By George Basler
In staging the next production at the Chenango River Theatre, Director Zach Curtis jokingly told Lighting Director Grant E. Mergas, “I want every scene to be as dark as humanly possible until people can’t see.”
The muted lighting is designed to reflect the somber and eerie tone of the play, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which opens Friday (Oct. 7) and runs through Oct. 23 at the Greene theater. The show is the last one for CRT’s season.
Curtis, CRT’s producing artistic director, described the play as a thriller and psychological drama. “This is not a send-up. It’s real and dark” as it explores the evil that lurks in the hearts of men, he said.
The production is an adaptation by playwright Jeffrey Hatcher of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic gothic horror tale, published in 1886. Hatcher has a history of turning books into plays. His Turn of the Screw and Tuesdays with Morrie have been successfully staged, as has Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which was nominated by the Mystery Writers of America for an Edgar Award for Best Play.
“I find some stage adaptations of literary pieces to have weak tendencies, because it’s hard to put a book on stage,” Curtis said. “But this one (Hatcher’s version) is so incredibly well done, the adaptation is so strong, that he’s made it a compelling story.” Curtis said.
Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is, without doubt, one of the best-known works of English literature. The phrase “Jekyll and Hyde” has entered popular lexicon to describe the good and bad sides of a person.
But, while people are familiar with the premise, very few have read Stevenson’s original novella, and many are unfamiliar with the story, Curtis said.
Hatcher put his own spin on Stevenson’s work. “In my version, the roles are somewhat reversed, as are some aspects of Jekyll and Hyde themselves,” he said. “One of the arguments I’ve never quite believed — and I suspect Stevenson didn’t believe it either — is that Henry Jekyll is totally good while Edward Hyde is totally evil. I’m trying to have some fun with the notion that Jekyll and Hyde play a cat-and-mouse game with each other and with the question of just who we should be rooting for.”
Hatcher’s play features 35 scenes in two acts. Six actors play multiple roles. While one actor plays Dr. Jekyll, four of the six actors play Hyde at different points in the play.
“It allows me to have conversations with Hyde and emphasizes the split in (Jekyll’s) personality,” said Brian Linden, a New York City-based actor who is playing Jekyll. The CRT cast is a combination of well-known regional actors — Andrea Gregori, Chris Nickerson and Derek Emerson Powell — and actors from outside the area (Linden, Skylar Jeffries and James Wetzel). Binghamton-based cellist Jeff McAuley will play a musical accompaniment that is an important feature in creating the play’s mood, Curtis said.
Linden said he was attracted to Jekyll role by its complex mixture of good and evil. “I am constantly maintaining a veneer (as Jekyll),” he said. “I’m letting the audience know I’m doing wrong while hiding it from the other characters.”
One of the challenges in directing the play is making sure audience members can keep track of the action as the actors play multiple roles, Curtis said. The set, designed by Curtis, is minimalist with actors walking through a movable door to different location of the action. Audience members will have to use their imaginations.
“Jeff (Hatcher) went out on a limb, but it works because it’s not a straight-forward, boring adaptation,” Curtis said. “Jeff allows the audience to think they know what’s going on, and then he goes in a different direction.”
While the play deals with the heavy theme of the battle between the good and evil nature of a person, it’s not heavy-handed and has bits of humor that the cast is working to bring out, Curtis added.
And the show is perfect for October as the days grow darker and Halloween approaches. “I hope audience members come away saying it was a cool theatrical experience, and I hope it enhances the story for people who know something about it,” Curtis said.
IF YOU GO: The Chenango River Theatre will present Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at its playhouse, 991 State Highway 12, Greene, from Oct. 7-23. Performances Thursdays-Saturdays are at 7:30 p.m. Sunday matinees are at 2 p.m. Tickets are $27. The best way to order tickets is to go to CRT’s website www.chenangorivertheatre.org Youalso can call the box office at 607-656-8499 or email tickets@chenangorivertheatre.org.
