Cut
to the Chase at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch
01.11.11
A
World Premiere at the Queen's for Halloween, a version of the classic
Gothic tale set in a Music Hall just up the road in the East End, the
seedy Victorian milieu where Jekyll's alter ego roamed in search of
pleasure.
Chris
Bond's inspired adaptation includes lots of songs from the period,
including Marble Halls and a lovely temperance number, a cod
operation, a vent act, some Doctor Doctor jokes, silent cinema-style
underscoring from Satie, Dukas, Stravinsky and others, two quite
savage satirical numbers and a couple of singalongs from the band.
In
the case of Cut to the Chase, that means the company, of course –
where else would the programme credit “Whore – cello, keys,
percussion” - the excellent Karen Fisher-Pollard. And who's that
sinister white-faced figure playing trombone at the back ? Simon
Jessop, who's our Chairman at the Billet Lane Bucket of Blood, and
also manages several other roles including a splendidly Wildean Mrs
Jekyll.
It's
all over in 90 minutes – plus an interval, with special J&H
cocktails on offer – so you'd be forgiven for fearing that
Stevenson might be killed in the rush, lost in the laughter. But no,
a change of scene and mood, and generous quotations from the text
remind us of the philosophical under-pinning of this story of dark
duality – we are not one man, but two, not one nation, but two. The
writing veered crazily between Carry On, sibilant narration and
sub-Tennyson verse. And miraculously never came off the rails.
Matt
Devitt's production is very stylish [Norman Coates the designer –
after Doré], with an intricate proscenium arch, a lovely lab for the
Doctor, with its altar-like bench for him to play God on, and a
surreal keyhole door for peeping Tom Jude, who gave a powerfully
melodramatic Jekyll. Mark Stanford was the wounded soldier and
Jekyll's friend and mentor Lanyon, Rachel Dawson was the Sally Army
girl and the doomed Ellen, and MD Carol Sloman gave us a definitive
male impersonator Toff, in the style of Burlington Bertie.
There
have been many dramatic adaptations. Just
months after Stevenson's tale first hit the bookshops, work had begun
on a stage version, and since then we've had a blockbuster musical
and David Edgar's play for the RSC. I think Bond's gallimaufry of
styles comes off well – it worked for Crippen, I recall, and of
course for Sweeney Todd. And that's no coincidence, since it was
Bond's 1973 play that Stephen Sondheim saw and set to music ...
production photo by Nobby Clark
production photo by Nobby Clark
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