THE STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL & MR HYDE (Blackeyed Theatre/Wilde Theatre)*****

 

By Dave

Link: https://blackeyedtheatre.co.uk/shows-2/on-demand/the-strange-case-of-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde/

Available until: This is quite confusing. Once you start watching it, you have to finish it within 72 hours. But you can start watching it anytime between now and 3^rd February 2021. I’d guess that’s the last date to purchase it too.

Warning: Violence/ murder.

This isn’t an easy watch, any more than the book is an easy read. But it’s an excellent adaption which brings the story vividly to life and makes it very difficult for us simply to watch and accept what happens. It asks questions; difficult questions about right and wrong, good and evil, yet all the time, it shows us characters who are human beings.

The script is by Nick Lane, who also directed the production, and he’s really done a brilliant job of adapting it for the stage. The characters are all very strong and so distinctive, I rarely got confused when one of the actors appeared as another character. The departures from and additions to the original story worked well and remained true to the spirit of the book while adding a very interesting extra layer of drama.

Victoria Spearing’s ornate and striking set works well for the many locations that feature in this play, ranging from Jekyll’s laboratory to the theatre. Scene changes are indicated by a very quick rearrangement of the furniture that never holds up the action or looks unnatural. Tristan Parkes has composed some atmospheric music for the play, usually in the background but adding so much to the scene.

The Movement, Fight and Intimacy director is Enric Ortuno, who is very well-known to us from his work on the The Show Must Go Online’s Zoom productions of Shakespeare’s plays. It’s really good to see his work in an actual theatre and although the violence in this play isn’t very nice, it’s compelling and clever. It’s easier to watch than many scenes of violence but we’re left in no doubt of what’s happening and the horror of it.

One thing I’ve noticed about all the adaptions of this book I have seen is that they’ve added a female love interest character who doesn’t appear in the book. I’m a bit wary of adaptions which add female characters for the sake of it but in all cases, the new character has given the story a new dimension. This play is no exception. The character of Eleanor O’Donnell, later Eleanor Lanyon, is a fascinating creation who drives the plot forward in ways that work surprisingly well.

Eleanor is played by Paige Round, an extraordinary performer who is as skilled as singing as she is in acting. There is a lot in Eleanor’s behaviour that can be questioned but Paige’s performance is vibrant and bewitching and while I didn’t exactly condone everything Eleanor did, I was always eager to see what she would do next.

It’s an excellent cast all round. Jekyll and Hyde are unusually similar in manner but it works and it supports the idea that Edward Hyde has always been part of Henry Jekyll. It’s not a complete transformation – and that makes it all the more chilling. Blake Kubena is a likeable Jekyll, charming even when he’s being rude. He’s not the typical rather pathetic science geek the character is usually played as – he’s an obsessive but a strong, confident one. At first. As Hyde, the charm remains but what lurks beneath is horrific – perhaps even more so because it’s so easy to see how people come to like and trust him.

Zach Lee is shrewd and tenacious but likeable as Gabriel Utterson. Ashley Sean-Cook’s Hastings Lanyon is a kind if rather naive man – and if you’re disappointed by Jekyll’s lack of geekiness, look no further than Hastings Lanyon.

It’s a great production and if you don’t mind the darkness or the violence, it is highly recommended.