BWW Reviews: CRAZY JANE, Tron Theatre, Glasgow, May 29 2015

Crazy Jane is the story of Jane Avril, the literal postergirl for the Moulin Rouge. Immortalised by Toulouse Lautrec on his iconic posters, Jane was somewhat of a mystery and stood out from the other dancers.

To say the story is fascinating doesn't quite do it justice. The performance switches between Jane as an adult performing at the Moulin Rouge and her upbringing. Born to a prostitute and raised in a convent, Jane returned home to her mother when she was nine years old. After several years of abuse at the hands of her mother, she started displaying signs of illness and she was committed to an asylum in her teens where she managed to control her symptoms with dance.

The cast for Crazy Jane are very good and it is a complex piece with actors performing as multiple characters. The performance has subtitles and it made it a little more obvious to me when a couple of lines were stumbled over or delivered incorrectly. However, this probably happens in most productions but without subtitles I don't notice!

I found the scenes in the asylum particularly interesting. While it is no surprise that the diagnosis of mental illness was somewhat lacking in the 1800s, it really is quite shocking to hear some of what happened. Jane herself presented with Chorea, a movement disorder, yet was diagnosed with hysteria.

The music in Crazy Jane is central to the play. Scottish band Hector Bizerk perform the soundtrack and it is an interesting blend of rap and tribal music with a distinctly Scottish tone. The music accompanies the piece perfectly.

Given the subject matter, I would have thought the performance would have felt a little darker than it did. Despite the hardships she faced I never found myself feeling sorry for Jane. She is a very strong character played beautifully by both Rachel Drazek and Pauline Knowles.

Crazy Jane is on tour around Scotland and details can be found on the Birds of Paradise Theatre Company website.

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