great love stories, but my goodness, it is densely packed with characters and scenes as Jane’s life is covered from hard childhood to settled womanhood, where she is in control of her destiny and fully equal to her man.
A good slice of the first act is taken up with showing Jane’s orphaned childhood (Mayuko Iwanaga was Young Jane) before there is a switch of dancers, and your eyes start building a relationship with Jane proper and the entry of Mr Rochester; the real meat of it all. But there are 14 other named roles, and if you don’t know the book, then it’s a good idea to read the synopsis, or you may get rather bewildered by the rapidly moving plot. The advice to choreographers is usually to simplify and edit, but Marston cleverly illuminates it all in two 50-minute acts, albeit with the proviso that you have done your homework. In actuality, Marston also adds a brilliant complication to the action with a sextet of male dancers - the D-Men - who make regular appearances as the scrambled and painful thoughts of Jane, the ghosts of male spirits holding Jane back, and sometimes they melt away to become the functional furniture of life. They are up there with Jane and Rochester in making this such a striking production.
The set and costume designs of Patrick Kinmonth (who is co-credited for the scenario) are also exemplary. The costumes look just right and of their time, but it’s the simple sets, based on clever movable fabric screens, suggestively painted to look like moors and interiors, that particularly please. Philip Feeney’s music also has modern dramatic sensibilities while building on music of the time from Schubert and Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, and is nicely played live by a small ensemble under Daniel Parkinson.
The Saturday matinee Jane, Sarah Chun, impressed me last year as Juliet and was recently nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Dance at the Olivier Awards. Her portrayal mirrors that of Jane’s ascent in slowly growing confidence, and towards the end, I was very much moved by her subtlety, realism, and absence of melodrama. Chun and her Mr Rochester, Jonathan Hanks, only made their debut together last month, and they are both still developing their partnership. Hanks almost looks too young to have the moody gravitas of Rochester, but as the second act builds, he and Chun both draw us into their real and touching world.
Kudos also to Rachael Gillespie, who delivers a touching cameo performance as Helen, Jane’s childhood friend who dies of consumption. And praise to Gemma Coutts for her Bertha (aka the mad Mrs Rochester) - so creepily effective in the short periods she is on stage. But when I reflect on what is such a well-conceived and executed production, it’s the D-Men I recall first - they really do add vital emotional and visual punch.
The Northern Ballet touring of Jane Eyre continues to Sheffield, London and Norwich. Details.