The Fan Carpet shares 'Five Things [They] Learned at the Jane Eyre Rehearsal Day'.
1. This production has been decades in the making For producer Adam, bringing Jane Eyre to the UK is much more than another production. Having first fallen in love with the musical as a young theatre fan in Toronto before seeing it on Broadway, he spent years hoping to one day help bring it to British audiences. That passion was evident from the moment he welcomed the media into rehearsals, making it clear this is very much a labour of love. 2. Jane's voice belongs to the whole company Perhaps the most fascinating creative decision is the production's ensemble-led approach. Rather than limiting the narration to Jane herself, the entire company shares responsibility for telling her story. As John Caird explained, Charlotte Brontë's novel is written almost entirely from Jane's perspective, and this theatrical device allows that first-person narration to remain central while creating something uniquely suited to the stage. 3. Casting wasn't just about finding great singers One theme emerged repeatedly throughout our conversations. This company wasn't assembled simply because its members have exceptional voices. Co-director Megan McGinnis explained that every performer needed to be an outstanding storyteller capable of carrying both dialogue and music with equal conviction. Watching rehearsals, it quickly became clear why that mattered. Every member of the ensemble contributes to telling Jane's journey. 4. The children are central to the story Many productions might have asked adults to portray Jane as a child. Instead, this production places genuine young performers at the heart of its opening chapters. Emily-Rose Samuel and Poppy Jason share the roles of Young Jane and Adèle, bringing an authenticity that immediately grounds Jane's early experiences. As the creative team explained, seeing Jane's childhood through the eyes of a real child was considered essential to the emotional impact of the story. 5. Respecting Charlotte Brontë doesn't mean avoiding change One thing became clear throughout the afternoon. Nobody involved is trying to recreate Charlotte Brontë's novel word for word. Instead, every creative decision has been made with the same goal: preserving the heart of Jane Eyre while allowing musical theatre to tell the story in its own language. Whether through the ensemble narration, the intimate staging or the symbolic design, this production appears determined to honour the novel while embracing everything theatre can uniquely offer.
Victorian Psycho is an odd film that I never really felt knew how funny, tonally offbeat, or scary it wanted to be. There’s a commitment from the cast to make this ‘Norman Bates’ crossed with Jane Eyre work, but instead of a successful transfusion of genre, it’s just a bit odd. (Dylan Blight) Wrexham interviews The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever organiser Moira Gleed. Hundreds flocked to Plas Newydd, Llangollen, on June 20, to take part in The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever. Organised by Moira Gleed and her daughter Rowen, attendees donned red dresses and outfits after Kate Bush’s iconic look in the Wuthering Heights 1978 music video to learn and record the song’s dance routine. The event was open to those of all experience and the practice in the morning was led by two local choreographers: Karen Lyon and Sarah Bright. We’ve recently caught up with Moira Gleed to chat about her experience of this event. 250 tickets were sold, and they sold out within days of being advertised. Moira said she’d never have dreamt such a fantastic opening. “It exceeded expectations, exceeded hope.”
Yorkshire Live recommends a ''Cosy' Yorkshire walk with waterfall and quaint village', ie. Haworth, that is perfect for autumn. Chronicle Live recommends a trip to Haworth too. Digital Spy suggests streaming Frances O'Connor's Emily on the BBC.
Bengali audiences got their own audio Wuthering Heights early last year, courtesy of Mirchi Bangla's long-running Friday Classics: Banglay Biswasera (World's Best) strand:
Date of broadcast – 14th February 2025 Duration: 3:58:50
Cast: Mr. Lockwood - Agni Young Heathcliff & Hareton - Rwitobroto Mukherjee Miss Dean - Madhurima Goswami Heathcliff - Shakya Roy Catherine - Arkoja Acharyya Cathy - Sunayana Bhowmik Edgar & Mr. Earnshaw - RJ Shekhar Hindley - Smeet Kakkad Chaudhuri Linton, Young Edgar & Child Hindley - Sunrito Ghosh Isabella, Frances & Child Catherine - Sramana Roychoudhury Young Miss Dean - Moumi Dutta Zillah & Mrs. Earnshaw - Sujata Ghosh Joseph - Abhirup Banerjee
Crew Music & Sound Designing – Soumo-Shubho Sound Recordist – Sanjit Giri (Post Production Studios) Theme Music – Sayak Chakraborty Theme Animation – Pinku Mondal Poster Designing – Subhadeep Mukherjee Motion Poster – Anwesh De Script Mentoring – Tomali Chaudhuri Assistant Director – Abhirup Banerjee Executive Producer – Sujata Ghosh Produced by: Sound Ideas Translation and Adaptation: Shambhobi Ghosh & Susmita Moitra Direction: Tomali Chaudhuri
A year before, in 2024, a Jane Eyre adaptation was also published. ITV News has a piece on the premiere of the production of Gordon & Caird's Jane Eyre. The Musical in London.
Another Jane Eyre theatrical adaptation that will tour England this Autumn is the Mercury Theatre Colchester, Rose Theatre and Storyhouse co-production (in association with Northern Stage), performing Sally Cookson, Mike Akers and the original company's adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's novel. WhatsonStage and others publish the cast: Olivia Marcus and Gabriel Akuwudike will lead the cast of a new touring production of Jane Eyre, directed by 2025 Royal Theatrical Support Trust Sir Peter Hall Director Award winner Lily Dyble. The production, based on Sally Cookson, Mike Akers and the original company’s adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s novel, will premiere at Mercury Theatre Colchester from 26 September to 10 October 2026 before touring to Rose Theatre Kingston, Northern Stage in Newcastle and Storyhouse in Chester. (...) The creative team includes set designer Anna Yates, costume designer Khadija Raza, movement director Natasha Harrison, lighting designer Lucía Sánchez Roldán, composer and sound designer Joseff Harris, fight director Rachid Sabitri, intimacy director Haruka Kuroda and casting director Helena Palmer. Dyble said: “What is at the very heart of Jane Eyre is courage in the face of the unknown. I’m thrilled to be delivering this story to audiences with bravery and risk, made possible by this phenomenal cast and creative team.” (Alex Wood)
Positive News asks for rewilding Britain to fight against the recent wildfires: The purple, treeless moors found across Britain’s uplands can look timeless and wild. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë described “the purple moors” as “a wilderness of heath”. Yet these moors have been shaped by clearance, drainage, grazing, pollution and burning. Peat records from Keighley Moor in West Yorkshire, not far from Brontë country, reveal a longer story. For most of the past 1,000 years, this landscape would have been much wetter, with abundant peat-forming Sphagnum moss, rather than today’s extensive heather-dominated vegetation created through rotational burning. (Joe Glentworth)
Far Out Magazine thinks that Anna Calder-Marshall's Cathy was one of the worst miscasts of 70s movies: Anna Calder-Marshall as Cathy Earnshaw, ‘Wuthering Heights’ - 1970 Wuthering Heights has been subjected to adaptations that are good, bad, and highly controversial, but none of them has been as dull and uninspired as the 1970 version directed by Robert Fuest. While Timothy Dalton does have the stoic, stony gravitas needed to play Heathcliff, there’s little he can do when paired with Anna Calder-Marshall’s take on Cathy Earnshaw. This is a literary character known for her unbridled passion, venomous rage, and repressed sexuality, but Calder-Marshall depicts her as a soapy hero only defined by the tragedy that the story concludes with. Even if the G-rated version was not going to go to the extremities seen in the Andrea Arnold and Emerald Fennell versions of the story, it still needed to be interesting as a romantic drama. Sadly, Calder-Marshall doesn’t even have a dose of chemistry with Dalton. (Liam Gaughan)
La Información (Spain) celebrates the 136th anniversary (August 24th, 1890) of Jean Rhys: Jean Rhys, 136 años después: la escritora que rescató a una mujer recluida en un ático de Jane Eyre. Se cumplen 136 años de su nacimiento, una efeméride que devuelve la atención a la autora que convirtió a una figura secundaria de la literatura victoriana en protagonista de su propia historia (...) Sin embargo, su mayor reconocimiento llegó décadas después con Ancho mar de los Sargazos, publicada en 1966, tras un largo periodo apartada de la escena literaria. Un ejemplo de cómo los años de pausa o alejados de la actividad literaria más visible no implican un alejamiento del verdadero oficio del escritor. La obra dialoga directamente con Jane Eyre, el clásico que Charlotte Brontë publicó en 1847. Rhys recuperó a Bertha Mason, la esposa criolla de Rochester recluida en el ático, y reconstruyó su historia como Antoinette Cosway. El cambio de perspectiva permite abordar el pasado colonial caribeño, la identidad y las relaciones de poder que atraviesan al personaje. (Carmen Tomàs) (Translation)
El Debate (México) recommends readings according to your month of birth. For the January ones: Jane Eyre Enero tiene algo de comienzo. Después de las fiestas, muchas personas sienten la necesidad de ordenar su vida, cerrar ciclos y pensar qué quieren hacer diferente durante el nuevo año. Por eso, Jane Eyre puede ser una lectura especialmente atractiva para inaugurar el calendario. La novela de Charlotte Brontë sigue a Jane, una joven que atraviesa pérdidas, dificultades y relaciones complejas mientras intenta construir una vida en la que pueda conservar su independencia y dignidad. No es solamente una historia de amor: también habla de identidad, autonomía y de la búsqueda de un lugar propio. Es un libro ideal para quien quiere empezar el año con una historia intensa y clásica, pero que todavía puede sentirse sorprendentemente moderna en sus preguntas sobre libertad y decisiones personales. Si naciste en enero, este podría ser tu libro: una historia sobre empezar de nuevo sin renunciar a quién eres. (Ciria Alarcón) (Translation)
The Herald Sun (Australia) publishes something about a hen party of someone who is marrying someone else sometime in 2026. The party was supposed to be Wuthering Heights-themed or something: As the wedding of the year fast approaches, Bec Harding was in full hen’s mode at the weekend. [Rebecca] Harding and Andy Lee are set to tie the knot in New York in October. She looked ravishing in red as her Wuthering Heights-themed hen’s party took place on Saturday in Melbourne. (Jackie Eptstein)
A new special commemorative book by the Arts Council:
Edited by Sarah Crown, Martin Prendergast & Nicholas Serota Illustrated by Chris Riddell Comma Press ISBN-13: 9781917093361 2026
To mark 80 years of public investment in culture and creativity, we’ve published Made in England: Art and Culture in Changing Times – a collection of essays, insights and creative contributions from artists, cultural leaders and critics. The book explores the role art and culture play in England today, and looks ahead to how creativity might shape the next 80 years. Culture and creativity are at the heart of England’s story. Our artists, writers, performers, producers and creators are recognised around the world, enriching our neighbourhoods, our country, and our lives. For the past 80 years, since the Arts Council’s creation, public investment in art and culture has helped people access inspiring creative experiences, develop talent and tell their stories. It has supported education and wellbeing, strengthened communities and enabled generations of artists to thrive. On our 80th anniversary, we’re reflecting on the impact of public support of culture and creativity – and why that support matters now more than ever. As Sir Nicholas Serota says in his introduction to the collection: “In marking 80 years of sustained investment in art and culture, we celebrate a nation made richer, happier, more inventive and more successful because of it. But that is not enough. We owe it to future generations to make the case that public investment should be sustained and increased over the next 80 years. We need to argue for the art that does not yet exist.”
The book contains a contribution by our very own Ann Dindale:
Ann Dinsdale, principal curator of the Brontë Parsonage Museum, reflects on a career of caring for the sisters’ home: tracing how recovered manuscripts, household relics and conservation campaigns keep the Brontës’ legacy alive, and arguing for museums’ vital role in preserving our shared cultural story.
The Fan Carpet has a Q&A with Isabelle Methven, who plays Helen Burns and Bessie in Jane Eyre. The Musical.
Jane Eyre is regarded as one of the great works of English literature. What drew you to Charlotte Brontë’s story? Isabelle Methven: It’s actually my favourite book. I’ve loved it for years, so when the opportunity came up to be part of this production, I couldn’t have been more excited. Charlotte Brontë created such rich, truthful characters, and I think that’s why people continue to connect with the story today. It’s a real privilege to be part of bringing it to life on stage. Helen Burns and Bessie are very different characters, yet both help shape Jane’s journey. What has it been like exploring those roles? Isabelle Methven: That’s one of the things I love most about them. Helen represents kindness, compassion and forgiveness, while Bessie provides warmth and comfort in a very different way. They both leave lasting impressions on Jane, even though they’re with her at different points in her life. Finding those differences has been one of the most enjoyable parts of rehearsals. Music is such an important part of storytelling in this production. How do you approach performing songs that carry so much emotion? Isabelle Methven: For me, singing is really just an extension of acting. You’re never simply singing a beautiful melody. Every lyric has to come from the character and from what they’re feeling in that moment. If you’re truthful with the emotion, then the music naturally becomes part of the storytelling. Finally, what do you hope audiences take away from this production? Isabelle Methven: I hope they leave appreciating just how timeless Jane Eyre really is. Even though it was written almost two centuries ago, its themes are still incredibly relevant today. It’s a beautiful story, and I hope audiences fall in love with it all over again.
And The Fan Carpet also has an interview with three more actresses from the cast: First of all, could you introduce yourselves and tell us about your roles in Jane Eyre? Eve Shanu-Wilson: I’m Eve, and I’m playing Blanche in Jane Eyre: The Musical. Emily-Rose Samuel: Hello, my name is Emily-Rose Samuel and I’m playing Young Jane and Adèle. Poppy Jason: And I’m Poppy Jason, and I’m also playing Young Jane and Adèle. We share the role! Jane Eyre is such an iconic literary classic. What was it about this story that made you want to be part of it? Eve Shanu-Wilson: I love Jane Eyre. I read the book with my mum when I was about eight years old and we absolutely loved the BBC adaptation too, so it’s always been close to my heart. I also think the story’s themes of feminism and female empowerment are incredibly important today, and it’s wonderful that we get to tell that story alongside two incredibly talented young performers. Emily-Rose Samuel: I like Jane Eyre because it’s quite scary and dark. I like all the mysterious parts… Eve Shanu-Wilson: Careful… spoilers! Poppy Jason: I read the book with my mum as well, which made me really interested in Jane Eyre. I’m just so excited to be part of this because everybody is so talented. Eve Shanu-Wilson: She’s talking about me, obviously! We’re all talented!
The Wuthering Heights mickey-take is fun, but ancillary to the main event. (Brian Logan)
There are other reasons to retell our foundational stories. We may love them as works of art but be enraged by some of their assumptions – sometimes by the entire concept behind them. We return, again and again, but with gritted teeth. We say things like “they’re a product of their time”, and wonder if that’s a good enough excuse. The retellings that respond to this impulse are some of the classics of the genre. The writers who created them were caught between two impulses: nostalgia and rejection. Jean Rhys admitted as much in describing her response to reading Jane Eyre. She was swept up in it, but “vexed at her portrait of a ‘paper tiger’ lunatic [and] the all-wrong creole scenes”. Wide Sargasso Sea is Rhys’s modernist prequel to Brontë’s classic. It aims to give justice to the madwoman in the attic, aka English literature’s most famous Creole character. She is a walk-on part in the original, chaotic and exotic. Dominica-born Rhys’s version is both a takedown and a satire of Victorian ideas of empire, race, and morality. Mr. Rochester goes to the colonies to acquire a fortune by marrying a woman he has never met. But he can’t handle the Caribbean. Even the green is too green, the flowers too red, and his new wife’s eyes – he worries they might be too black. (Emily McBride)
AnneBrontë.org has a post on the manuscript of Jane Eyre, which reached the office of Smith, Elder & Co. on a day like today in 1847.
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