Leeds-based Northern Ballet has celebrated "Bronte-land" both with David Nixon’s Wuthering Heights some years ago and also Jane Eyre – first seen in 2016 and toured over the following two years; a fascinating and in some ways unique creation by Cathy Marston.
And her Jane Eyre returns to the moors this spring, in a Northern Ballet national tour beginning in Leeds and visiting Nottingham, Sheffield, Sadler’s Wells in London and finally Norwich.
The full-length ballet, based on Charlotte Bronte’s novel, was nominated for a South Bank Sky Arts award in 2017, and features music both compiled from the works of Fanny Mendelssohn, her brother Felix and Schubert, and freshly composed, both tasks accomplished by the ever-inventive Philip Feeney. His composite score matches the 19th Century Romanticism of the story really well. There’s the same sense of pent-up passion within the constraints of politeness and convention, occasionally bursting through in mystery, horror and shock.
And Cathy Marston knows how to tell a story vividly, which fits perfectly with Northern Ballet’s tradition and expertise: her style is clearly classical in spirit but with freedom to borrow from other inspirations.
When I saw it before I particularly liked the way, to express Jane’s intelligence as she verbally spars with that of Rochester, she literally trips him up – and he her, now and again – in a recurring visual motif. And an interpretation of what (in the book) are mysterious unexplained noises from Bertha in the attic – not very practical to reproduce when the music is important – is achieved by showing a dancer in silhouette.
This ballet began as one for smaller theatres, with modest staging requirements, and Northern Ballet, which has performed to recorded music in some recent programmes, is going back to the original score with its need for a small number of live players.
The company's artistic director, Federico Bonelli, said of the work: “What do we all love about Jane Eyre? Her resilience, determination and steadfast knowledge of who she is as she navigates a life filled with turmoil.
"This story is perfect to be told through ballet … there is so much for any dancer to work with, to encapsulate the layered characters and narrative created by Charlotte Bronte, and even more for an audience member to enjoy.”
In our area Jane Eyre is at Leeds Grand Theatre (March 14-22) and Sheffield Lyceum (April 22-26).