Two ways to see the two-faced man
Live theatre is returning to South Hill Park tomorrow night thanks to a new production of an old favourite, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. PHIL CREIGHTON drinks a special potion to find out how the preparations are going
THE MYTH and mystery of 19th century London is being recreated in Bracknell on Friday night and you can tune in from the comfort of your own home. Blackeyed Theatre is taking over the Wilde Theatre in South Hill Park for a one-off revival of its play The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde.
Adapted and directed by Nick Lane, the play will have a socially distanced audience watching the action – the first such event to take place at the arts centre since the lockdown in March.
It stars Blake Kubena in the dual role of Henry Jekyll and his alter ego Edward Hyde. Joining him are stars from the 2017 production: Zach Lee, Paige Round and Ashley SeanCook.
The story needs little introduction: Dr Jekyll is a good man whose ethics go out of the window when it comes to testing his neurological discovery. Unfortunately, the end result of his experiment is his new friend, the brutal Edward Hyde.
Artistic director Adrian McDougall is looking forward to it, as it is a win-win: audiences who love live theatre are able to book tickets and watch the show, while those who aren’t comfortable with going out out can enjoy the play via live streaming.
“We’re focused on creating the best piece of drama we can, which would be the same if we were steaming or not,” he says.
“There are additional challenges on the technical side, as we’ve never livestreamed before, but we’ve got really good people involved.
“It’s a real opportunity to grow as a company, reach new audiences and try out new things. It’s something that the pandemic has pushed us into doing, it’s forced us to transform ourselves as a business, which has been quite interesting.”
Although live streaming is new to Blackeyed Theatre, it’s not new to the industry – Adrian says that some companies first tried the technology at the turn of the century. “It’s become far more accessible and affordable to do, we’re not pioneering, we’re catching up. But it’s great we’re doing it, and live.”
The technology might be
21st century, but the play is
19th, and there’s been countless variations over the years.
“It’s probably one of the bestknown novels from the 19th
century,” Adrian says, “but it’s probably because of all the movies and TV adaptations. It’s certainly been embellished.
“From a dramatic perspective, the original is actually quite limited, so any adaptation will certainly embellish and create a little bit more in terms of character development.
“So every version you see is going to be slightly different.
“Ours,” he continues, “is interesting from the perspective that there’s a new female character who has been introduced. She’s actually a love interest that creates added dramatic elements.
“It’s important, I think, to have a major female character in the play because, of course, like most 19th century novels, there’s not many of them. It’s good to have a strong female character in there.”
Was there any temptation to make it more Carry On Screaming than a macabre exploration of the soul?
“No, not at any point,” Adrian says. “As a company we tend to be straight with our storytelling. We often use some innovation, like music, but the actual style and telling of the story is absolutely strange.” Blackeyed has also previously tackled Frankenstein, Dracula and Sherlock Holmes, “all from the same era – gothic 19th century novels”, Adrian says. “They all have the capacity to be hammed up, but we tell a faithful, honest version of those stories.
“I think there’s a real place for it – they’re exciting and thrilling.
“These stories are on the school syllabus, which tells you something about what these stories do.”
He added: “There’s a universality to Jekyll and Hyde as a phrase now. It describes someone as two different sides to them… we all have that part to our personality to a greater or lesser extent.
“The play absolutely has a lot to say, but these shows are based on brilliant stories – great stories.”
So why livestream the show?
“It is a really cracking script and a cracking piece of theatre,” he says, warning: “We hope to be doing this in the spring, but our autumn season has been cancelled. So, the only public performance, for now, will be this Friday, our opening night in front of a live audience … anything could happen.”
Tickets to the theatre cost £21, which includes a digital programme, while tickets for the live streaming are £15 per device. Curtain up is at 7.30pm on Friday, September 18.
For more details, log on to www.southhillpark.org.uk and for digital tickets visit http://bit.ly/ JekyllHyde2020