From a harsh childhood controlled by unfeeling adults, Jane Eyre has to rely on her own courage and convictions to make her way in the world. Employed as a governess, she travels across the bleak Yorkshire Moors to the mysterious Thornfield Hall, the home of the strange, sardonic and intriguing Mr Rochester – and of a dangerous secret.

Charlotte Brontë’s classic gothic tale of love, loss and redemption is one of the best-loved stories in English literature and a new stage adaptation by the highly acclaimed Hull Truck Theatre company is coming to the Ark Theatre in Borehamwood.

“There’s something so completely enthralling about Jane,“ says Laura Turner, who had the job of adapting it for the stage. “She’s such a fascinatingly complex character, so full of contradictions in her dreams and ambitions.“

Laura has put Jane firmly at the centre of her unique adaptation. “The thing that really struck me was that it feels so much like a story about creativity,“ she says, “about writing, imaging, remembering and dreaming. Jane is a very self-conscious narrator – ‘Reader, I married him’ is one of literature’s most famous lines – but other adaptations tend to focus on capturing the various elements of the story itself – the gothic mystery, the passionate love affair with Rochester, the horror of the mad woman in the attic – at the expense of Jane’s imagination. So in this adaptation the world of the play becomes Jane’s memory and her imagination.“

The play begins with the adult Jane recounting her life but, like memory itself, everything is broken and jumbled up as Jane is drawn backwards in time to relive events.

“She’s haunted by the past, by traumatic memories that keep invading her consciousness in the present,“ Jane explains. “We move back and forth in time with the ebb and flow of Jane’s memory, discovering more about her and understanding her actions through the slow reveal of her past life.“

Did the fact that the story is so well-known impact on how Laura approached the writing of it? “There’s always a certain amount of pressure working on a text like this,“ she admits, “and possibly none more so than the pressure I put on myself to do justice to it! Something I’ve realised during this project is that you have to be brave enough to put the book aside and trust your instincts with the story.“

  • Jane Eyre is at the Ark Theatre, Hertswood Upper Site, Thrift Farm Lane, Borehamwood on Monday, February 4 and Tuesday, February 5 at 7.30pm. Details: 020 8238 7288, www.thearktheatre.co.uk