Jekyll and Hyde

This Musical, based on the gothic novel by Robert Louis Stevenson ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’, certainly has its darker side. It is a show with a strong storyline, good music, plenty of action for the cast and yet not always popular with members of the public. There was a basic set, a staircase on either side of the stage joined by a high-level walkway, with doors beneath. It was extremely versatile, creating different levels and allowing slick scene changes on one part of the stage, while the action continued, so that there were no breaks in the story. The doors could be opened to allow a bed with Jekyll’s father to be brought on and later Dr Jekyll’s laboratory; other locations were created with furniture and set dressing, it all worked extremely well on this small stage. There were excellent lighting effects throughout and set and costumes were enhanced by it; the up lighting after Hyde had attacked Lucy was really sinister. All the effects were well cued and controlled; the use of smoke was just enough to create the moment, but not overpowering. The costumes and makeup differentiated between the rich and poor and all looked in period. The music for this show is challenging and not well known, but Musical Director Allan Gillespie had worked well with cast and musicians to create a good balance between voices and instruments. The cast both principals and chorus were confident in their singing and handled difficult harmonies well. The whole cast had developed well-rounded characters and all gave believable performances. All the principal characters contributed to the unfolding story with the more affluent behaving with Victorian respectability and those from the seedier side of life giving us glimpses as to the difficulties they faced. 

I would like to comment in more detail on three characters Emma Carew, Lucy Harris and Dr Jekyll. I have seen Emma portrayed as a compliant, almost characterless girl, which in Victorian times she may well have been, but this Emma had strength of character and knew her own mind. Lucy Harris prostitute and performer at The Red Rat, an exceedingly disreputable establishment, showed how her pimp ‘Spider’, a nasty piece of work, controlled her. She showed a softer side of her character when Dr Jekyll was kind to her, and the real fear when Mr Hyde started to attack her was good. The duet between Emma and Lucy ‘In his Eyes’ with Jekyll between them on the walkway was a lovely moment. One of the technical difficulties in this show is how to change Jekyll to Hyde, I have seen it with Jekyll wearing his hair in a pony tail and letting flow freely as Hyde, but Director Sarah Dyer had decided to rely on pure physicality for the transformation and it worked extremely well. You could see and feel the potion taking hold of his body and producing the dreadful change in him. He visibly changed from a ‘normal’ caring person, into an aggressive thug. Although his stance as Hyde was slightly stooped compared with Jekyll, he seemed to grow in size, all his movements became aggressive and evil. Later when Jekyll and Hyde are battling for control within the man, the switching from one to the other was excellent, the audience never doubting which character had the upper hand, a brilliant portrayal. Sarah Dyer had obviously inspired her cast to recreate this very dark but fascinating story. She made sure full use was made of the stage and created good groupings, a powerful tableau at the end, and a wonderful moment of stillness at Jekyll’s death. Well done everyone involved in this production you all worked together as a team to deliver an excellent evening of theatre.  

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