Is Jane Eyre a feminist icon?
A new interpretation of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, hoping to emphasise the active rather than passive nature of the lead character, is being staged at the Bristol Old Vic.
The play's director Sally Cookson explained that the novel was originally adopted by the feminist movement because the central character "aspired to achieve" and "to find fulfilment on her own terms".
The writer Beatrix Campbell praised the new production for aiming to "rescue" the book from becoming "a late 20th century Fifty Shades of Grey" in which "a poor girl meets a rich brute and falls for him".
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Tuesday 11 February.
11 Feb 2014
- From the section Entertainment & Arts