Month: October 2026

Accessibility Review of Mercury Theatre’s ‘Jane Eyre’ Directed By Lily Dyble

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Hi everyone and welcome to another review! We’re coming into the colder months now so won’t be too long until my favourite time of year. But until then, I got the chance to see ‘Jane Eyre’ at The Mercury Theatre in Colchester.

Starring Olivia Marus as Jane Eyre. It tells the classic story of a young Victorian orphan through her difficult childhood, into become a passionate young woman in the Victorian era.

The show is very dark and simple with only a flight of stairs as the set, but with a great use of lighting and sound design each scene feels vastly different from the last. There some uses of bright lights during the show for the more dramatic moments. But they are very far and few between. I think I count three time when this actually happened.

There were some scenes where things did become more difficult to see. This was due very low lighting, or just low lighting then what I would personally need. The use of sounds really adds to the atmosphere of scene brilliant, so it really helped when I struggled to understand the scene from the visual elements.

A stepped wooden platform on a dark stage with several performers arranged across its levels. The platform rises like a wide staircase into the background, and each level holds one or two performers dressed in muted brown and gray clothing that suggests historical peasant or servant attire, including long skirts, aprons, and headscarves. Most performers are slumped, lying, or sitting in weary poses, some leaning on boxes placed on each step as if they are workstations or beds. Metal buckets and piles of what looks like rags or mop heads sit beside some of the boxes, hinting at cleaning or labor. Bright, cool-toned stage lights shine diagonally from both sides toward the center and down from above, cutting through haze so that the light beams are clearly visible and framing the performers in a dramatic, somber atmosphere. The surrounding stage area beyond the lit platform is mostly in darkness, with only faint outlines of curtains and side lighting rigs visible, so attention is focused on the central group.
Photo Credit: Johan Persson

Olivia Marus and the rest of the cast did an outstanding job, conveying the emotion, and what was at stake in each of the scenes. Andera Gatchalian also really stood at to me as she did an awesome display of emotion and depth for both her characters. To the point where I wanted to look her up in the programme at the interval. As said before Olivia, Andera and all of the cast did a fantastic job in this show. You really did sit there watching this and really wanted things to work out for all the characters.  

This was an excellent modem take on the story in terms of set design, but keeping the known classic story. Directed by Lily Dyble, this show fully displayed her heart, passion, and knowledge within the industry and I fully can’t wait to see what she will be up to next. I will be keeping my eye out for her name in the future, and hopefully that will happen soon! A definite one for the future!  

A large, dramatic staircase on a theater stage with both sides lined in tall orange flames. The stairs form a wide pyramid shape, made of dark rectangular blocks that step upward to a flat platform at the top. A single bright spotlight from above shines down toward the top center of the structure, cutting through haze or light smoke and emphasizing the heat of the fire. On the staircase, a person in a dark dress with short sleeves is walking upward toward the top, facing away. The flames are continuous along the outer edges of the stairs, rising several inches to a foot high, with bright yellow and orange tongues and darker smoke near the top. The stage floor and background are very dark, almost entirely black, so the fire and the figures are the main visible elements. On the lower left side of the image, two people stand on the stage floor, facing the staircase; both wear dark clothing, one in a suit-style outfit with a lighter shirt. On the right side of the stage, two more people stand spaced apart, also facing the staircase; they wear sleeveless or short-sleeved dark outfits, their faces and arms lit by the orange glow. In the front right corner, nearer to the camera, a figure in a long, light, semi-transparent garment stands watching the scene, mostly in shadow except for some orange highlights from the fire. The overall atmosphere is intense and theatrical, with strong contrasts between the bright flames and the surrounding darkness, giving a sense of a climactic or ritual-like moment in a performance.
Photo Credit: Johan Persson

On to the accessibility then:

If you have some useful vision: I think here overall you will be able to follow the story with very little effort. There will be times of both bright and dark moments through the show. But these won’t be for very long. There isn’t a clear difference for each character in terms of costume. Which I think would have really helped here with a lot of blacks or dark blues. The exception to this would be the characters of Mr Rochester and Adele. But will have no problem following the storyline as whole.

If you have little to no useful vision: I think here, there will be some elements of the show you will unfortunately miss out on including some dance and minimal physical scenes accompanied by sound effects. But you will be able to follow the story no problem. Here is an Audio Described performance and Touch Tour on the 10th September 2026, should you wish to have that available to you.

‘Jane Eyre’ is running at The Mercury Theatre in Colchester from 26th September until 10th  October 2026, and then will go on a UK Tour! Information and tickets for The Mercury Theatre will be here. But do check to see if it is coming to theatre near you soon! This is one not to be missed!  

Until Next Time,

The VI Critic