BARD IN THE BOTANICS FESTIVAL, GLASGOW - UNTIL 6 JULY 2024
REVIEWED BY RACHEL FARRIER
5*****
Glasgow’s Botanic Garden is a very fine outdoor setting for a summer’s evening performance if the rain holds off (it did) and the midges are not too fierce ( they tried their best..). The stage is small and the surroundings intimate – I have seen and loved several years with of productions of this festival now, and never fail to be astounded by the achievements of a tiny cast, with the most basic of staging and ‘effects’. In this production all sound effects are provided by the actors themselves using microphones at the edges of the stage, with entirely convincing results.
This magnificent adaptation of Jane Eyre by Jennifer Dick is electrifying from the very start, and manages to convey the steely character and, yes, feminism of the protagonist without falling into the trap of becoming anachronistic that threatens contemporary productions of classic novels. I will confess that my last brush with Jane Eyre was in school over 30 years ago and I am not sure that tedious English lessons really brought to life the wonder that is the central character of this tale. The novel may have been written by Charlotte Bronte almost 200 years ago but Jennifer Dick’s portrayal of Bronte’s central character feels fresh and innovative and as a thought-provoking and powerful to today’s audience as the novel must have seemed to its early readership. Dick transports the story to Scottish setting and the use of Scottish places, landscapes and dialect works perfectly, and certainly delighted this Scottish audience.
Stephanie McGregor in the titular role deserves her own 5 stars; she takes us with her, to the depths and the heights of all that Jane feels and experiences. It is rare that a stage play moves me to tears but I found myself furious, distraught and elated along with our heroine over the course of the evening. Dick manages to lift passages from the novel and place them in the script so perfectly that they feel as if they might have been written yesterday, for the way in which they depict the ‘steely self’ of a young woman who quietly but fiercely refuses to be defined by the expectations and social parameters of her time.
McGregor is surrounded by a very fine, small cast who all play multiple roles and stay either on stage or just off it, in full view of the audience, throughout the production, creating some beautifully expressive moments when Jane is sketching what she sees around her. Stephen Arden is outstanding in a diversity of roles, bringing some much-needed humour to the roles of Rochester’s wee French ward, Adele Varens, and Miss Murray the school teacher, as well as conveying the infuriating piety of the Reverend St John Rivers. Alan Steele, another Bard in the Botanics regular, also brings levity but also a reassuringly solid presence in the form of Fairfax, Rochester’s self descibed ‘ghillie’. Johnny Panchaud portrayal of the fallible and complex Mr Rochester is also superb. He is both brooding and mecurial, and is wisely never quite likeable enough to fall into the role of ‘troubled hero’, as previous productions might have had him. Dick’s telling of this story manages the difficult task of sympathetically bringing to light the character of Mrs Rochester (‘the mad woman in the attic’) through Jane’s insightful (and furious) perspective.
Both my teenage daughter and I were spell-bound by the tale before us, and even the cloud of midges that descended on the audience in the second half did not break the spell. This wonderful production cannot be recommended enough.