Dr. Jekyll at MTC

[James Forsythe]

Hello to you all.  Here's my contribution to the national review grapevine.
By the way I think its a great idea and I would love to hear how this play
does in other cities.
 
Any way, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde--A Love Story  by James W. Nichol is being
presented by MTC, Canadian Stage, Theatre Calgary, and the Vancouver
Playhouse. It has a budget in excess of a Million dollars and the
acknowledged talents of Neil Munro and Cameron Porteous behind it.  Yet I am
afraid it is almost a complete failure.  The Nichol's adaptation of the
classic story centers around the incestuous obsession of Dr. Jekyll with his
daughter, Melissa.  His creation of Hyde is represented by an entirely
different actor who seems to be able to act out Jekyll's dark side perhaps
becauses he is 20 years younger.  The script doesn't really allow us to
develop an emotional attachment to the characters.  It is made up of many
short scenes interrupted by rather endless and overly complex scene changes.
But even allowing for the faults of construction the story just does not
hold the audience.  It is as if the playwright has taken the story too
seriously and presented it with almost Biblical weight.
This weight is compounded by a bizarre and pretentious neo gothic directing
style that finds Jekyll crawling out from under beds in slow motion, actors
hiding behind house plants, and a couple of purient shadow-play sex scenes
that were frankly uncomfortable to watch.  And it was not just me that was
dissappointed, the mood of the audience as they filed out was beyond bored
and reaching towards surly.  A lot of us are going to see it and
co-productions are here to stay.  Is this what we are looking for?  And how
did this script get out of the workshop stage?  Anyone else see it?
 
On a lighter note I am looking forward to seeing Angels in America at the
Warehouse next week.
 
Here at Brandon University we are in rehearsal for The Curse of the
Werewolf; a comedy/horror with music and song,  production opens end of
February. This weekend we have Noises Off produced by Century Stage.  Thats
the news from here, good luck to us all.
James Forsythe
Head, Drama Program
Brandon University
204 727 9662 (office)
204 726 4573 (fax)
Forsythe at BrandonU.Ca