Jekyll and Hyde
Original story by Robert Louis Stevenson and adapted for the stage by Neil Bartlett.
Directed by Trevor Hodgson
Director's notes from the production programme:
Welcome to the murky world of Victorian London. The story of “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde” a gothic masterpiece, has been told many times since it was published in 1886.
This version was written in 2022 by Neil Bartlett and provides a modern twist to the story whilst still cutting to the heart of Robert Louis Stevenson’s darkly fascinating tale of male violence, guilt and privilege. The play provides a female lead in the character of Dr Stevenson who investigates the case following a series of random assaults in the backstreets and alleyways which are spreading fear and panic.
Meanwhile the friends of a highly respected doctor are beginning to wonder why he goes missing at the same time!
Our telling of this story whilst still set in the seedy location of Victorian London hopes to provide an insight into that male dominated world, whilst glimpsing the future roles that women would play in our society.
It is an intriguing version of the story and one I hope you will find thrilling and a bit scary!
Trevor Hodgson
Director
NODA REPORT - JEKYLL AND HYDE
13/10/2023
Author: Susanne Crosby
A wintery autumn Friday 13th is ideal for watching a fairly newly adapted version of the classic eerie gothic tale of the mysterious Dr Jekyll and hideous Mr Hyde. While there have been very many adaptations on stage and in film which put their own spin on the tale to not always good effect, the ever excellent Neil Bartlett has created a gratifyingly truthful adaptation from the book, while adding a central female character as a conduit through which the whole story flows. She is the first to address the audience directly, as many of them do throughout, and she introduces herself as the first female doctor to be inducted to the male dominated professional world of the time.
The set and the staging transport you to the time. The colours and furniture and props are all in keeping and authentic. There is a lovely moment where Dr Jekyll mixes a concoction on stage in a glass which fizzes and froths creepily and then he drinks it in one: very unexpected. Henfield are well known for their beautiful costumes and this does not disappoint: everyone was dressed perfectly for their character, including the lovely practical waistcoat for the female doctor: Dr Stephenson. The gentlemen were all elegantly black tied with quality top hats. Hair and makeup were all in keeping as well, although it might have been good to see some effect makeup such as bruising on the young girl at the beginning who is beaten by Mr Hyde, starting the whole story off.
The lighting was moody, making it seem as if it was lit by candles, and picked parts of the stage out when needed. This was aided by old fashioned scallop footlights at the front of the stage which was a really lovely addition. As the story began to unfold, involving the telling of Mr Hyde at a door, the door in the centre of the stage was suddenly highlighted by mist coming from the back all around it: a really super effect. This door then formed part of the story telling device and swivelled round as a vertical rectangular prism showing four different door fronts: how this switching of door fronts was achieved is unclear as there was no accompanying noise of moves going on backstage. It seemed magical, which was all part of the quality of the production.
This is a very interesting adaptation of such a well known story which brings significant challenges to any company staging it: not least because the story is so famous everyone thinks they already know it, and fewer people have read the book. But the main challenge is the construct of the play which is mainly exposition: the audience are addressed directly throughout the piece and the story is introduced as having already happened and is being retold. Much of the retelling is actually just that, retelling, with no acting out or visual accompaniment. This is an extremely hard thing to do to keep the audience interested as they are, particularly in the second act, listening to a series of mini lectures. It actually serves to put a distance and a disconnect between the audience and the performance, when of course any performance seeks to draw the audience in and connect with them. The story is also told twice: the first act is from everyone outside of Dr Jekyll and the second act is from his point of view.
An interesting effect in this piece was the gentlemen forming a chorus, to two different effects. In the first act they formed the Dr Stephenson’s superiors and potentially peers, and they very much looked down on her as an oddity. Sarah Jenner Jones gave a really lovely performance of a woman actually holding her own in a male dominated world, firm in her accomplishments and standing strong in her determination to discover the truth about what happened to her female patient, which the men seemed happy to just ignore or sweep away and move on. The men became the various characters who then added their piece to the unfolding story. The lawyer Mr Utterson played by Tim Swinton was very convincing and believable and he portrayed quietly conflicted within himself incredibly well. Barry Syder gave a lovely performance as the very ill Dr Lanyon: it was truthful and not overstated. You knew he was dying and you knew he was in pain without him having to labour it. However, the chorus of five men together often spoke out of sync when it seemed as if they should have been speaking in sync together: they would often catch up with each other or it seemed like they corrected themselves. If the out of sync as a choice, it unfortunately looked like a mistake. They were seated stage left in what looked like a section of old fashioned medical lecture theatre, similar to the lovely background images in the programme, and this worked well in act one. However act one as a whole would have benefitted from a really good increase in pace, there were often gaps waiting for lines and then lines spoken together which left the feeling of it seeming a little under rehearsed.
Mandy Ainsworth was really lovely as the housekeeper, effortlessly authentic, as was Beky Peake the Landlady. Denise Robinson’s characterisation as the Matron was lovely although she seemed to be struggling with her voice and it was an effort to hear her. Robyn Thomas portrayal of the Girl could have done with more rounded characterisation and the audience would have continued to have more sympathy for her throughout.
Act One is curiously absent of the mysterious Dr Jekyll as we hear about him; except as a presence, unlit, in the section of men. The first sight we get of the small and evil Mr Hyde with his face hidden from the audience is delicious, seeing the shocked and repulsed reactions of the people on stage. Act Two is driven by Dr Jekyll as he struggles to control the Mr Hyde within him, and whereas it has pace and is driven by the force of Rebel Atkinson’s performance in the dual role, the lack of connection with the audience mentioned earlier makes it all very tricky. While the effect on Dr Stephenson is portrayed with palpable emotion quite beautifully by Sarah Jenner Jones, we can see how it affects her, it doesn’t somehow connect with those watching. Rebel Atkinson’s portrayal of Dr Jekyll as the quite cold and calculating doctor is really spot on, someone who wants to extract the monstrous elements from his personality literally to a different person so that he, Dr Jekyll, can carry on with his life without feeling any guilt for what he’s done as Mr Hyde; is a fascinating psychological portrait of really quite a disturbed individual. The Mr Hyde of the first Act is as per the book: small and gnarly and exudes evil, whereas the Mr Hyde the audience subsequently meets and gives his exposition to us is suddenly big and ape like which caused some consternation, confusion, and incongruity. It’s possible bringing this performance in towards more of a Gollum like evil rather than outwardly showing might have worked better, but it needs to be acknowledged that it’s a big ask for any actor to portray both of these characters. The effect unfortunately, combined with long pauses, caused some restlessness in the audience and lessened the impact of the story as a whole. The original production in October 2022 had the chorus of men in Act two clustering around Dr Jekyll as they give their echoing evil, this ooze of nastiness literally around him might have added something to these segments.
It’s an interesting version of the story and it is wonderful to have it told through the character of Dr Stephenson in an otherwise completely male dominated piece: it gives a more rounded flavour. There are some super moments: the movement as they are driven by horse draw cab and the appearance of singing “Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner” are two examples. There is a lot to like about this production and a lot to admire with Director Trevor Hodgson’s brave choice of a very difficult story to tell on stage.
Susanne Crosby