Gayle Rankin brings fresh force to Jean Brodie in Edinburgh production
Gayle Rankin’s performance as Jean Brodie anchors a new Royal Lyceum and National Theatre of Scotland production of Muriel Spark’s novel. Director Vicky Featherstone replaces the character’s traditional 1930s reserve with a bohemian, sexually forthright style, making Brodie’s charisma and contradictions feel strikingly current.
Brodie inspires some pupils and unsettles others as she tries to shape them into “young heroines of the future”. She admires Italian art and European fashion but also Mussolini, while her approval of predatory art teacher Mr Lloyd raises concerns about safeguarding. Only Sandy Stranger sees through her, and the review reads Brodie’s downfall as the result of personal loss and flaws she cannot recognise. The production is at the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh until 18 October and tours until 7 November.
- Gayle Rankin gives Jean Brodie a bold, bohemian reinvention.
- The production foregrounds Brodie’s contradictions and influence over her pupils.
- The Edinburgh run continues until 18 October, with a tour to 7 November.
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Muriel Spark's novel "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" portrays an unconventional Edinburgh schoolteacher of the 1930s who exerts considerable influence over a group of pupils. Brodie fascinates some of her students whilst unsettling others as she attempts to shape them into what she sees as "young heroines of the future".
Director Vicky Featherstone's new production for the Royal Lyceum and National Theatre of Scotland, starring Gayle Rankin as Brodie, takes a fresh approach to the character. Rather than emphasising Brodie's reserve, Featherstone presents her as bohemian and sexually forthright, highlighting the charisma that draws pupils to her whilst making her contradictions feel contemporary.
The novel explores troubling elements within Brodie's influence, including her admiration for both progressive ideas and autocratic figures, alongside her connection to an art teacher whose behaviour raises safeguarding concerns. One pupil, Sandy Stranger, eventually recognises the problems inherent in Brodie's authority, and the story suggests her ultimate downfall stems from her inability to recognise her own flaws.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie review – Muriel Spark’s extraordinary heroine made more extraordinary still”.