Review: Out Loud Theatre Presents Unique, Fascinating Take on JANE EYRE

Adapting a work of literary fiction into a stage play is always tricky. Especially so if it's something extremely well-known and beloved, something that has stood the test of time, something considered a classic. The novels of the Bronte sisters have been the subject of adaptations many times over, in a variety of mediums and each one with its own strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures. Polly Teale's recent stage version of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre proves that an adaptation can breathe new, unique life into a well-known tale while honoring and maintaining the classic and beloved story.

Produced by Out Loud Theatre, Teale's adaptation gives us a different and fascinating way to view the titular character. For those who don't remember or know the story, or haven't read the novel or seen a movie version (and you should do both), Jane is a bold, headstrong, intelligent and self-sufficient woman who's early life is filled with much solitude and very little love. After surviving many trials and tribulations, Jane is hired to be a governess by Mr. Rochester, a man who has also survived many difficulties and seems to be cold and devoid of love. They fall in love with each other but, of course, must first suffer and survive more challenges and tragedies before they can finally be together.

One of the most interesting things about Teale's version is a move away from the outer life of Jane and a focus on her inner life and psyche. In fact, the play feels less like a romance and more like a psychological drama or study. It's a study of Jane's subconscious, not only examining what is there, but bringing it to vivid life on stage. Teale wants us to know what Jane is really thinking and feeling, deep down, and she does so primarily by creating a fascinating relationship between Jane and Bertha, the madwoman who, in the novel, is married to Mr. Rochester.

In the novel, Bertha is a real woman, a woman hidden away in an attic. In this play version, Bertha exists both literally and figuratively, living both in the attic and in Jane's mind. She is there with Jane at the play's beginning, sort of Jane's own inner madwoman, expressing Jane's darker side, perhaps. During the bulk of the play, she is there on a number of levels, on stage the whole time, sometimes actually there, languishing in her attic room, and other times there as a spirit, a figment of Jane's imagination. It's a wonderful convention that Teale has set up, keeping Bertha as a constant presence, a spirit that hangs or hovers over Jane and haunts her in a number of ways.

Teale gives us many moments, involving Bertha or not, which clue the audience in to what Jane is really thinking or feeling. It creates interesting new ways for the audience to get to know and understand Jane, her actions and reactions, what makes her tick. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Rochester, who at times feels like a bit of an afterthought. It's interesting that Teale chose to only give us such depth and layers of understanding to Jane's psyche and did not do the same for Rochester or any of the other characters. We really don't get to know any of them so well, which seems like a missed opportunity, at least for the major characters.

There are some other missed opportunities in regard to Out Loud's Production, directed by Kira Hawkridge. Perhaps they're not so much missed opportunities as they are frustrating choices. The predominant one is the choice to have too much going on at once, which happens many times throughout the play. On a number of occasions, the audience is forced to choose between multiple things to watch or they try to watch everything at the same time, which may be even worse.

At one point, an important scene between Jane and Rochester competes with an actor playing a dog who is frolicking with a companion. The dog wins, as almost the entire audience watched that actor playing a dog and ignored the scene between the two lead characters. That happens more than a few times, where major Jane/Rochester scenes are ignored because other interesting things are happening. An important scene between Jane and another man trying to get her to marry him competes with a large dance/movement piece which completely steals the focus and attention. And the climactic scene between Jane and Rochester (arguably one of the great romantic moments in all of classic literature) has focus stolen by actors running around and hugging. It does a disservice to the audience when they can't really focus on the scene and truly see, hear and feel the moment as it's happening (not to mention a disservice to the actors who are working hard and doing great work and deserve the audience's attention). Immersive theater, while it can be brilliant and amazing, shouldn't come at the expense of the story being told.

That is not to disparage the fantastic pieces of dance and movement that happen throughout the play. They are often brilliant, such as the two moments that involve a fire being set, both of which are handled beautifully. There are some other great moments of physicality, such as when we see Jane figuratively and literally being held back and struggling to pull away from the forces holding on to her. On the other hand, those moments shouldn't take away from the important and pivotal character moments and moments of real human drama. An audience should be given the chance to focus on those moments, rather than lose them in a whirlwind of movement and sound. This time around, Hawkridge let that whirlwind go a bit too far, allowing the characters and the story to be swept away and lost in the middle of it (and, truthfully, there's only so much of actors running around in circles and stomping chairs you can pull off before it becomes tedious and loses it's dramatic usefullness). Hawkridge has found the perfect balance between the spectacle and the storytelling in the past, I have no doubt she can do it again.

One reason all of that is frustrating is that Hawkridge's ensemble is so good (for the most part, more on that in a moment) and they're doing such great work. That's good and bad, since the audience wants to watch everyone being amazing all the time but then they miss really important stuff (as far as the characters and story) because other stuff is going on somewhere else on stage.

At the play's core is Jane Eyre herself, played by Katherine Skoretz. As a beloved character of classic literature, there is a long list of actresses who have played the role. Skoretz, in this reviewer's opinion, is among the best at capturing the essence of Jane and bringing that essence to life. She nails the most important aspects of the performance, bringing to truthful, vivid life all of Jane's headstrong, bold, tough, intelligent nature and her ability to survive just about anything. One minor issue for Skoretz was line readings that were too-often the same or really missed the nuance of the line. At times, sarcasm or jest were missing from lines that should have had them. Depth of emotion wasn't really there at times when it should have been. If she can find a bit more of the texture in those lines and what they mean to Jane, Skoretz would be even more perfect in the role.

The one weak link in the cast, unfortunately, is Johnny Sederquist in the other lead role, Rochester. This is nothing against Sederquist, who is clearly very talented, he's just really miscast here. He either is way too young or he comes across as way too young, or both. He doesn't have the aged, world-weary maturity for the character, nor does he have the feeling that he's lived a lengthy, difficult life. His Rochester seems like a teenager, a young, snarky, smooth-talking hipster. It's like Rochester as an angst-ridden teen in a John Hughes movie, and it doesn't work. Not helping is the fact that Sederquist doesn't have any chemistry with Skoretz and their passion or love never really feels true or real.

Jane's other other-half, Bertha, is played by Sarah Leach, who brings her usual endless amount of passion and charisma to the role. She is always exciting to watch and this role offers her a chance to find interesting ways to express her character, primarily through movement alone, especially during her scenes with Skoretz. As with every Out Loud production, the rest of the ensemble both shine in solo moments and work together like a well-oiled machine. Emily Parker is fabulous as both Mrs. Reed and Mrs. Fairfax, two very different characters. David Nando Rodgers steals a number of scenes and is extremely charismatic and fun to watch, especially as Brockelhurst and Saint John Rivers. Aubrey Dion is equally fun to watch, especially as Adele. Siobhan LaPorte-Cauley, Beth Alianiello and Natasha Cole round out the cast, each one delivering an outstanding performance.

For this production, Out Loud decided to seat the audience in-the-round, which is also always tricky. It works most of the time, but care must be taken with making sure audience members can see when important moments are happening. For example, during a major scene when a wedding is interrupted, not everyone can see Jane and her reaction to the interruption, or her reaction when she then meets the woman in the attic, both of which are hugely important. Technically, the show's elements work well, although the space doesn't really help matters. Black curtains should really be hung over the windows and the building has the unfortunate habit of allowing sound from other parts of the building to bleed into the theater space.

Small glitches such as those aside, Out Loud has another exciting production on their hands, one well worth seeing for fans of the novel and those who don't know much of Jane Eyre. Like all of the company's productions, it is a play that will have audiences discussing and talking about it long after they have left the theater. Which is exactly what great theater should do.

Note: This production of Jane Eyre contains nudity.

Jane Eyre runs through August 29th with performances on the 20th and 21st at 7:30pm and the following weekend on the 27th, 28th and 29th at 7:30pm. Performances are at The Mathewson Street Theater (134 Mathewson Street) in Providence. For Ticket reservations, e-mail outloudtheatre@gmail.com with your name, # of tickets, and performance date. Tickets are $15.00 for Students / Seniors, and $20.00 for General Admission. You can also reserve tickets and find more information by visiting their website @ www.outloudtheatre.org.

Pictured: (L to R): Sarah Leach and Katherine Skoretz. Photo by Nile Scott Shots.

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