I TOTALLY MISSED that the woman singing onstage was supposed to be Bertha, probably because altho she had a lovely voice, the onstage band really annoyed me and I felt like the singing took away from emotional scenes instead of underlining what was happening in them. Andyeah, the moment she sang "Crazy" (beautifully! she had a great voice and stage presence!) I was like, oh noooo.
I typically like sets which are minimal and also have elements that swap in easily for other pieces, but there was a little too much climbing up and down ladders for me. It did really work with bits like Rochester getting on his horse and Jane in the coach and Jane climbing up at the end, though. The costuming was a bit blah.
Unlike everyone else I know who saw this, I really liked Rochester -- he seemed just the right mix of vulnerable and gruff -- but I didn't like Jane Eyre at all. I think of Jane as being very quiet and sober, fading into the wallpaper, and then coming out with these very sharp honest judgments that take Rochester by surprise. She hasn't had a lot of worldly experience, but that makes her intriguing in other ways. She may seem submissive and pliant but inside there's a real core of steel that allows her to survive, and resist Rochester until she can meet him on her own terms. This actress did not have any of that. I think their leaving out some of her background, like you noted, unfortunately contributed to her Jane being kind of blank but also too nervous.
the omission of Rochester's weird cross-dressing fortune-telling interlude, nobody ever does this and yet I'm still mad about it
WHY IS THIS NEVER DONE IN ADAPTATIONS? IT'S SO AWESOME. I mean obviously the adapters don't want Rochester to seem THAT weird and also it's a little unbelievable Jane doesn't recognize him, but it's SO HILARIOUS. And the way Jane reacts to it all is so Jane.
-- I was pleasantly surprised by how much of the book they did keep in, and at how much of the dialogue was right from the book. It seemed better than most of the movie/TV adaptations about that!
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I typically like sets which are minimal and also have elements that swap in easily for other pieces, but there was a little too much climbing up and down ladders for me. It did really work with bits like Rochester getting on his horse and Jane in the coach and Jane climbing up at the end, though. The costuming was a bit blah.
Unlike everyone else I know who saw this, I really liked Rochester -- he seemed just the right mix of vulnerable and gruff -- but I didn't like Jane Eyre at all. I think of Jane as being very quiet and sober, fading into the wallpaper, and then coming out with these very sharp honest judgments that take Rochester by surprise. She hasn't had a lot of worldly experience, but that makes her intriguing in other ways. She may seem submissive and pliant but inside there's a real core of steel that allows her to survive, and resist Rochester until she can meet him on her own terms. This actress did not have any of that. I think their leaving out some of her background, like you noted, unfortunately contributed to her Jane being kind of blank but also too nervous.
the omission of Rochester's weird cross-dressing fortune-telling interlude, nobody ever does this and yet I'm still mad about it
WHY IS THIS NEVER DONE IN ADAPTATIONS? IT'S SO AWESOME. I mean obviously the adapters don't want Rochester to seem THAT weird and also it's a little unbelievable Jane doesn't recognize him, but it's SO HILARIOUS. And the way Jane reacts to it all is so Jane.
-- I was pleasantly surprised by how much of the book they did keep in, and at how much of the dialogue was right from the book. It seemed better than most of the movie/TV adaptations about that!