Jane Eyre at Storyhouse Chester: cast announced for November 2026

Olivia Marcus will play the title role and Gabriel Akuwudike will play Edward Rochester when a new production of Jane Eyre arrives at Storyhouse in Chester from Tuesday 10 to Saturday 21 November 2026. Storyhouse confirmed the Chester company on 24 September 2026. The staging is based on the acclaimed adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's novel by Sally Cookson, Mike Akers and the original company, and it is directed by Lily Dyble, winner of the 2025 Royal Theatrical Support Trust (RTST) Sir Peter Hall Director Award.

The show is a co-production between Storyhouse, the Mercury Theatre, Colchester and Rose Theatre Kingston, presented in association with Northern Stage and supported by a grant from the RTST. Chester is the final stop on a four-venue autumn run that begins in Colchester this weekend. Full dates, prices and access information for the Chester performances are on the official Storyhouse Jane Eyre page.

Jane Eyre at Storyhouse: who is in the cast

Marcus leads the company as Jane. She is an actor and writer whose screen work includes series regular roles in Disney+'s Extraordinary and Channel 4's Everyone Else Burns, along with Stath Lets Flats, Here We Go, Bad Education and Starstruck. On stage she played Jane Seymour in The Mirror and the Light for the RSC at the Gielgud Theatre, and her other theatre credits include These Demons at Theatre 503 and Lord of the Flies for Theatr Clwyd and the Sherman Theatre.

Akuwudike, who trained at Drama Centre London, plays Rochester. His theatre work includes Arcadia at the Old Vic, Macbeth at the Lyric Hammersmith, Hamnet for the RSC, King Lear at the Globe and My Father's Fable at the Bush Theatre. On television he has appeared in Shetland, The Chelsea Detective, Screw, The Doll Factory, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and Ridley Road.

In keeping with the spirit of the original adaptation, most of the supporting company take on several roles. Oscar Adams plays John Reed, the Reverend and St John. Aamira Challenger plays Grace Poole, a teacher and Diana. Millie Faraway is Bessie and Blanche, Andrea Gatchalian plays Helen and Adele, and Kate Kordel plays Aunt Reed and Mrs Fairfax. Leo Wan doubles as Brocklehurst and Mason, and Robyn Rose-Li plays Bertha.

The ensemble brings a wide range of experience. Adams was nominated for an OFFIE for Best Newcomer for My Brother's Keeper at Theatre 503. Challenger's credits include Pride and Prejudice on tour and Blithe Spirit in the West End. Faraway graduated from RADA in 2024, while Gatchalian has appeared in Kyoto for the RSC and at Soho Place, and on screen in Wednesday. Kordel's credits include The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time at the National Theatre and Noughts and Crosses at Regent's Park. Rose-Li has appeared in The Book of Mormon in the West End and received an OFFIE nomination for Fly More than You Fall at Southwark Playhouse. Wan will be familiar to Chester audiences from Storyhouse's Miss Julie, and has also worked at the National Theatre, the RSC and Sheffield Theatres.

The adaptation and the creative team

Sally Cookson's version of Jane Eyre was devised with its company and first staged at Bristol Old Vic in 2014 as a two-part production. It was then reshaped into a single evening for the National Theatre's Lyttelton Theatre in 2015, in a co-production between the National Theatre and Bristol Old Vic. British Theatre gave that London staging four stars in our review of Jane Eyre at the National Theatre. The approach puts Jane's inner life on stage through ensemble storytelling, music and movement rather than period costume drama. The same adaptation later reached audiences across the country on the 2017 National Theatre tour. Dyble now brings a fresh staging of that text to four regional theatres.

The story follows Jane as an orphaned girl who longs to escape her cruel aunt. Freedom beckons when she is offered a post as governess in the house of the brooding and secretive Mr Rochester. As intrigue turns to attraction, Jane is drawn in by his mercurial charm, but when the truth comes out she must choose between the man she wants and the woman she wants to be. Storyhouse's listing opens with one of the novel's most famous lines: "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me."

Dyble is joined by set designer Anna Yates, costume designer Khadija Raza, movement director Natasha Harrison, lighting designer Lucía Sánchez Roldán, composer and sound designer Joseff Harris, fight director Rachid Sabitri and intimacy director Haruka Kuroda. Casting is by Helena Palmer.

Speaking when the casting was first announced, Dyble said: "What is at the very heart of Jane Eyre is courage in the face of the unknown. I'm thrilled to be delivering this story to audiences with bravery and risk, made possible by this phenomenal cast and creative team."

A Storyhouse Originals production for Chester

Jane Eyre is one of several classic adaptations presented under the Storyhouse Originals banner in 2026. Storyhouse Originals is the Chester venue's strand of homegrown productions, and previous titles include Miss Julie, Bluestockings, Sophocles' Antigone, Faustus: That Damned Woman, The Parent Agency and Kinky Boots, alongside the annual Christmas shows and seasons at Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre. For more on the building itself, read our report on the £37m Storyhouse and its new theatre spaces.

Storyhouse Creative Director Suzie Henderson said: "Charlotte Brontë's revolutionary masterpiece Jane Eyre remains as potent today as it did when it was written in 1847, and this dynamic and imaginative new stage adaptation promises to present it in visceral and powerful fashion."

She added: "I'm delighted to be able to reveal such an exciting cast of talented actors who are working with Lily Dyble in the rehearsal room to bring her thrilling storytelling vision to life for our audiences here at Chester. And I know this Storyhouse Originals production, a collaboration with Colchester's Mercury Theatre and the Rose Theatre at Kingston, will be a real highlight of our autumn season."

The RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award

The production exists thanks to the annual RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award, which gives an up-and-coming director a first career-breakthrough opportunity to originate and direct a fully funded production as part of a main stage season at a leading regional theatre, and then tour it to similar venues. Storyhouse sat on the panel for the 2025 award, which Dyble won. For audiences, the result is a mid-scale touring production made by four regional houses working together.

Jane Eyre tour dates and Chester performance details

The production opens at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester, from Saturday 26 September to Saturday 10 October 2026. It then plays the Rose Theatre, Kingston, from 13 to 24 October, and Northern Stage in Newcastle from 3 to 7 November, before arriving at Storyhouse from 10 to 21 November 2026.

In Chester, Jane Eyre plays in the Main Theatre and runs for about two hours and 30 minutes, including an interval. Tickets are on sale from £19.50 to £32.10 for Storyhouse members and £21.50 to £35.50 for non-members. Young Storyhouse Card members can buy £7 tickets, with limited availability per show, and group and school rates are available. Storyhouse notes that school groups are expected at weekday performances, which makes sense for a novel that remains a staple of the English literature classroom.

Accessible performances are scheduled throughout the Chester run. There is a captioned performance on Wednesday 11 November at 7pm, an audio described performance on Wednesday 18 November at 2pm, and a BSL interpreted performance on Thursday 19 November at 7pm.

For performance times, seating and access booking, visit the official Storyhouse page for Jane Eyre. With a strong young cast, an award-backed director and one of the most celebrated modern adaptations of Brontë's novel, this Chester run looks set to be one of the North West's standout autumn dates.