Hannah Bateman is the ultimate heroine in Northern Ballet’s Jane Eyre – Interview

Northern Ballet will be performing Jane Eyre at the Lowry next week, bringing their widely-acclaimed choreographic adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s masterpiece to Salford. The ballet was created in 2016 by British choreographer Cathy Marston, with Hannah Bateman, Leading Soloist, as the eponymous heroine. 

 

Hannah grew up in Woking, Surrey, and joined Northern Ballet in 2002. A Leading Soloist since 2012, she has performed principal roles in most of the company’s repertoire. “Being Jane is a wonderful experience,” she says, “it’s just about this one person and her take on life, and all of the things she had to deal with. You get the whole evening to really delve into the character, and you go on the complete journey of her life.” 

 

Jane Eyre is a book that means a lot to many people, but Hannah tried not to think about this while she was creating the role. “What I wanted to do,” she remembers, “is submerge myself in that world, and tell Cathy Marston’s version of Jane Eyre. It had to be her vision of it, with all the little bits of herself she wanted to include and deliver to the audience.” 

 

 

She only realised the impact the ballet had after she had performed it. “Some people had to read the book at school, others read it as adults – with a completely different perspective. It touches everybody in some way; it is really a big part of English culture. But you can’t think of that too soon, or you would be flooded with responsibility!” 

 

The role is emotionally very intense, which can be a challenge when the dancer has to deal with a difficult choreography at the same time. “It’s easy to get lost in the role,” says Hannah, “there is so much depth to it. But you have to be careful not to do this too soon, because you want to keep in a state of clarity so you are still delivering all of the steps the way you’ve been rehearsed. And you have to make sure you have enough energy, from the beginning to the end.” 

 

While Jane is central to the production, the other characters are essential, and Hannah considers the whole cast as a team. “We work together, grow together. We agree on the narration, so when you look at somebody you can imagine what they would be saying to you, as if it was a script. Then, you leave space for artistic freedom, and you have to trust each other, to let each other live as artists.” 

 

The choreography is based on classical ballet, as all dancers of the company are classically trained. But Hannah insists that the choreographer wanted to avoid any clichés and keep the style quite realistic. “Cathy likes to keep it really simple,” she says. “For instance, in her work, it’s really important that we walk like a regular person, heel first, whereas a ballet dancer, nine times out of ten, would walk toe first. There is a pedestrian look to it.” 

 

The ballet was not originally meant to be a box-office hit, but a small commission that would only run for a couple of venues. “There is something about Jane Eyre that is quite quiet,” Hannah says, “and this is how we rehearsed it. We didn’t really have time for reflection when we were creating it, but by the time it got to the stage we realised that it was great. The audience reaction was fantastic. You never know with the audience, if it’s going to be well received, or even if it makes any sense at all.” 

 

Hannah is pleased that Jane Eyre has had such a great success. “Because so much of what we do hinges on the box office nowadays,” she says, “the company has to be really clever about what they commission. And as much as we like fairy tales and happy endings, they are not all reflective of real life, so, as an artist, I am really grateful that such a fantastic story could be adapted into a ballet, and people got on board with it. I applaud the British audience!” 

 

Northern Ballet will be performing Jane Eyre at the Lowry from Wednesday 6 to Saturday 9 June 2018.

Hannah Bateman will be dancing the role of Jane on Thursday 7 (matinee) and Friday 8 (evening).

For more information and tickets, visit the Lowry website.

Northern Ballet just announced a new production by Cathy Marston due to tour next year, Victoria.