Jennifer Dick doesn’t deny suggestions of megalomania, given the director is again bringing two colossal works to the Bard in the Botanics stage this year. “Well, I think there is a little bit of megalomania in all directors,” she says, smiling, “given that we aim to have an influence over the whole. But I love the idea of telling the story, this has always appealed to me.”

But how to make that crossover from acting to directing? There aren’t that many opportunities for directors to unleash their vision on the watching world. Do you have to put your hand up and tell theatre companies you want to run the show?

“I have a good friend who often says, ‘Shy weans get nae sweeties,’ and I think that’s something you have to live by in this industry. But I’m lucky that in 2006 I was given the chance to come and develop my craft at the Bard in the Botanics company.”

This year, Dick will be taking on Shakespeare once again with her production of Measure for Measure. But she’s also set to bring Jane Eyre to the stage, Charlotte Bronte’s 18th century classic tale of a young woman’s journey through life and love.

And why wouldn’t a director/writer not look to present Jane to the modern world? Eyre, at the time, was viewed as a dangerous feminist manifesto with sexually delinquent undertones. And it stuck hat pins in the giant bum that was the class system.

“I’ve always loved the story since my step-mum introduced me to it when I was a teenager. I think I was attracted to the romantic side of it (Jane falls for Rochester early on but her intentions are deliciously thwarted.) But then I grew to really love Jane. She’s so passionate, she’s independent, unwilling to make concessions to others, and so secure in who she is as a person, but not in a selfish way.”

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Jane Eyre, with Stephanie McGregor in the lead role, is an orphan who suffers emotional and physical abuse. When she becomes a governess she falls in love with her employer, Rochester.

In the novel, Jane Eyre speaks in the first person, which lends itself perfectly to theatrical adaptation. “It’s a psychological narrative from a heroine’s perspective,” says the director. “You go on the journey with her. This (style of writing) had never been done before and what we forget is that this novel was revolutionary.”

Bronte’s tale has echoes of society today. “There was real poverty, an elite under threat and people agitating for change. I’m sure people who watch this play will see a relevance in their own lives.”

Yes, there morality issues featured, there is a clever trashing of the world in which Jane occupies, but Jennifer Dick reminds there are also laughs in the piece. “The story when presented on stage this time around will be less Gothic,” she explains, although it doesn’t slide into pastiche. Yet, we look at how both Jane and Rochester feel great joy. And one of the themes in the novel asks, ‘What do you do to find happiness?’ which we hope the audience will find themselves asking.”

Where does Jennifer Dick find great happiness? “Doing this job makes me very happy,” she says, not at all surprisingly. “And I never laugh as much as I do in a rehearsal room.”

She grins. “Even when you cover serious moments, sometimes hysterical moments can emerge. And I never let the chance for laughs to emerge to go by me.”

Jennifer Dick was never likely not to enter the world of theatre. Her parents actually met at drama school. “You could say it was in the blood,” she says smiling. “And I was attending Saturday drama classes in Aberdeen from the age of six and that just continued.” She adds; “I did an arts degree at Edinburgh University, but the whole time I was there was spent in student theatre with Bedlam.”

Dick has certainly been bold enough to grab the sweeties. This season, she has also adapted and is directed Measure for Measure. Does leaping across the centuries send her head spinning. “No, you compartmentalise,” she smiles. “And I’d done a lot of work on Measure for Measure pre-rehearsals, on the world we want to present.”

The director smiles. “I’m the sort of person who can read two books at once. And I’ve been doing two productions at the Botanics for eight or nine years, so I’m used to it. I hope it doesn’t sound pretentious but this is my calling. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do.”

Bard in the Botanics, Glasgow. Jane Eyre runs June 19 – July 6 and Measure for Measure, the Kibble Palace, July 11-27.

Don’t Miss:

Life of Pi, the show which has stunned the West End and Broadway comes to the Theatre Royal, Glasgow, June 18-22.

It’s the ultimate survivor story; Pi finds himself stranded on a lifeboat with four other survivors – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Royal Bengal tiger, revealed thanks to ‘world class puppetry.’