"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"

September 2, 2015 — "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" has been adapted for movies and plays more than one hundred times. It's usually fleshed out by adding dialog, backstory and even characters, because Robert Louis Stevenson's slender novella doesn't provide a lot to work with. He allegedly wrote it in three to six days while bed-ridden with an illness. Still, purist that I am, I'd like to see it as the master intended it to be. It's compact, scary, to the point, and has great dramatic punch. Then again, its flowery Victorian dialog might lose modern audiences.

The Winnipesaukee Playhouse in Meredith, New Hampshire, chose David Edgar's adaptation of the classic for its production. It includes a couple of additional characters and plot not found in Stevenson's original. Directed by Nick Saldivar, the Winni rolled out its finest actors, a few of whom played multiple roles, in this performance made all the more challenging by frequent scene changes. Andrew Stuart's ingeniously designed set and a crack stage crew pulled off the many changes quickly and efficiently.

Nicholas Wilder, in one of his patented over-the-top performances, was perfectly cast as the Jekyll/Hyde character. Maybe I'm being over-cautious, but I never put children's names on the Internet without a parent or guardian's permission, as much as I'd love to give credit to the two charming youngsters who played Jekyll's niece and nephew, characters added in Edgar's adaptation. Also appearing, all excellent, were Richard Brundage, A. J. Ditty, Elizabeth Swan, Helen McMillan and Jason Plourde. Ray Dudley, one of the Winni community players, more than held his own among the professionals.