I told my Soul to sing
She said her Strings were snapt
Her bow-to Atoms blown
And so to mend her-gave me work
Until another Morn
- Emily Dickinson

Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre sees the rise of a heroine struggling against the patriarch conventions of Victorian society. Escape through flight, starvation and madness, the novel chronicles her journey into maturity. Her confrontation with Rochester’s mad wife Bertha, allows her to face head first with her own emotional captivity. Bertha, in the analysis of The Mad Woman in the Attic by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar examines her as Jane’s dark double. Bertha represents the feral secret side of Jane which she tries to repress since she was a child. The novel’s climax sees the demise of Bertha, allowing Jane to fully reunite with Mr Rochester. This psychological doubling is explored within the installation where two sides of Jane’s persona meet.

Production supported by The National Arts Council Singapore