York Theatre Royal – 27 March 2017. Reviewed by Marcus Richardson
Jane Eyre An Autobiography is the classic Emily Bronte Novel about a Governess; now adapted to stage as a one woman show performed by the very talented Rebecca Vaughan who performed onstage alone for an hour and a half. Now this could drain most actors by the end of the show, but her stamina and performance did not dwindle whatsoever.
She took the audience through her life as she recollected old memories. As we ventured into her past she took on the roles of other characters, there were quite a few, but her skill as an actress made sure we knew who she was portraying at that moment, even if you didn’t get the vocal and psychical change in character something in the dialogue will tell you who she is playing.
I absolutely love it when actors can multi-role with such skill, as some times characters get lost and it can be hard to find the difference between two characters, this was not the case. The script was also very good in setting the scene however at certain points it did feel rather long but what can you expect when working with a classic text. The stage was in the black box studio, so the performance was up close and personal, the stage only had a small classic style sofa, this made sure all the focus is on the performer. As it was so actor heavy, the lighting and sound played a huge part in the show. When scenes changed, or the mood, at certain points the lighting moved fluently along side it, the best aspect of lighting was the absence in some scenes as it made the audience really focus on Vaughan.
The play was very good and I enjoyed my night watching it as it takes you back to the time where we fall in love with female protagonists. DYAD productions focuses on classic texts whilst giving them an innovative and new style, if any show that come my way that’s under their name you’ll see me in the audience