Jekyll & Hyde

There aren’t many laughs in Jekyll and Hyde, in fact I don’t think there are any but if you are looking for sheer enjoyment and some great theatre you need to look no further than Take 2s production of this show, it was perfect.

To ensure you have a great production of Jekyll and Hyde you have to have an accomplished actor and singer in the title role and here we had not just an accomplished one but an absolute brilliant one in Matt Warren who was able to give life not only to Dr Jekyll but also to his alter ego Mr Hyde too. This is not an easy role to create as you have to be able to deliver the goods not only as one character but 2 and here Matt was excellent in both roles. There is one song which calls for Jekyll to sing a duet with Hyde. In this song, Confrontation Matt was able to create a superb piece of theatre, I also loved Matt’s rendition of This is The Moment.

When the story starts Dr Jekyll is trying to convince the Board of Governors at the St Jude’s Hospital that he should be able to use some of the inmates for his experiments which of course they refuse. The Board is made up of Simon Stride, the Chairman played with ease by Ryan Mitchell who was able to offer some superb singing and acting. This was also true of his fellow Board member, Lady Beaconsfield played by Sammie Kissack who she played as a sort of Edwardian Mrs Bucket pronounced “Bouquet”. Also on The Board is The Bishop of Basingstoke played effortlessly by Glyn Daniels, Lord Savage played by Gordon Jacobs and General Lord Glossop played by Adrian Stevenson, both of who were able to show off their acting talents.

Jekyll has a friend, Gabriel John Utterson played here by Karl Brennan, this was a totally different role to the ones we are used to seeing Karl play but he was able to play it and give it all the passion it deserves.

Jekyll also has a love interest; Emma Carew who he is engaged to, Emma was played beautifully by Alison Berry who sang her way through the entire show, I especially enjoyed her duet with Lucy, In His Eyes, this was magical and loved by the entire audience. I mentioned Lucy who was a prostitute who is befriended by Mr Hyde, this was played to perfection by Julie Whitfield, and in the first Act she has a raucous number with the other dancing girls in the bar, Bring on The Men which almost brought the house down.

Lucy, as with most prostitutes, has a Pimp, Spider which was played very swaggeringly by Bailey Whitfield, I am not sure if Bailey knows what a pimp is but he certainly knew how to play one to the full and when he was joined by Marcus Roebuck and the rest of the townsfolk their fine voices blended well together in the song Façade.

Emma’s father in this piece who is not altogether sure about his daughter’s choice of husband but for her sake goes along with it much to the distaste of the board members; here Mel White was superb as always using his excellent voice to delight the audience.

Using a minimalist set and good costumes Geoff Whitfield together with Iain Price have to be congratulated on yet another brilliant production.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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