Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (I don't do stars)

This play is made up of a number of parallel narratives from which one is meant to weave the fabric of a story. If that wasn't taxing enough, it is also supposedly allegorical, so that it is open to interpretation by the spectator. Within limits of course. We are warned in program notes of being terrified and horrified -this I think was a bit over the top, although there are indeed some very tense moments. Not a lot of laughs in this show, although one (when asked where has he been, Jekyll replies "hyding") went straight over the audience's heads last night. Unlike others, I wasn't greatly distracted by the accents, although as Jekyll, his sister and their servants all supposedly hailed from Dorset, they could have gotten away with a touch of the 'Long John Silvers' (another notable RL Stevenson creation). The characterisations were on the whole very good, although the 'matinee-idol good looks' of the lead actor tended to shine through both of his parts and I found the reports of Dr Lanyon's suicidal despair somehow somewhat unbelievable. The set design was very clever, starting with the two doors on opposite sides of the proscenium - the front door of respectability and the back door of disreputability - the sitting room and the laboratory - the background of the country estate (although I agree it was a bit far back) and so on. The light, sound and costumes were all up to Harbour's usual high standard. One thing I was intrigued by was the speed with which some of the actors managed to get from one side of the stage to the other, having had some personal experience of the hazards backstage at the Princess May. Well done, all.