Review: DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE at The Beckwith Theatre

It's October and that means when you go to the theatre you are probably seeing a tense, nerve racking, and possibly horrifying play. That's what you're going to see at The Beckwith Theatre with their presentation of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.

The basic story is well known to most of us, however, anyone who doesn't know the Robert Louis Stevenson book itself may be tripped up a bit by Jeffrey Hatcher's adaptation of it. First, there is little in way of exposition for Jekyll (Jeff Starkey) himself and his experiments that bring forth Hyde in the first place. No, this play is more about the budding romance of Mr. Hyde and Elizabeth (Kathryn Hein) and it's ultimate conclusion. Another thing that may trip an audience up with this show is the use of four Hydes (Jay Southworth, James Huffman, Stephen Prouty, and Andi Creasbaum) to create the personas of Dr. Henry Jekyll's inner beast.

One would hope that if the script called for four Hydes, the script itself would be more deliberate about their individual characteristics. Much like the pixar film "Inside Out" you would assume one Hyde would be the anger, one would be devious, one would be horny, and one would be a lady, because there is always a lady. The closest we get is a very impressive Hyde in Stephen Prouty who slinked on and off stage with such ease, one would be unsure if he actually was a figment of all our imaginations. Stephen played his Hyde with intensity and anger and was well suited to be the "main Hyde" for the show. Andi Creasbaum also stood out as a Hyde. While Andi may not have gotten much stage time as either Hyde or Poole, she made the most of her scenes and her Hyde definitely wasn't just the "Lady Hyde" of this quartet.

For me, James and Jay's Hydes were interchangeable. Neither one seemed to have Hyde as a separate character from their other roles as much as Andi and Stephen did, nor did they seem much different even from each other. It doesn't hurt the play, it just leaves you wanting more and it does confuse the audience when it is difficult to tell one character from another from a Hyde when there is very little in way of dress, speech, or mannerisms to help the audience along with the three male Hydes.

As the only other female cast member, Kathryn Hein as Elizabeth does a fantastic job of coming across both naive and world worn and does a fine job making us believe that her and Stephen Prouty's Hyde are indeed in love with each other. Her screams were worthy of any Friday the 13th or Nightmare On Elm Street scene.

Finally, Jeff Starkey's Jekyll was very good at his job. It is very difficult to keep an audience interested when the show is a bunch of talking heads, like this show is. However, Starkey does a fine job of keeping our interest and moving the story along. The only issue I had, and this happened with multiple characters at multiple times through the night, was that a good portion of the blocking upstaged Jekyll, usually forcing him to be either full profile, turning back towards the rear of the stage, or standing with his back to the audience and still delivering lines that were difficult to hear. When Jekyll and Starkey are confronting each other, though, it worked very well and the two used the full profile to really create the idea that they may just fight it out right then and there at any time. Through it all, Starkey slowly descends into madness with skill and explodes when you least expect it.

This show can be a very difficult show to stage and David Prouty had his work cut out for him in directing it. Horror and even suspense is tough to present on stage. Especially when we know the actors, or are very familiar with the story. At points the audience's laughter made me wonder if they were listening to the same thing I was and if they thought murder was hilarious, or just the thought of one of their friends saying a line they wouldn't say in real life. Those moments fought to take us out of the world of the play.

However, the show is well worth the watch, especially for an amazing moment towards the end of the play where Hyde turns back into Jekyll in front of someone and it is remarkable. David Prouty set up his world so fully, with Hyde and Jekyll often standing onstage as if in the back of the mind of the other, that the transformation is believable and even when told to a person who hadn't seen it, still impressed. Top hats off to Prouty!

"Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" continues its run at The Beckwith Theater, October 26-28. Tickets are available via phone reservation at (269) 782-7653. For more information on this and upcoming shows, go to beckwiththeatre.com.

photo credit: David Prouty

 

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