Jekyll and Hyde- Co-creator, Christopher’s blog

5 March 2013

Our first week of work on Jekyll and Hyde has finished. We’ve put the silly wigs back in the Watermill’s store cupboards and taken off our top hats for the next few weeks. We can’t wait to get started again and we’re really excited about how the show’s going to end up. With new projects, there’s always the opportunity to work with different people, and this time was no different, but it was also a different type of project for us for a couple of major reasons.

We’ve never adapted a book before
All our previous shows (Optic, Shutterland, A Strange Wild Song) have been created completely from scratch, so it was a new challenge for us to adapt a book, especially one that people know so well. Jekyll and Hyde is told predominantly through a lawyer called Utterson (who is basically described in the book as dry and boring) and all of the action is reported through other characters’ descriptions or by letters. Needless to say, this sort of thing doesn’t translate very well onto stage. The story is also very thin, with a lot of embellishment needed to make it a rounded story. One thing’s for certain with this adaptation: we won’t be sticking reverently to Stephenson’s version.

We’ve never worked with a director before
Up until now, we’ve made our work as a group, with all performers acting as director and vice-versa. Although one of the pleasures of this is an egalitarian atmosphere in the rehearsal room and a strong sense of ensemble, it means making a show can take longer, with cast members having to step out of the action to see how things look and slot together. So making the show with Beth Flintoff has been (and will continue to be) something we have embraced. She was a fantastic help during the week, not only in being able to record and note what we discovered in the space, but in offering a fresh perspective and different approaches to things that we, as performers, were struggling with. To arrive in the rehearsal room with elements of script, however rough, was a huge time-saver and helped focus our energies. Beth is very much a co-creator of this show and it’s wonderful to have someone like her in the mix.

With all of this in mind, we had clear aims in what we wanted to achieve in our development week. Firstly, what story do we want to tell? And secondly, once we’ve worked that out, how do we want to tell it? Playing around in the rehearsal room undoubtedly helped with the former, as we began to realise what characters and situations could be fleshed out and who we were interested in following. Having Hayley, designer for the show, in the room for most of the week was also a big help with the latter, as we began playing with props and costume. I’m hesitant to give too much away and ruin the surprise, but this show is going to be very silly, very funny and occasionally quite dark. Expect elements of penny dreadfuls, Hammer Horror and shadowy gothic styles! We’re excited to get back in the rehearsal room to get it finished before sharing it with the public. Thanks to the Watermill for having us.

Christopher Harrisson
Co-Artistic Director, Rhum and Clay Theatre Company