Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "There's more than one way to tell the same tale.
For evidence, you need look no farther than City Theatre's production of 'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde,' which opened Friday night.
Most of us think we know Robert Louis Stevenson's Victorian-era tale, 'Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,' about the well-meaning scientist whose experiments unleash his dark alter ego.
Playwright Jeffrey Hatcher's adaptation provides us with yet another view of Henry Jekyll that's highly theatrical, yet less romantic and more complex than we've seen in countless film versions or Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse's popular musical.
There's a fair measure of violence to be found."
3 comments:
The idea of Mr. Hide not being played by one actor, buy cycling through various ones is a really interesting idea. The review talked about how the story of Dr. Jekyll a& Mr. Hyde is normally interpreted as a struggle between good and evil, but this theatrical version beyond making the play more about the different shades of gray a person exists in. The use of multiple actors to play the same role seems to suggest that the play is also addressing the concept that part of what makes everyone different is that their personal shades of gray can quite often to totally different from others. It's an interesting idea that might be fun to see in other roles that have such opposing forces for central characters.
im really interested to see Jekyll and Hyde done with a minimalist set and a door that signifies different exits and entrances, i think it will provide a lot more emphasis in and harmonize well with the distinctions between characters especially since the main character is portrayed by different actors, i also really like the idea of the cane that is passed from the actor to actor as they take on the role of hyde
I'm very excited to see this production, and this article only served to enhance my excitement. I had no idea that Hyde was being portrayed as different actors- talk about a man with split personalities. I can't wait to see the staging of Dr. Jekyll quite literally talking to himself. To some extent i believe all the characters portraying Hyde would need to hold some semblance to Jekyll in their performance, while still being distinct in the different parts of Hyde's personality. This looks like just one more interesting component to this play.
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