"Once it is written down, it doesn't hurt so much." And so Jean Rhys becomes fascinated with the character of the first Mrs. Rochester, Bertha, "the madwoman in the attic" in "Jane Eyre."

	Clockwise from top, Robin Walsh, Karla Boos and Mikelle Johnson portray different incarnations of writer Jean Rhys in Quantum Theatre's "After Mrs. Rochester." Click photo for larger image. 'After Mrs. Rochester' Where: Quantum Theatre at Braddock Carnegie Library, 419 Library St., Braddock. When: Through Oct. 22; Wed.-Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun. 7 p.m. Tickets: $24-$27; $15 students; 412-394-3353.

Identifying with her, sympathizing with her, Rhys writes "Wide Sargasso Sea," fusing bits of her own life and pain with Bronte's shadowy wretch.

Playwright and theater artist Polly Teale and the company Shared Experience imagine Rhys further into Bronte's world in "After Mrs Rochester." Scenes of Rhys' life are interspersed with scenes from "Jane Eyre." Rhys becomes a character who uses writing to exorcize her demons, but they leave her only briefly and never venture far. The "madwoman" that plagues Rhys lives alongside her, sometimes ignored, sometimes acknowledged, ever present.

Quantum Theatre stages "After Mrs Rochester" in the Music Hall of the baronial Braddock Carnegie Library. The space hovers between disrepair and renovation, modern and historic, the old and new sitting side-by-side, not always comfortably, much like Rhys herself and certainly like her writing, which is hailed now as drastically ahead of its time.

Stephanie Mayer-Staley's evocative set is multi-leveled, an old wooden structure that bespeaks Rhys' poverty. An attic-like space is mostly open except for one door that ominously serves as a partial ceiling. It's notably locked, a barrier, a sign of confinement, captivity and limits, both external and internal.

Over the audience's heads, the Music Hall sports a painted window, replete with blue skies and pleasant clouds. It's a sharp counterpoint to Mayer-Staley's locked door, a reminder how difficult it was for Rhys to allow her thoughts to soar, the supreme effort it was for her even to attempt to free herself.

"After Mrs Rochester" features both a young and middle-aged Rhys. We see her early life on the Caribbean island of Dominica with a bitter and psychologically damaged British mother. She's ever the despised other in a world she longs to join. Her beauty and, perhaps, her neediness attract a string of men, some more abusive than others, all unable to stop the downward slide greased by alcohol and depression. This parade of men is made manifest by a row of suits strung across the stage. Their limp presence relates meaningless entanglements, empty promises, forgotten encounters, lost love.

As the younger Rhys, Mikelle Johnson brims with energy and possibility, moving from childhood to young womanhood, wearing each painful episode along the way like a brand of agony on her face.

Karla Boos is the older incarnation of Rhys. Thankfully, there's no boozy stumbling here. The glass of alcohol is relentlessly but subtly present, a quiet, much-needed comfort. Boos brings a bitter humor to Rhys. There's self-awareness and, at times, a fierce refusal of it.

The mad Bertha Rochester is a constant presence. Robin Walsh is beautifully moving in the role -- violent, volatile, lustful, the id personified. She is the only incarnation of Rhys who speaks with a strong Caribbean accent, highlighting her position as the other.

Director Rodger Henderson directs the three in a complex dance. They speak to each other, interact. One of the beauties of the play is the awareness each character has of her other selves. With them driven by love, hate and mostly fear, it's like watching quivering magnets pulled sometimes together, as often thrown forcibly apart.

Five actors fill the rest of the roles. Hugo Armstrong and Mark D. Staley play a variety of men. Teale's males are somewhat undifferentiated, in turn fatherly, domineering, loving and brutal. They serve to establish some of the major imagery in the play, dressing Rhys (clothing her in respectability, creating her in the image of their own desire), and offering financial support by pressing bills into the mouth of Bertha (staunching female speech/desire with male power).

Dana Hardy plays Rhys' daughter and Jane Eyre, imbuing both with an amusing puppet-like quality which, at closer inspection, slyly questions a writer's culpability in her creations, both real and imagined.

Mary Rawson and Linda Haston commandingly play various women who impact Rhys' life, creating strong characters who shape the world that confines and defines.

This is a haunting production that leaves you with much to ponder. Knowledge of "Jane Eyre" or "Wide Sargasso Sea" isn't necessary, although "After Mrs Rochester" may make you want to read both. And if you think you know "Jane Eyre," "After Mrs Rochester" may make you think again.