The multi-Aria award winner was an integral part of the process of the shake and stir theatre company that has brought Jane Eyre from the page to the stage, from its earliest production days in 2019 at the Cremorne Theatre.

It’s also what brought Sarah McLeod back in touch with her inventive spark, after years on the road as one of Australia’s most respected and dynamic lead singers.

“It was really intense actually writing this,” McLeod said.

“They said to me, `We want you to write the title track,’ and they gave me a video of Nelle, who plays Jane Eyre, and she was scrawling `liar’ on a bit of paper, and then the paper set fire.

“I wrote the piece, Liar in Melbourne. Then I wrote the love song, which is called Dying to Love You, it’s like Jane and Rochester’s main love theme piece.

“So I’d rehearse all day, and then I would go home at night to my hotel, and write the score at night, with all these intense notes from the director, about where they needed music, what was supposed to happen in this part, what the feeling was, what I’m trying to convey.

“The director was really clear about what he wanted, which made my job much easier. It was just nonstop, I hardly slept.

“And because I was in this bubble, I was just living and breathing it. I’d be sitting there, I’d be acting, and then they’d go, “Right, we need music here”. It was really rewarding.”

Such is the success of the resulting show that it’s now on an eight-month national tour. This reimagination of the story of a spirited orphan in search of love, family and a sense of belonging, will return to Brisbane’s QPAC in June.

The four-hander production involves Sarah not only as composer, but also playing the score live each performance, and acting in a number of shared roles.

Speaking to InQueensland from Canberra as part of that leg of the tour, Sarah says writing the evocative accompaniment for the shake and stir production had been the most remarkable gift.

She sees it now as part of her evolution as a performer, as she can explore acting for the first time, and her relatively recently discovered talent and love for playing the piano.

“The stage is amazing, the lights are amazing, the actors are incredible,” she said.

“I’m just like, “Okay, I’ll give it a go,” and I’m acting with really good actors, which makes me get excited to want to be better.

“I don’t want to look like the loser, with a bunch of good actors, so I’m like, “Okay, what do I need to know?” I’m trying really hard to fit in, and I love it.”

It’s been a surprising turnaround for Sarah to embrace, given her disdain for Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel at school.

She said this production of Jane Eyre is far removed from the staid interpretation of the novel she remembers from her youth.

“Seeing it brought to life, with this modern adaptation, suddenly I was like, `It’s not a boring school book at all’,” Sarah said.

“It’s how repressed the women were back then, and how they were just trained to have no minds of their own. That was the norm, and Jane, her instinct was that she knew that how she was being treated was wrong, even though everybody around her was accepting it.

“She had this fighting spirit in her. And in that era, everyone was like, “Whoa, who the hell are you,” like they thought she was the demon child, because she stood up for herself.

“It’s such a strong, empowering message. And in the end, she sort of wins.

“When you see it more put together, the way shake and stir have done, it’s like, “Wow, wow.” I’m so proud to be involved in this, I can’t believe it.”

She’s looking forward to coming back to Brisbane to perform in the intimate surrounds of the Cremorne Theatre where the show was first created.

“The edge of where we stand for some of the scenes, the audiences are right in front of us, so it’s quite confronting,” she said.

“Especially when the stage catches fire at the end, people feel the heat.”

Sarah has embraced the journey so much that she’s now moved permanently from Melbourne to Brisbane to be closer to the creative hearth of local shake and stir theatre.

“I loved Brisbane, I loved the shake and stir guys, like I adore them, and I was like, “This is great, my friends are here, it’s nice weather, I’m just going to move here,” she said.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte will feature at the QPAC Cremorne Theatre from June 8 to July 2.