Just Jane

‘Jane Eyre’ takes the Latimer-Shaeffer stage this week

By Lindsay Casale and Aaron Stewart, contributing writer and senior writer
Posted on November 8, 2007

The cast of Jane Eyre illuminated the stage with fierce but controlled emotion, perfectly suited to Polly Teale’s script.

The adaptation of the classic Charlotte Brontë novel takes place in Latimer-Schaeffer Theatre all this week. The play was first performed by London’s Shared Experience Company in 1997. It’s continuous popularity throughout the decade is well-deserved.

The adaptation is full of both traditional and unconventional characteristics, exhibited in the simple, Victorian set as well as in the somewhat unorthodox musical underscoring. Cellist Grisha Kramer appeared onstage with the actors during several scenes of the play.

The cast of JMU’s production was visibly strong, with five out of eight cast members playing two or more roles with ease. Notable was junior Julie Schroll’s bubbly French novice Adele. Junior Lash Dooley’s composed transition from a clergyman to a household pet, spurred the crowd to laugher as Rochester’s dog, Pilot.

Sophomore Ali Hoxie proved capable in the challenging role of Bertha, which required animated body language over dialogue. She remained engaging and dynamic despite her limited opportunities for verbal expression throughout the play.

Senior Lauren Meyer played the title role of Jane Eyre, and did her best to convey the complexities that Teale strove to demonstrate to the audience through her script. Senior Joel Adam Gerlach’s Rochester straddled a fine line between jovial and deeply troubled, a combination that was unsettling at times.

Straying from the original Brontë novel, Teal explores a complex connection between Bertha and Jane Eyre.  Bertha plays the character that Jane cannot be: assertive, decisive and vengeful.  Her role is so beautifully incorporated that you are never sure if she’s a real character, or just figment of Jane’s imagination.

Overall, the small, seemingly tight-knit cast pulled together to expose an interesting and thought-provoking adaptation of a popular novel that is often taken at facevalue. Polly Teale’s “Jane Eyre” is an example of the underlying stories that can unravel from the texts we think we know best, if we’d only dig a little deeper.

lly simple song,” Rousseau said.

“Lyrics are really important to us,” Nicholson said.

The two have a unique song-writing method: they don’t have one.

“It usually goes like this: one of us will say, ‘Hey, I wrote something I really like. Come over and we’ll work on it,’” Rousseau said.

“Sometimes it turns out to be really good,” Nicholson said.

The two have been busy recording their upcoming album, which wraps up this month and is due to be released in January.

Visit their MySpace page, myspace.com/nandr, to learn more about their music. Nicholson & Rousseau will also be playing Nov. 6 at 9 p.m. at the Delta Chi Jimmy V benefit concert. Expect more shows to come next semester.