Alison Hollenshead

Prof. Ingermann

Speaking with a Visual Vocabulary

16 November 2016

Jane Eyre Design Analysis

The play, Jane Eyre, takes place in 19th century England and centers around the various

stages of an orphaned woman’s life. The designers of this production worked to create the

perfect combination of components such as lighting, set, and costumes in order to convey the

time period and various settings in the show to the audience as clearly as possible. The numerous

designers achieved this goal through analysis and portrayal of elements of design such as style,

color, and symmetry.

The set was comprised of mostly wooden structures with various metal embellishments.

Several aspects of the set such as the curved wooden staircase with detailed metal railing, the

intricate detailing between the wood flats, and the elaborately carved chairs indicated a setting of

wealth in the different homes. Because the set provided a feeling of sophistication and

prosperity, but was also obviously historic, the style of the set – wooden, yet detailed –

represented the context of the play extremely well.

In the beginning of the show, Jane was dressed in a puffy purple dress which allowed the

audience to believe that she was in fact a child at that time. When she was placed in school, she

transitioned to wearing a blue apron and a bonnet, which gave the impression that she was a

young adult at that time. When she became a grown woman, she wore an off-white, plain dress.

This dress, when compared to Rochester’s fancy garb, emphasized the distance between them in

regards to social class.

 The set for Jane Eyre was asymmetrical; it involved two stories with rooms built on the

second story in the middle and on stage left. To balance the structure in the middle on the second

story, there were no extra set pieces or props placed underneath it. On stage right, where the only

upper-level set was a staircase, a coat rack, suitcases, and several other props were placed at the

bottom in order to balance that side.

After attending this production, I am blown away by the components of the set, costumes,

scenery, and the obvious hard work that went into planning and executing it. I plan to attend

many more productions from the university’s fine arts program.