Jekyll & Hyde

Jekyll & Hyde gets new twist on dark tale

Jekyll & Hyde and Nerve, two one act plays performed by Reverend Theatre Productions at the Bungay Fisher Theatre

This review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 15 October 2016

Jekyll & Hyde, the much-loved classic gothic horror tale from the pen of Robert Louis Stevenson, has long been a rich source of dramatic ideas from the dark side of the human soul.

In this contemporary take on madness and pressure, Reverend Theatre brought to life four characters (a surgeon, her new neighbour, her brother and his carer) experiencing the consequences of sexuality, claustrophobic space and the unbearable pain of one slowly dying from motor neurone disease.

After Jekyll & Hyde the same performers presented another short play, Nerve, set in a flat with unusual characters – an edgy youngster, her pregnant friend, a lodger and a police officer. It centred round dealing with the fall-out from the musical din in a nearby apartment.

Both plays – written by one of the performers, Charlie Howitt – handled contrasting tensions, unusual character developments and a real sense that all was not as it seemed and other people’s lives are twisted and unpredictable.

All credit to Bungay’s Fisher Theatre for championing new stage writing and young performers. If they return, they are well worth supporting.