During his final lecture on the duality of humankind, the respectable Dr Jekyll reveals his strange association with the mysterious Edward Hyde and the shocking truth about his identity: that Hyde, unlike other human beings, is not only fundamentally evil, but also the very definition of it.
Review by Stephen Gilchrist
Quite recently I reviewed the outstanding actor, James Hyland, who mesmerised his audience as Rudolf Höss, the brutal commandant of Auschwitz in Lesson from the Holocaust. Now he is giving us his Jekyll and Hyde in a solo performance which is spinetingling, shocking and a masterclass in vocal and physical performance.
There is Hyland and there is a lectern. The lectern also serves as a chair, a body and several other props. Dr. Jekyll is lecturing his peers in the medical profession on his theory about the duality of human nature and how good can be peeled away to expose evil by a certain concocted potion which he has developed. He treats his audience with as much contempt as they have treated him whilst mocking and criticising his theory.
As Jekyll begins his lecture he demonstrates some involuntary spasms. He is not quite in control. He explains that he is a bystander watching and noting Hyde’s murderous, vicious behaviour as he tramples a child underfoot in the backstreets of Whitechapel. Jekyll watches, notes, and purports to challenge Hyde and wishes to forensically examine him as a portrait of pure evil. He appears not to realise who Hyde is. Later on, he describes Hyde’s cruel sexual proclivities and exuberant murder and disembowelment of a prostitute in the autumn of 1888. He is, indeed, Jack the Ripper. The 1888 Jack the Ripper murders in London coincided with a popular stage adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, causing the public to link the real-life atrocities to the fictional tale of a respectable man by day and a monster by night. Hyland’s conceit of treating the fictional Hyde as Jack the Ripper is an interesting take.
Hyland’s transformation into Hyde, increasingly repulsive and without any prop or make up assistance, is a brilliant and virtuosic piece of imagery, and audience engagement through physical energy and presence, until, at the end, drinking from the vial, and with jump scares, he finally turns into an arrogant, suave, smug and smooth talking inverse reflection of Jekyll himself, knife bearing and threatening the audience, taunting them, Sweeney Todd- like, to leave the theatre to avoid a further murder.
The original novella is difficult to adapt as the story is told by Jekyll’s friend, the lawyer, Utterson. Hyland’s own adaptation brings a fresh perspective since the narrative comes from Jekyll himself. He plays the other characters, the flirty hag of a prostitute, her pimp, and the child all with a chilling authenticity.
Hyland has produced this show under Phil Lowe’s direction, which along with seven other shows in his portfolio he tours the United Kingdom. I cannot overpraise the performance or the adaptation. It is a striking and remarkable piece of storytelling. A must see for fans of gothic horror and of the artistry of great actors.
https://upstairsatthegatehouse.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173670317
Presented by Brother Wolf
Based on the novella by Robert Louis Stevenson
Adapted and Performed by James Hyland
Directed by Phil Lowe
Music by Chris Warner
