JEKYLL & HYDE (OLD VIC)****

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPRP-ijwWP4&t=593s

Available until: Wednesday 12^th August 2020.

I think Louise, Imogen or Megan would be better at reviewing dance than me, not because they’re girls but because they’ve been dancing for years and I didn’t get the opportunity until I was a teenager and by then, it seemed a bit late. But the recommended age is 16+ so we feel the reviewer ought to be 16+.

This performance includes strobe lighting, partial nudity, scenes of a sexual nature, sexual violence and physical violence.

The original novel, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, is a very dark story. I see dance as being a beautiful medium and wondered how beauty could be found in such a horrible story, but I think that shows my lack of imagination more than anything. Director and choreographer Drew McOnie created a new version of the story which was described by some critics as ‘Jekyll & Hyde meets Little Shop of Horrors’ and I can only say I know exactly where they’re coming from. Dr Jekyll is a shy, geeky and not particularly successful florist. His experiments are intended to improve his stock and for a while they seem successful, but his experiments also bring forth Mr Hyde.

Soutra Gilmour’s sets are very detailed, whether we’re in Jekyll’s shop, laboratory, bedroom or anywhere else. Looking at it, you would expect lengthy scene changes, but the set swings around at the end of each scene, revealing the next set already in place. Richard Howell’s lighting and Sebastian Frost’s sound design contribute to this, particularly the ticking of Jekyll’s clock, audible when the music stops, giving a creepy countdown to his doom.

Colour seems very important in this production. To begin with, rather surprisingly for a florist, Jekyll’s world is very drab with limited colour. When a young lady named Dahlia comes into his life, bringing a sprinkling of colour with her bright red hair and pale green dress, Jekyll begins to find colour in other areas of his life. His flowers become more colourful, his customers become more plentiful (the female characters wear different coloured dresses and are all named after flowers Jekyll presumably sells) and everyone seems more interested in talking to him.

A lot of people nowadays associate a colourful life with sex and parties. Mr Hyde likes sex and parties, and this of course also brings them into Jekyll’s life, which seems to erupt with colour, but then the darkness descends, literally and figuratively, as Hyde takes control. And slowly, the colour is drained from Jekyll’s life. Even before everything went wrong, there was a small amount of colour in Jekyll’s life, but now it is all a stark black and white.

My feeling is that McOnie is saying it wasn’t the sex and parties that brought colour to Dr Jekyll’s dull but not unworthy life. It was the humanity that bought colour to him. Firstly by Dahlia, by seeing the good man underneath the awkwardness, and then the other people who realised there was more to Jekyll than they’d thought. But as his life becomes taken over by Hyde’s, the humanity is gone from Jekyll’s life – and with it, the colour.

The score is by Grant Olding and it really is excellent. A lot of modern music can be difficult to catch hold of – it evokes atmosphere, but it’s difficult to pick out a tune. Olding not only composes enjoyable tunes, he is able to compose very well in a number of styles. Early on, there is a lot of ballet, beautiful to listen to and watch but – like Jekyll himself – not exactly what most people would consider cool. His and Dahlia’s relationship brings ballroom into the story, still quite old-fashioned to some people, but lovely to watch and just right for Jekyll and Dahlia. There was also a bit of jiving in celebratory moments, contemporary for the more modern scenes, and rock music for the parties. As the darkness falls, the music becomes heavier and less tuneless but still right as a reflection of what is happening onstage. The music moves easily from one style to another, never jarring unless the drama requires it to.

McOnie’s choreography follows the music perfectly, moving fluidly from one style to another. The cast adapts brilliantly to whatever it thrown at them, particularly Daniel Collins as Jekyll. He has so much to do yet he never seems rushed or hurried as he moves from one style to another, telling Jekyll’s story through dance. He establishes Jekyll’s character well from the start and his shyness is very endearing, his connection with Dahlia a very special moment. Jekyll is intelligent in an intellectual sense but has difficulties socially and Collins does especially well to suggest his character’s awkwardness and clumsiness, especially when his dancing shows the opposite. He seemed to spend a lot of the time dressing and undressing or running around in his boxers, but his timing remained faultless and… let’s just say Collins impressed me in every way.

Hyde is played by a different dancer, Tim Hodges, and is almost like a Frankenstein’s monster. Hodges’ Hyde is threatening and powerful with urges and impulses, but lacking humanity and the ability to think deeply. He doesn’t even seem to have much capacity for enjoyment. Even in bed, he seems emotionally detached from the activity – everything he does seems more a series of mechanical physical actions rather than the embodiment of an emotion.

Jekyll & Hyde an exciting, beautiful, horrifying and thoroughly engrossing performance. It isn’t for everyone, but if you enjoy dance and you’re okay with the warnings, it really is worth a watch.