Attempting to make Robert Louis Stevenson's classic 1886 gothic novella "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" a bit more twisted and maniacal than it already is, playwright Jeffrey Hatcher opts to have the good doctor Jekyll's sadistic alter ego creation Edward Hyde not only played by four different actors, but several times at once.
It's a "new work concept" that also eliminates love interests, 19th century facts and formulas and most of Stevenson's melodramatic details in favor of a more upbeat cat-and-mouse telling void of horror story bleakness, sensation and hysteria. Here, Hatcher, as storyteller, is much more interested in the good versus evil scenario that finds one man's goodness compromised by late-night scientific experimentations that transform him into a tormented, blood thirsty madman.
In "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," the latest drama to be showcased at Hole in the Wall Theater, Hatcher's work serves up a menu of violence, punch, bloodshed and creepiness, offset by conversations, dialogue and edits, that despite good intentions, often falls flat, bores or disconnects as the play inches forward toward its inevitable climax.
It's a valiant effort but with so many other "Jekyll & Hyde" stories out there, Hatcher's take on Stevenson's original story just isn't up to the speed or style of many other adaptations including those written by Thomas Russell Sullivan, John McKinney, David Edgar and Jonathan Holloway.
Staging "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," director John Bosco adapts a Gothic melodrama mindset that, in some sections of the piece, is inventive, attractive, alluring and fast-forward fluid. Transporting his audience into 19th century drawing rooms, back streets, offices, laboratories, hotel rooms and dissection theaters, he never once loses focus, drive or intent.
But Bosco, is no miracle worker. Nor can he add shading and color to certain sections of the story that lack pulse, momentum, curiosity or strangeness. With the start of Act II, however, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" becomes creepy, bloody and mystifying with many important moments played out in true melodramatic fashion under Bosco's direction.
To bring "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" to life, Bosco has chosen a hard-working, consistent cast of actors who play a variety of different roles throughout the production.
Terrance J. Peters (Hyde 3, Surgical Student 1, Man 3), Jan Andree (Poole, Woman 1), Luis Marrero-Solis (Enfield, Sanderson, Inspector, Man 2) and Ed Bernstein (Dr. Jekyll) command attention whenever they are on stage offering real, dramatic, powerful turns that adhere to the play's 19th century format, its specific style and concept, its language and accent, its positioning, its interactions, its exchanges and its Gothic melodrama.
One final note: Scene changes, which include the back-and-forth action of rolling panels, are especially noisy throughout the production and could benefit from dramatic music underscoring.
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