By Charlene Baldridge | SDUN Theatre Critic
Leave it to playwright Jeffrey Hatcher to bring theatergoers a new twist on a Victorian tale, Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Strange Tale of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.” Hatcher’s literate, amusing adaptation plays in its San Diego premiere at ion theatre’s BLKBOX @ 6th & Penn through Nov. 20.
No bloated “Nicholas Nickleby” this, “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” is lean and mean, with a company of six playing all the roles, which drolly include four, count ‘em four, Hydes. This is no doubt Hatcher’s send-up of all the manifestations of Hyde seen through more than a hundred years of stage adaptations of the original novella, to say nothing of film versions and the overblown Frank Wildhorn musical, which reappears with startling frequency.
Hatcher, author of “Compleat Female Stage Beauty,” explores all the Hyde stereotypes, from hulking, deformed Hyde to a new one of his own invention, Byronic romantic hero type redeemed by the virtue of a good woman, a kind of Hatcherite “Beauty and the Beast.”
In his exploration, Hatcher uses four Hydes (Patrick Duffy, Susan Hammons, Nick Kennedy and David McBean), and only one Jekyll (Walter Ritter). Jekyll remains Jekyll, while the Hydes take on numerous additional roles, such as Jekyll’s friend Utterson (Kennedy), an attorney investigating the brutal murder of Sir Danvers Carew (McBean).
Does anyone not know Stevenson’s split personality protagonist, the “good” Dr. Jekyll, who as a matter of scientific curiosity creates a potion that retrogresses him to the “bad,” baser Hyde of his human nature? Hatcher provides a twist by offering Hyde redemption in the form of a woman named Elizabeth (Rachael VanWormer), whom he truly loves.
Guess whom the real bad guy turns out to be? You got it, but there are plenty of twists, turns and (believe it or not) suspense along the way to Hatcher’s stunning closing scene. The fun is in what happens when what you think you know meets up with Hatcher’s wry send-up on Elizabethan mores and beliefs.
Director Kim Strassberger has assembled a fine company of San Diego actors. Matt Scott creates a minimal set that consists mainly of the door between good and evil, and Melanie Chen’s sound design wryly underscores the turbulent emotions and suspense, as only Victorians could know. Most importantly, perhaps, the onlooker gets to see new facets of the old tale as well as become witness to new dimensions of familiar actors doing the unexpected. McBean is his usual arch self no matter what he does; VanWormer displays new depth of determination and femininity; and Duffy, usually seen at Lamb’s Player’s Theatre, is a fully dimensional, sympathetic yet still formidably threatening Hyde. The others, in multiple and complicated roles, lend excellent support, particularly Kennedy as Utterson.
“Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” continues at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 4 p.m. Saturdays through Nov. 20, $10-$25, ion theatre’s BLKBOX @ 6th & Penn, 3704 6th Avenue, Hillcrest, www.iontheatre.com or (619) 600-5020.
