Malcolm Cowler brings classic “Jane Eyre” to the Orinda stage

    Starting Sep. 5, the Orinda Starlight Village Players (OrSVP) brings Malcolm Cowler’s adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” to the Orinda Community Center Amphitheater stage.
    “The show follows the life of Jane Eyre, an orphan who overcomes a harsh childhood to become an independent and strong-willed woman (in the 1850s).
    “The novel is a mix of romance, social criticism and gothic elements,” said Cowler. “Jane grows up in the cruel household of her aunt, Mrs. Reed, and later at the strict Lowood School. As an adult, she becomes a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she falls in love with her mysterious employer, Mr. Rochester. However, their love is tested when Jane discovers Rochester’s dark secret.”
    Cowler caught the acting bug in 1993.
    “I did some theater in high school. In 1993 my 12-year-old son auditioned for Children’s Theater Workshop (CTW) in Pleasanton for ‘Toad of Toad Hall’ and they asked me if I wanted to be in the show with him,” said Cowler. “That Christmas, I played Scrooge in their production of ‘A Christmas Carol’ and I was hooked on community theater.”
    Cowler has been acting with OrSVP since his first audition in 1994 where he got the role of Trotter in Agatha Christie’s “Mousetrap.” This was the beginning of Cowler’s long run acting on the Orinda stage.
    “The next year I played Leonard Vole in ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ and I was on my way,” he said. “Apart from playing Scrooge for Danville and DVC, I’ve only performed at OrSVP.”
    In 2012, Cowler started directing at OrSVP.
    “Artistic Director Geotty Chapple offered me the chance to direct an Agatha Christie at Orinda. I chose ‘And Then There Were None,’” said Cowler. “I enjoyed this so much that it changed my direction at Orinda completely, because I wanted to do more directing and moreover found I had an urge to create and direct adaptations of my own.”
    Some of Cowler’s adaptations include Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” Carlo Collodi’s “Pinocchio,” Wilkie Collin’s “The Woman in White,” two of L. Frank Baum’s Oz books and last year’s production of J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Carmilla.”
    “After staging ‘Carmilla,’ focusing on an intense, mysterious, relationship between Laura and Carmilla, I thought it would be good to adapt a story focusing on a completely opposite type of love,” said Cowler. “‘Jane Eyre’ is one of my favorite novels and fits the bill perfectly. It depicts not only the ardent love that joins people together for life, but also the pure love of life.”
    In the past, when Cowler did adaptations of other works, he imported the book directly into his word processor and pared the work down to a two-hour stage play, so that around 90% of what the audience hears on stage are the actual lines written by the author.
    “This worked well with my previous adaptations, which could be considered novelettes. ‘Jane Eyre’ is around 600 pages long and this technique would have created a stage play around six hours long,” said Cowler. “So, I had to decide which sections of the book I could remove without affecting the main storyline. Then I had to paraphrase the remaining dialog to shorten the delivery on the stage, and, finally, I had to create narration scripts for the old Jane that would tie all of the remaining dialog smoothly together. As a result, I would say only about 30% of the dialog in the final script is original.”
    Cowler is excited to get “Jane Eyre” to the stage.
    “It’s one of the most compelling life and love stories ever written,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to working with the wonderful cast I’ve obtained.”
    His hope is that those who see the play will be inspired to read the original book.
    “If watching the show encourages audience members to read the book, my job will be well done,” said Cowler. “If they read the book before seeing the show, I would love to hear how they liked my adaptations.”
    Performances of “Jane Eyre” run Friday and Saturday nights at 8:30 p.m., Sept. 5–27, Sunday, Sept. 21 at 4 p.m. and Thursday Sept. 25 at 8 p.m.
    This year OrSVP is running a “Be a Star” campaign to generate funds for next season. The 2026 season will be the group’s 43rd year staging productions at the Orinda Community Center Park Amphitheater. And “Jane Eyre’ will be the 120th production produced for the Orinda stage.
    The three fundraising categories are “Rising Star” for $43, “Shooting Star” for $120 and “Super Star” for $163. If the group meets their goal, they will raise $10,000 to cover rental for the stage, production expenses, rehearsal space, warehouse space, royalties, costumes, props and technical equipment.
    OrSVP is a 501(c)3 organization and all donations are tax deductible. Visit orsvp.org/be-a-star for more information.
    OrSVP is 100% volunteer-run.
    “OrSVP is a real community,” said Cowler. “Like me, many actors have been drawn to us and have remained with us for years. We know each other, love acting together and sharing wonderful evenings rehearsing on stage under the starlight. It’s a way of life that we cherish dearly. And our audiences come back year after year to share our experience. We are on first-name terms with many of them.”
    Anyone interested in any aspect of theater and would like to learn more is encouraged to contact the group at info@orsvp.org or 925.528.9225.
    For more information, visit orsvp.org.