Jekyll & Hyde Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh 16th January 2024 Review
Jekyll & Hyde is at the Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh until 27 January and this one man show written by Gary McNair and performed by Forbes Masson is adding more than a few unexpected twists to a story that so many of us think that we know so well. The connection that this story has with Edinburgh and Deacon Brodie as source material makes this performance a natural story to be told at the Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, even if it is set in Victorian London.
This production is, of course, adapted from the classic 1886 novella “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson. Since its publication, this gothic story that explores, amongst many other things, the duality of human personality and the morality of good an evil, has become so popular and so universally known through being retold in so many film, television, and radio adaptations that people who have never read the original book will know the story. The story of Jekyll and Hyde is now so well known to so many people that these characters have come to represent how we often even talk about a person’s character.
To make a production like this work you need two basic ingredients to start with – a great story and strong characters as your source material - and R.L.S. provided both in abundance here. To make the adaptation from book to stage you need another two essential ingredients – a good writer who can hold the essence of the original story together whilst also adding their own input to the script and a performer who can bring these words to life in the theatre.
Here Gary McNair has written a script that captures that feeling of gothic terror that the original story had plus more than a few humorous moments, and Forbes Masson brings all of the main characters in the story of Jekyll and Hyde to life with at times great subtlety. Here his principal performance of Dr Jekyll’s long-time friend and lawyer, Mr Gabriel John Utterson, plus Dr Hastie Lanyon, Mr Poole, and Mr Enfield is exceptional. Forbes Masson is a gifted storyteller whose next word you are always left wanting to hear. If anyone reading this review is studying acting, then go along and watch this performance as you will learn so much about the many different skills that this craft requires from someone who knows exactly when and how to utilise them on stage and with an audience.
Helping to create this dark and unsettling world of Jekyll & Hyde on stage is minimalist but very effective use of design by Max Jones, lighting design by Richard Howell, plus composition and sound design by Richard Hammarton.
Whatever you do, try not to leave before the very end of this show as there is an ending to this story that is perhaps the key to why we are all so attracted to “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
This production is, of course, adapted from the classic 1886 novella “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson. Since its publication, this gothic story that explores, amongst many other things, the duality of human personality and the morality of good an evil, has become so popular and so universally known through being retold in so many film, television, and radio adaptations that people who have never read the original book will know the story. The story of Jekyll and Hyde is now so well known to so many people that these characters have come to represent how we often even talk about a person’s character.
To make a production like this work you need two basic ingredients to start with – a great story and strong characters as your source material - and R.L.S. provided both in abundance here. To make the adaptation from book to stage you need another two essential ingredients – a good writer who can hold the essence of the original story together whilst also adding their own input to the script and a performer who can bring these words to life in the theatre.
Here Gary McNair has written a script that captures that feeling of gothic terror that the original story had plus more than a few humorous moments, and Forbes Masson brings all of the main characters in the story of Jekyll and Hyde to life with at times great subtlety. Here his principal performance of Dr Jekyll’s long-time friend and lawyer, Mr Gabriel John Utterson, plus Dr Hastie Lanyon, Mr Poole, and Mr Enfield is exceptional. Forbes Masson is a gifted storyteller whose next word you are always left wanting to hear. If anyone reading this review is studying acting, then go along and watch this performance as you will learn so much about the many different skills that this craft requires from someone who knows exactly when and how to utilise them on stage and with an audience.
Helping to create this dark and unsettling world of Jekyll & Hyde on stage is minimalist but very effective use of design by Max Jones, lighting design by Richard Howell, plus composition and sound design by Richard Hammarton.
Whatever you do, try not to leave before the very end of this show as there is an ending to this story that is perhaps the key to why we are all so attracted to “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com