Web Series Spotlight: The Autobiography Of Jane Eyre

The story of Jane Eyre, the once-abused child raised by a hateful aunt and ruthless cousins who eventually becomes a nanny and falls in love with her much older and rather creepy employer, has been adapted countless times on the stage, on TV and in film. Each adaptation, of course, has based adapted from the classic 1847 novel by English writer Charlotte Bronte.

This time around, in the web series The Autobiography Of Jane Eyre, the story is set in modern day Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with Jane working for the mysterious E. D. Rochester, the CEO of Thornfield Aluminum Exports, as a tutor to his very intellectual young daughter Adele.

A group of Canadian post-secondary grads and current students, spearheaded by creators Nessa Aref and Alysson Hall (the latter who appears as Jane in the web series), are behind this interesting transmedia production of the classic story.

Taking its influence from the popular web series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries that ran online from April 2012 through March 2013 (and was awarded a 2013 Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Media), The Autobiography Of Jane Eyre ran its first episode on February 28, 2013. A new episode of the web series has aired online every Wednesday and Saturday since that date with the most recent airing (Episode 92) on May 31, 2014.

The primary cast consists of Alysson Hall as the title character; Patricia Trinh as Grace Poole, the personal assistant to Jane’s employer E. D. Rochester; Adam J. Wright as E. D. Rochester and Juliet McLaughlin as 8-year-old Adele.

The cast also includes Angie Lopez as Suzanna-Maria Ramirez Gonzalez, one of the maids at the Rochester residence; Alissa Hansen as Blanche Ingram, who runs the PR campaign for Thornfield Aluminum Exports; Lucas Blaney, a rich socialite who attended Harvard with Blanche and Rochester; Fojan-Nixie Shabrang as Liz Reed and Courtney Shields as Johanna Reed, both of Jane’s cousin who dislike her; Lucas Hall as Simon Rivers, who saves Jane from being mugged and is a resident at the local hospital; Elina May Chidley and Emily Henney, who are Simon’s sisters Diana and Mary (respectively) and Ranae Miller as Rose Oliver, who is friends of the Rivers sibling and daughter of the chief of surgery at the hospital where Simon works.

The team behind The Autobiography Of Jane Eyre consists of head writer and producer Nessa Aref; consulting producer and transmedia coordinator Kathryn Hall; composer Daryn Cassie, producer Erika Babins and writers Courtney Christensen, Christina Bialik, Shaan Rahman, Ryan Bright, Chris Coutts and Kyle D’Odorico.

You can get caught up on The Autobiography Of Jane Eyre here.