CLASSIC novel Jane Eyre will be transformed into a ballet as part of Charlotte Brontë’s 200th birthday celebrations.

Northern Ballet has announced it will adapt Charlotte’s iconic masterpiece for a national tour next spring and summer.

The prestigious production will form a key part of celebrations – coordinated by the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth – to mark the 200 anniversary of the author’s birth.

Dancers from Northern Ballet are expected to visit the parsonage as part of preparations for the world premiere in Doncaster next May.

In previous years the ballet company has worked with Brontë Society, which runs museum, for dance shows based on Wuthering Heights and the lives of the Brontës.

News of the Jane Eyre production was this week welcomed by Ann Dinsdale, collections manager at the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

She said: “We’re absolutely thrilled about it. We have already had a meeting with some staff from Northern Ballet about the production.

“We’ve worked with them in the past, and Wuthering Heights has been touring the country this year. We’re talking with Northern Ballet about some of the Jane Eyre cast coming here.”

Ann said the Jane Eyre ballet was just one of several exciting events to mark Charlotte’s bicentenary, some already announced and some still to be revealed.

Northern Ballet,, which is based in Leeds, said Jane Eyre would be choreographed by acclaimed international dance maker Cathy Marston, with music by Philip Feeney.

The show will portray the story of Jane, a plain but intelligent child who is orphaned at a young age and cruelly treated by her aunt.

Sent away to a charitable school, Jane later accepts a position as a governess at manor house Thornfield, whose master is the dark and impassioned Mr Rochester.

An unlikely bond grows between the pair but as their romance develops, it becomes clear that Mr Rochester as a hidden past that threatens to ruin them both.

In Northern Ballet spokesman said: “The ultimate dramatic tale of romance, jealousy and dark secrets, Jane Eyre is the story of one woman’s indomitable spirit overcoming all boundaries.”

Sets and costumes for Jane Eyre will be designed by Patrick Kinmonth, who has worked closely with photographer Mario Testino designing numerous campaigns, books, and exhibitions for Gucci, Valentino, Versace and Dior, as well as more than 20 theatrical productions.

Jane Eyre will be performed in Doncaster, Richmond, Stoke, Aylesbury, Wolverhampton and Leicester.