Jane Eyre is unarguably Charlotte Bronte’s most successful novel. First published in 1847 it is a hugely popular book and currently a recommended school’s text.
At the start Jane is ten, orphaned and ends up being taken in by her maternal aunt but is mistreated and neglected. Eventually she is sent to Lowood School and remains there initially as a pupil for the first six years and the last two years as a teacher. At eighteen, Jane leaves Lowood and begins working as Governess to young Adele Varens at Thornfield Hall. Appointed by the housekeeper Mrs Fairfax, Jane does not meet Adele’s guardian Edward Rochester until sometime later.
Over time Jane’s feelings for Mr Rochester grow and eventually she confesses her feelings only for him to admit he feels the same and proposes to her. During their wedding ceremony Jane discovers that not only has Mr Rochester been married before, but he is still married, but his wife is locked away in part of the house due to mental illness. The knowledge not only stops the marriage and explains odd happenings in the house but forces Jane to choose her moral integrity and leave Thornfield.
Far from Thornfield she collapses and is rescued by Clergyman St John Rivers, eventually finding out that they are cousins on her father’s side. St John wishes to marry her so she can accompany him to India as a missionary, but she declines and returns to Thornfield to see how Mr Rochester is doing only to find the house burnt down his wife dead and Rochester blind and having lost a hand. They reunite and finally marry.
The novel is long and dense with plot. Compacting it into a two-hour twenty play was never going to be easy. Here Conn Artists Theatre Company’s Nick Young and Ross Muir have attempted it with various degrees of success. Parts of it work well, other parts are disjointed and are ultimately unsatisfying in how they carry the plot forward. With only five actors, a minimal set and limited time adaptions on this scale are problematic and while well intentioned in getting the plot out to school pupils in an accessible form, it does feel like it falls between a full production and a TIE performance. Nick Young’s direction tries to keep the plot moving but there are lulls where things ideally could be tightened and clarity added.
Evie Depledge as the eponymous Jane is on stage for almost all the performance. She works hard to show Jane’s determination, courage and morality both physically and verbally, successfully for the majority of the play with lapses where plot and direction let her down. Ross Muir is an actor of huge experience, yet his portrayal of Edward Rochester came across as flat and unconvincing, leaving this reviewer feeling disappointed. As an aside, a new wig might also help as the one in the show was so bad as to deserve its own character review. A shame as generally the costumes were excellent.
The rest of the characters in the novel were covered by three strong ensemble actors Janna Fox, Edward Smith and Erin Maria Walther. Fox shone as Mrs Fairfax while Walther’s Helen was beautifully drawn.
Laura Kimber’s set while inventive with its design and use of the written word, doing what it needs to do physically, does not invoke the more brooding, gothic feel of the original novel.
As a way of bringing a set text to pupils, Conn Artists Theatre are to be commended for their effort with Jane Eyre, its problem is that it feels like a production for schools too.
Reviewer: Helen Jones
Reviewed: 30th September 2026
North West End UK Rating: