Jekyll and Hyde – Derby Theatre

*****

This is not the first time that this story, originally a novella by  Robert Louis Stevenson,  first published in 1886 , has been presented as a play. It was  adapted for theatre in 1887 as a four-act play  by Thomas Russell Sullivan in collaboration with the actor Richard Mansfield.  Sullivan made several changes to the story; which in turn has evolved  in the many subsequent film  and television versions .  This is an immense advantage for  Neil Bartlett  OBE ,who has written this adaptation, offering him maximum leeway in fashioning the narrative  for a 21^st century audience almost 140 years on.  Although a familiar tale, few have read the 1886 original anyway!

The most significant shift is the presence of three women  who collaborate to unpick the strange events which unfold led by Dr Stevenson (Polly Lister). Director Sarah Brigham starts  the show at curtain up  with a supernatural ,spiritual tinge as  Dr Lanyon (Charlie Buckland), The Inspector (James Morrell), Mr Enfield (Craig Painting), Mr Guest (Levi Payne) and Mr Utterson (Robert Vernon) provide an eerie choral, ensemble spoken word introduction on the terracing of what appears to be a dissection theatre , the figures freezing and unfreezing from ghostly mannequins to action figures.

 Dr Jekyll (Nicholas Shaw) is a brooding  presence at the back of, and above, the stage, omnipresent and menacing .  He is a demented , dark, mysterious ,malevolent   figure transforming  into Mr Hyde using an inspired combination of  costume and physical rhythm.

In juxtaposition Dr Stevenson (Polly Lister)  drives the narrative along, resourceful, inquisitive and relentless, amidst the shadowy male figures.  Tife Kusoro  is her  energetic  sidekick with a 21^st century injection of Girl Power.  Dr Stevenson is an Everyman creation, almost a part of the observing audience.  She  follows the clues until she finally works out the solution to the mystery, as we the audience do, that Jekyll and Hyde are one and the same. Stevenson solves the case in both a criminal and psychological sense, the dissection theatre  doubling as a court room  and  the  audience frequently being addressed directly. Bartlett avoids the trap of making this a murder mystery. Stevenson   is not merely investigating the case, she is exploring a male dominated world, and underworld,  of privilege and wrong doing. In Bartlett’s hands this is as much about Stevenson as it is about Dr Jekyll, a challenge which Lister embraces with considerable aplomb.

The theme of male power, cliques  and privilege has a contemporary resonance in the guise of recent American Presidents and British Prime Ministers and their self- delusion.  In Dr Jekyll we are given a glimpse inside of the head of such an individual in  a masterclass of acting by Nicholas Shaw.

Bartlett is an artistic  polymath, director, performer, translator and writer. His previous adaptations of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, and A Christmas Carol have  certainly prepared him for this faithful  and authentic slice of Victoriana which veers from  the fantastic to visceral realism at the flick of a switch with a sprinkling of the magical included too, courtesy of Philip Bond

Improbably,  and memorably, we are also treated to song , “Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner”,  and pin sharp choreography and movement , by Deb Pugh, most notably in the memorable “Top Hat”     ( and cane) dance  murder scene which has more than a nod to Kubrick’s ,“A Clockwork orange”

The single set  (Jessica Curtis) is basic  and multilevel providing multiple exits  and entrances whose centrepiece  is a mysterious door. The intermittently flickering lighting (Simeon Miller)  is atmospheric, white light illuminating  the shadowy browns and blacks  of the costumes and set complimented by Ivan Stotts stark, dissonant staccato sound and music.

The  running time of under 2 hours, including interval, is short, as is the original novella. This is a big advantage , as the story, and production, packs a fast moving punch offering maximum  impact. There is no  flab in the script. The  actors show, they don’t tell, engaging the audience throughout.

 It has a dream like quality, weird and surreal, a phantasmagoria of the real and illusory. This sometimes affects the production’s narrative coherence, but if you tune in, and zone out,  all will be well.

This production sits comfortably alongside the very best of what Derby Theatre and Sarah Brigham have produced in recent years, her trademark integration of movement, sound light and drama  are compelling, and a triumph. The show   runs until 22^nd October.

Gary Longden