Jane Eyre (NHB Modern Plays) E-Book

Charlotte Bronte

• Herausgeber: Nick Hern Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 123

Beschreibung

Jane Eyre may be poor, obscure, plain and little, but she has heart and soul – and plenty of it. Chris Bush's witty and fleet-footed adaptation lays bare the beating heart of Charlotte Brontë's classic novel, whilst staying true to its revolutionary spirit. With actor-musicians, playful doubling, and a plethora of nineteenth-century pop hits, it was first produced at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, and the New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, in 2022, directed by Zoë Waterman. 'One of the UK's most exciting young playwrights' The Stage 'A writer of great wit and empathy' The Times

Leseprobe

Charlotte Brontë

JANE EYRE

an adaptation by

Chris Bush

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production Details

Characters

Jane Eyre

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

This adaptation of Jane Eyre was first performed at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, on 8 April 2022, with the following cast:

JANE

Eleanor Sutton

ROCHESTER

Sam Jenkins-Shaw

MR BROCKLEHURST/MASON/ ST JOHN

Tomi Ogbaro

HELEN/ADELE

Nia Gandhi

MISS TEMPLE/GRACE POOLE

Zoe West

MRS REED/MRS FAIRFAX

Sarah Groarke

All other parts are played by members of the company.

Director

Zoë Waterman

Designer

Bronia Housman

Lighting Designer

Nao Nagai

Composer and Sound Designer

Simon Slater

Musical Supervisor

Alex Weatherhill

Movement Director

Will Tuckett

Accent Coach

Alix Dunmore

Casting Director

Sarah Hughes CDG

A Stephen Joseph Theatre and New Vic Theatre, Newcastleunder-Lyme co-production.

Characters

JANE EYRE BESSIE JOHN REED MRS REED ABBOTT DR LLOYD MR BROCKLEHURST MISS TEMPLE SCHOOLGIRLS HELEN BURNS JULIA SEVERN MRS FAIRFAX ADELE MR ROCHESTER GRACE POOLE LEAH JOHN, servant LADY INGRAM BLANCHE INGRAM MARY INGRAM

Suggested doubling:*

1. Female, twenties: JANE, BLANCHE, BERTHA

2. Male, thirties/forties: ROCHESTER

3. Male, thirties/forties: JOHN REED, LLOYD, BROCKLEHURST, MASON, GEORGE, JOHN, ST JOHN

4. Female, twenties: BESSIE, HELEN BURNS, ADELE, LEAH, BLANCHE INGRAM (masked), AMY ESHTON, BRIGGS, DIANA RIVERS

5. Female, twenties/thirties: ABBOTT, MISS TEMPLE, GRACE POOLE, MARY INGRAM, MARY RIVERS

6. Female, fifties: MRS REED, JULIA SERVERN, MRS FAIRFAX, LADY INGRAM, SURGEON, VICAR

Company to play SCHOOLGIRLS and other parts as required.

* While gender has been suggested, non-binary cast members shall always be extremely welcome.

This text went to press before the end of rehearsals and so may differ slightly from the play as performed.

ACT ONE

Chapter One. Gateshead House

The home of the REEDS is set up. The COMPANY currently play JANE, BESSIE (a nurse), ABBOTT (a maid), MRS REED, her son JOHN. They sing and dance as they establish the scene.

COMPANY (sing). In the days when we went mummering A long while agog The lads and lasses in their bestg Were dressed from top to toeg We danced and sung the jocund songg Upon the forest greeng And nought but mirth and jollityg Around us could be seen

And thus we passed the pleasant time Nor thought of care or woe In the days when we went mummering A long while ago In the days when we went mummering A long while ago

All hearts were light and eyes were bright While nature’s face was gay The trees their leafy branches spread And perfume filled the May ’Twas there we heard the cuckoo’s note Steal softly through the air While every scene around us looked Most beautiful and fair

And thus we passed the pleasant time Nor thought of care or woe In the days when we went mummering A long while ago In the days when we went mummering A long while ago

We filled a glass to every lass And all our friends most dear And wished them many happy days And many a happy year To friends away we turned our thoughts With feelings kind and free And oh we wished them with us there Beneath the forest tree

And thus we passed the pleasant time Nor thought of care or woe In the days when we went mummering A long while ago In the days when we went –

They are cut off abruptly by JOHN crying out in pain, clutching his face. In the same moment, BESSIE and ABBOTT are hauling JANE away from him. JANE screams. MRS REED watches on. An immediate, explosive shift from our cordial opening.

ABBOTT. Enough, Jane!

BESSIE. Hold her arms down!

JOHN. I’m bleeding!

BESSIE. She’s like a mad cat!

JANE screams and tries to lash out.

JOHN. I’m blind!

JANE. You are not!

ABBOTT. For shame!

JANE. He started it!

JOHN. She flew at me!

MRS REED. Come here, John.

JOHN. I think I’m dying, Mama.

MRS REED (to BESSIE). Take her to the red room, and lock her in there.

MRS REED takes JOHN and goes. Through the next exchange, BESSIE and ABBOTT wrestle JANE into a chair. ABBOTT has to sit on JANE to hold her in place.

JANE. No! Get off me!

BESSIE. If you can’t sit still, we’ll have to tie you down.

JANE cries out and keeps squirming.

As you wish! (To ABBOTT.) Pass me your garters.

Beat. They exchange a look.

She’d break mine directly.

ABBOTT. I’ve only had these a month. (Beat.) Fine!

ABBOTT huffily sticks out a leg so BESSIE can remove a garter.

JANE. No! Stop! I won’t stir, I promise!

BESSIE. Mind that you don’t.

A moment’s breath. ABBOTT gets off JANE.

JANE. I didn’t do anything wrong.

BESSIE. You struck your young master.

JANE. He taunts me, goads me, spits at me – he is wicked, and cruel, like a… a Roman emperor!

ABBOTT. And you still think yourself his equal.

JANE. But –

BESSIE. Hush now, Jane. Calm yourself. If it weren’t for Mrs Reed, you’d be in the poor house.

JANE. So her son may beat me senseless?

ABBOTT. If he pleases. (To BESSIE.) Come on – leave her to her tantrums. If she won’t listen to us, perhaps God might strike her dead for such behaviour.

JANE. He wouldn’t!

ABBOTT. You think not? And then where should you go, if you died tonight with a heart full of such wickedness? Say your prayers, Miss Eyre, before something bad crawls down that chimney to carry you away.

BESSIE and ABBOTT go. JANE screams after them.

JANE. Unjust! Unjust!

She is left alone. The room grows redder. She’s afraid.

(Sings.) My feet they are sore, and my limbs they are weary; Long is the way, and the mountains are wild; Soon will the twilight close moonless and dreary Over the path of the poor orphan child.

Outside the room, BESSIE and ABBOTT are with MRS REED.

MRS REED. What is all this?

BESSIE. She’s been screaming for hours, ma’am.

ABBOTT. For attention.

BESSIE. No – for terror of something.

MRS REED. Repulsive creature. I know her tricks. She shall not be let out.

They go.

JANE (sings). Why did they send me so far and so lonely, Up where the moors spread and grey rocks are piled? Men are hard-hearted, and kind angels only Watch o’er the steps of a poor orphan child.

Back outside, BESSIE and ABBOTT.

ABBOTT. Is she still at it?

BESSIE. She’s sick, for certain.

ABBOTT. Then she brought it on herself.

BESSIE. Come sleep with me beside her. I fear tonight might be her last.

Back with JANE.

JANE (sings). There is a thought that for strength should avail me,

Though both of shelter and kindred despoiled;

Heaven is a home, and a rest will not fail me;

God is a friend to the poor orphan child.

Song ends. JANE collapses with exhaustion. BESSIE and MR LLOYD, a doctor, are with her.

LLOYD. Jane? Miss Eyre?

JANE stirs.

JANE. Dr Lloyd?

LLOYD. That’s right.

JANE. Am I dying?

LLOYD. No, miss.

JANE. Am I ill?

LLOYD. I anticipate you shall make a full recovery. You’ve been crying, Miss Eyre – can you tell me why?

BESSIE. Oh, I daresay she’s crying because she couldn’t ride with the missis in her carriage.

JANE. No!

LLOYD. No?

JANE. I cry because I am miserable.

BESSIE. She had a fall, is all.

JANE. I did not fall! I was knocked down by my brute of a cousin – by the tyrant emperor – but that is not the thing that made me ill.

BESSIE (hisses). Jane!

LLOYD. Thank you, nurse – you can leave us now. I’ll give Miss Jane a modest lecture in your absence.

BESSIE nods and goes, somewhat unwillingly.

The fall did not make you ill, nor your cousin’s assault. What did then?

JANE. I was shut up in a room – the red room.

LLOYD. Is that all?

JANE. After dark.

LLOYD. At bedtime?

JANE. And with a ghost!

LLOYD. A ghost?

JANE. Mr Reed’s ghost – my uncle. He made Mrs Reed promise to take care of me before he died, even though she hates me. That’s the room where he died, and she locked me inside it alone and beaten and without a candle –

LLOYD. And this is what makes you miserable?

JANE. No! I am unhappy – very unhappy – for other things.

LLOYD. Such as?

JANE. I have no father or mother, no brothers or sisters.

LLOYD. But a kind aunt and cousins.

JANE. My cousin knocked me down, and my aunt locked me up!

LLOYD. What of your other cousins – of Mrs Reed’s daughters?

JANE. No better. I barely see them, and when I do they don’t even deign to speak to me.

LLOYD. And you have no other family?

JANE. None that I know. Aunt Reed once said any relations on my father’s side were of a lowly, beggarly sort.

LLOYD. And should you prefer to live with them, could they be found?

JANE. I should prefer to live anywhere in the world but here. Though I shouldn’t much like to go begging.

LLOYD. I should have thought you’d be very thankful to live amongst such finery. Still, all children may benefit from a change of air and scene. Miss Eyre, would you like to go to school?

JANE. School?

A snap transition. LLOYD is transformed in an instant into the fearsome schoolmaster MR BROCKLEHURST. A new day, a few months later. JANE is now suddenly with BROCKLEHURST and MRS REED. She is a bit lost.

BROCKLEHURST. Her size is small – what is her age?

MRS REED. Ten years.

BROCKLEHURST. So much? And is she a good child?

MRS REED. Perhaps the less said on that subject the better, Mr Brocklehurst.

BROCKLEHURST (to JANE). Your name, little girl?

JANE. Jane Eyre, sir.

BROCKLEHURST. Well, Jane Eyre, tell me this – do you know where the wicked go after death?

JANE. They… They go to Hell, sir.

BROCKLEHURST. And what is Hell?

JANE. A pit full of fire.

BROCKLEHURST. And should you like to fall into that pit, and to be burning there forever?

JANE. No, sir.

BROCKLEHURST. So what must you do to avoid it?

JANE (thinks). I must not die, sir.

BROCKLEHURST. Ah, but children younger than you die daily. I buried a little child of five years old only a day or two since – a good little child, whose soul is now in Heaven. I shudder to think where you might land. Do you say your prayers night and morning?

JANE. Yes, sir.

BROCKLEHURST. Do you read your Bible?

JANE. Yes, sir.

BROCKLEHURST. What of the Psalms? I hope you like them?

JANE. No, sir.

BROCKLEHURST. No? Why ever not?

JANE. They’re not interesting.

BROCKLEHURST. I have a little boy, younger than you, who knows six Psalms by heart –

JANE. The same that died?

BROCKLEHURST. No, child! A different boy. And should you ask him which he would rather have, a Psalm to learn or a gingerbread to eat, he will choose the Psalm every time. Then he gets two gingerbreads for his infant piety.

JANE. Perhaps he just knows how to assure a double helping.

BROCKLEHURST. I see now that you do indeed have a wicked heart, and you must pray to God to change it.

MRS REED. I warned you as much. Were you to take her, I dearly hope she might be made humble.

JANE. Take me where?

BROCKLEHURST (to MRS REED, ignoring JANE). Oh, she shall. Plain fare, simple attire, and hardy, active habits – with these Christian graces we shall cultivate her spirit.

JANE. Where are you sending me?

MRS REED (to BROCKLEHURST, still ignoring JANE). It gladdens my heart to hear it. And above all, you must guard against her worst fault – that of deceit. I mention this in your hearing, Jane, so you may attempt no duplicity.

JANE. I am not –

BROCKLEHURST. Abhorrent! All liars shall have their portion in the lake burning with fire and brimstone.

MRS REED. Amen.

JANE. I’m no liar!

BROCKLEHURST (to MRS REED). I shall ensure her teachers are forewarned. Well then, there’s not a moment to waste.

BROCKLEHURST claps his hands and the stage starts to transform into Lowood, an unfriendly and austere place of education. Other members of the company set the scene, dressed as SCHOOLGIRLS. They sing as they do so.

COMPANY (sings). We are but little children weak, Nor born in any high estate; What can we do for Jesu’s sake, Who is so high and good and great?

JANE. What’s happening?

BROCKLEHURST. Quieten down! Burns, turn your toes out!

JANE. But –

COMPANY (sings). O, day by day, each Christian child Has much to do, without, within; A death to die for Jesu’s sake, A weary war to wage with sin.

Music continues. Some of the GIRLS gossip. JANE is glancing around, still lost.

GIRL 1. Could you believe the porridge this morning? Burnt black, it was.

GIRL 2. I couldn’t stomach a mouthful.

BROCKLEHURST. Silence! Form classes! Burns, don’t slouch!

COMPANY (sings). When deep within our swelling hearts The thoughts of pride and anger rise –

GIRL 1. Who’s the new girl gawping at us?

GIRL 2. Shh!

COMPANY (sings). When bitter words are on our tongues, And tears of passion in our eyes –

JANE. Stop! Everybody just stop!

Perhaps to JANE’s surprise, the entire world freezes around her.

Wherever I’m going I shall not go there until I speak my mind. Go back.

The scene rewinds around her until the SCHOOLGIRLS are gone and JANE is with MRS REED and BROCKLEHURST again.

BROCKLEHURST. All liars shall have their portion in the lake burning with fire and brimstone.

MRS REED. Amen.

JANE. I’m no liar!

BROCKLEHURST (to MRS REED). I shall ensure her teachers are forewarned. Well then, there’s not a moment to waste.

BROCKLEHURST goes.

JANE (to MRS REED). If I was a liar I should say I loved you, but I declare I do not – I hate you the most of anybody in the world.

MRS REED. How dare you?

JANE. How dare I, Mrs Reed? How dare I? Because it is the truth. And if anyone asks, I shall tell them how you treated me with miserable cruelty. You have no pity – no Christian virtues. You think that I can do without one bit of love or kindness, but I cannot live so! And if my uncle were alive –

MRS REED. Enough, Jane.

JANE. He would call you wicked, wicked, wicked! Now they can take me away, and I shall never visit you or speak to you again!

JANE gives some kind of signal and the SCHOOLGIRLS sweep back in. Perhaps now they sing/move at double-time.