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| Ryan Smith - photo Paul Hood |
The tale of Jekyll and Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, is
well-known and loved by many - and here it is adapted for stage by David Edgar.
We start out with the good Doctor visiting his widowed sister and her two
children, establishing his character as a good man. Jekyll takes possession of
certain effects of his late father and brings them to his house in London. Soon
we see the rise of Mr Hyde as he begins to attract the attention of Jekyll’s
friends and servants - for his sinister most ungentlemanly behaviour. Lines
blur as the two personalities fight for dominance. The age-old question arises:
which is stronger, our animal urges or our civilised ego?
Directed by Andy Aiken, Helen Doyle and the company, it’s
clear a lot of time and work has gone into this production. The Lighting (Glen
Maddison and Karen Dales) was transcendent in bringing about the seemingly
supernatural changes between Hyde and Jekyll, while Sound (Alistaire Wu)
created the perfect eerie atmosphere with excellent timing. The set (designed
by Kaila Moyes) was extremely complex, taking us to a variety of locations.
However, with such an ambitious staging, and some technical
issues, the scene changes often seemed a bit clumsy. Also, as the show is
tightly-packed with important dialog, it would have helped the audience if some
of the actors’ diction was a little clearer.
The second act raced through powerfully to its dramatic end,
my favourite scene being between Jekyll and an irritating Pastor in a train
carriage, as Hyde slowly takes control. Ryan Smith played the disturbed Dr
Jekyll/Mr Hyde, Jenny Davison the innocent Annie Loder, Holly Stamp the
faithful housekeeper Poole, Silvia Mosquera his niece Lucy Urquart with
Madeleine Egner as nephew Charles Urquart. Natalie Plunga was his widowed
sister and Jim Boylan his long-time friend Gabriel Utterson. Emma Mitchell was
Dr Hastie Lanyon and Conor McCahill was Richard Enfield. Jamie Gallagher became
Hyde’s victim as Sir Danvers Carew, MP, while Steve Strouzer saw Jekyll
transform before him as the Parson.
This is an ambitious production of this well-loved Gothic
classic. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is showing at the People’s Theatre until 26th October.
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ReplyDeleteCan't lie. I normally enjoy plays at the People's. They're often better than what you'd pay more for at the Theatre Royal and acted with more conviction, but I saw this on the first night and the flubbed lines, the problems with the scenery and some of the acting, especially by those in the main roles, really let it down.
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