★★★★★
Running from 30 September to 22 October, Derby Theatre and Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch’s Jekyll and Hyde is, in its turns, gripping, chilling and darkly amusing. Adapted for the stage by Neil Bartlett and directed by Sarah Brigham, this version of events is seen through a slightly different lens to that of the book. Rather than sticking rigidly to the decidedly male-centric narrative of Robert Louis Stevenson’s book, this adaptation takes a somewhat more female-centric focus.
We, the audience, follow a newly sworn–in Dr Stevenson (aptly named) as she navigates a male-dominated profession—a male-dominated world, in fact. She plays the role a detective in a mystery would, unravelling the tale of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde for us to see in its entirety and, as is fitting of a doctor, dissecting it until its viscera is onstage for us to see. The choice to introduce Dr Stevenson is a bold one—and it pays off. Her presence allows somebody to hold accountable the ring of gentlemen who, in turning a blind eye to Jekyll’s attempts at playing God, essentially enable him and therefore shoulder part of the blame for his victims’ fates. As Brigham states in the production’s programme, “it’s this examination of male toxicity which gives [the play] its guts.”
Stevenson is played by Polly Lister, who has a strong stage presence from the very beginning, balancing the sombre and the resilient. The show itself begins with her being sworn into the medical profession by the company of Gentlemen, taking her oath—Lister commands the audience’s attention easily, starting as she means to go on. The oath itself perfectly foreshadows Dr Jekyll’s fate: “If I do not violate this my oath, may I enjoy a long life; may I be respected while I live, and remembered with affection thereafter.”
With that, we come to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Much as they have taken a back seat in this review so far, they are portrayed in the first part of the show as something of a looming spectre. They occasionally offer comments that the gentlemen hear and react to, but do not acknowledge. Nicholas Shaw, playing the two men, is able to change the way he acts as quickly as the wind changes direction. He navigates the transitions from Jekyll’s easy, upright stance to Hyde’s skulking, almost animalistic frame with ease, to the extent that if it weren’t for the fact he is onstage the entire time he could be mistaken for two separate actors. (The most effective thing about Shaw’s performance, however, is when during a final scene he is able to go almost a full two minutes facing the audience without appearing to blink. The effect is remarkably unsettling.)
This almost chameleon-like ability is paired with flawless lighting (the work of Simeon Miller and Adam Jefferys). When Jekyll is onstage his features are painted in a warm, orange sort of glow from the overhead lights. When Hyde takes his place the setting shifts to a sickly shade of green. Lights flicker eerily and appear to short-circuit with a flash when appropriate, all to tremendous effect.
With a strong script and harsh scrutiny of the exclusivity of authoritarian, male-dominated circles and the harm they do—both to those within them and those shunned from them—this adaptation is one to watch. Once its Derby run has concluded on 22 October, it can be seen at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, London, from 26 October to 12 November 2022.
Words by Casey Langton
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