Jekyll & Hyde

This show is far from being your stereotypical jazz hands, feel good tonic, razzmatazz piece of musical theatre. It jumped on the bandwagon of the angst, misery and gaudy musical trend which struck the UK musical theatre scene in the 1980’s and 90’s, themes which were all the rage at the time with Les Mis being an obvious title that’s at the top of this game. This title certainly has some standalone ballads which are worthy compositions indeed and the classic novella lends itself to be a piece of theatre (musical or otherwise) but as a show, and after taking in several completely different renditions of it, I'm yet to come away with the impression of it being any more than a poor man’s Sweeney Todd.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s 130+ year old tale of Jekyll and Hyde is a story for the ages. At its centre is the duality of consciousness, played out by a man who is unable to stop himself periodically transforming into a monster which peaks in the musical telling with a 1 man duet as he almost simultaneously performs as both title characters battling with each other. As the two title roles, Ian Curran does a splendid job indeed for a part that’s extraordinarily difficult as it can so easily convey as parody whilst so easily crossing the line to verge on the brink of pantomime villain. Ian’s vocal performance was impressive and suited the score, I struggled to warm to him at first, as Jekyll, appearing a tad cold and as though he had a rod up is own back. However, as the narrative unfolded I embraced his story and quickly clung on to his tale with empathy. Ian put in a good fight and interpreted this mammoth role with fine ability and mounds of vigour.

Elizabeth Lovelady delivered a knockout vocal performance as Lucy in what appeared to be an effortless rendition from a performer who simply radiates star quality. Captivating! There's not really much more to say here! 

Another favourite performance came from Jonny Cunliffe as Jekyll’s trusted confidante John Utterson who remained poised throughout ensuring he portrayed a first class act as the loyal and unknowing comrade, a fine actor indeed.

It was a great shame that John Barry’s orchestra - who were playing from behind the set – weren’t balanced to the best effect through the sound desk as - a regular occurrence when musicians are blocked or when they’re being channelled through from another room - I could only pick out a small number of the instruments with the majority being too faint to hear. Not only does it mean we don’t get the true quality of the sound they’re making from in the auditorium, the society are practically throwing money down the drain as there’s not much point in those musicians we can’t hear, at least half, even being there! I've got to give credit where it’s due, the sound from on stage (from both the chorus and the principals) was without a doubt the finest I've heard from SAMT so a huge improvement here and credit to the hard work on this element which ultimately paid off.

This isn’t a show that rests on choreography by any means and there were moments which felt a tad over staged with synchronised movements for no other reason than to give the choreographer something to do which didn’t really appear necessary. The moments which conveyed as raw and organic movement leant themselves to the overall presentation with a bolder effect than the drilled and attempted stylised sequences. I adored the refined curtain call with just the LX picking out the cast members as opposed to a traditional walk down, a really nice touch!

I found Martyn Preston’s overall direction somewhat problematic to place, I’m sure he had reasons behind his decisions but unfortunately, they weren’t made clear to me through the enactment. I was confused with the array of eras on display. From the female company we got Victorian and Edwardian (what one may possibly expect from this show) but further to this we got splashes of 1920’s all the way through to 1940’s / WW2 fashions too. The men echoed this though some of their suits were present day. As I said, I'm sure there was an artistic justification or point to this wardrobe decision, but it just wasn’t spelt out to make clear whatever statement was being attempted from this. The set, which would’ve been ideal for a production of ‘Return To The Forbidden Planet’ didn’t aid in informing us of the overarching vision either, in fact it confused me even further. The levels of the staging added interest and split the performance space into intimate areas beautifully but the unsightly chrome handrails which dominated the set imposed the visuals. Some improved lighting states and effects were attempted which is commendable as so many will shy away from getting technically creative and adventurous.  However, it’s worth pointing out that although special effects are impressive, they should enhance rather than detract us from the primary focus. There were some striking moments within the production which conveyed the appropriate eerie and gritty ambiance where required but what radiated above everything else was the level of commitment to the production from each member of the company with each cast member appearing as invested into the presentation as the next, whether a front runner or on the back row of the ensemble, this was a breath of fresh air and thrusted SAMT forward to turn a corner in terms of quality and contribution - from the supporting ensemble especially!    

It’s often worthwhile to remind readers of reviews that every production comes with its gripes be it a professional or amateur production. Unfortunately, it’s the duty of the reviewer to dissect and lay out at least some defects no matter how minor they may seem to be. Pinpointing the shortcomings as well as the virtues is the obligation of adjudication and burden of elimination. Faults can be found in anything if examined hard enough, regrettably (for an adjudicator) they’re to be dug out and weighed up. But overall, regardless of the occasional bleat pinpointed above, this production for SAMT came with its merits too and demonstrated copious improvements from SAMT's musical theatre presentations which is highly commendable and encouraging. Copious congratulations to you all.    

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