Jack Studio Theatre – until 28 January 2023
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
4****
Mark Stratford’s engrossing solo adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella is impressively faithful to the original, dispensing with any romantic subplots introduced in other stage productions and keeping the focus on Stevenson’s fascination with the duality of human nature.
Framed as a presentation on the case by unflappable Inspector Newcomen of Scotland Yard following the death of Mr Hyde, Newcomen sets the scene by describing the layout of Dr Jekyll’s house, assuring us that it is important, before handing over to Gabriel Utterson, a lawyer and good friend of Dr Jekyll. His concerns over the strangeness of the will Jekyll prepared were compounded when he heard of a violent incident involving Mr Hyde which was smoothed over by Jekyll. Convinced that his friend is being blackmailed, Utterson tries to find out more about Hyde, but Jekyll insists that their relationship is not as Utterson fears. Hyde later commits a brutal murder and disappears, while Jekyll becomes increasingly distant and goes missing himself. When Utterson and Jekyll’s desperate staff break down his laboratory door and find Hyde dead, a written confession from Jekyll is left behind, which Newcomen reads to his audience.
Stratford’s portrayal of each character is composed and intelligent, using props, accent changes and very subtle physical differences , making the transformation into Hyde seem more extreme and shocking as he crouches and sneers like a vicious goblin. The play first relates events from the point of view of concerned friends who don’t understand the changes in their friend. Stratford keeps Utterson and these characters sensible, calm and perplexed as a whole, but builds to near hysteria as Utterson and his friend relate Hyde’s diabolical behaviour. Jekyll and Hyde are almost minor characters in the first part of the play, but as Newcomen starts Jekyll’s confession, Stratford swiftly switches to Jekyll to tell his own story. This is where the energy and tone shift and the transformations between Jekyll and Hyde become graphic and unsettling. The events related by Newcomen and Utterson are now explained by Jekyll, horrified at his baser self, and also by his evil side revelling in what he has done. Stratford transforms in a breath between the two men, always catching the audience of guard and elicits nervous laughter as he threatens the audience. His Hyde is truly odious and the feelings of revulsion voiced by the characters no longer seem hyperbole under Stratford’s glare.
This is a wonderfully accessible and faithful version of the story – the students sitting next to me were thrilled “I was not expecting that!” – performed with skill and precision. Stratford delivers an acting masterclass.