Anton and Erin tours aside, I've never seen any live dance before. I don’t know the terminology, I don’t know what makes it objectively good or bad and I don’t have any idea how to review it.
I think you can see where this is going.
Jekyll and Hyde is a two act ‘dance thriller’ choreographed by Drew McOnie and staged, at the Old Vic, by his eponymous company. And because I have no idea what I'm talking about beyond that, I’ll say right now that I think it’s fantastic and a real treasure of a show.
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For a non-dance person, probably the most striking thing about this production is the clarity of the storytelling. Admittedly, Jekyll and Hyde is a story that I think most people would say they know reasonably well. It’s also a story that seems peculiarly susceptible to being overcooked though, as ITV demonstrated so dramatically in their recent 1920s-set version. McOnie’s take is refreshingly clear, updating the action to the 1950s and recasting Jekyll as a botanist but otherwise keeping the story untouched and unornamented. The production contains no lyrics or spoken script, bar the occasional guttural moan or death throe, but it is impossible to lose the thread of the action (again unlike the ITV version where this was very much possible). And I think this would still be the case even if the story was entirely new to you.
This crystal clear narrative is facilitated mostly by the innovative characterisation that breathes through the choreography. Jekyll and Hyde, played by two different dancers which really opens up the story, move differently: Jekyll has a sort of sweeping ballroom set of moves whilst Hyde is much spikier with more rock and roll swagger. Jekyll is awkward, gentlemanly and funny, Hyde is sexy, brutish and thrusting (great word). Hyde, as usual, is better dressed and much cooler but it’s Jekyll who has the bigger, more bravura part.
All of this is reinforced by Grant Olding’s brilliant, eclectic and evocative earworm of a score; surely one of the best examples of storytelling through music out there. Five days later and I still have Hyde’s theme dancing round my head. Soutra Gilmour’s clever design, with the production’s handful of sets on a revolve made of chain-link fence which is manually pushed around as necessary by the cast, is so effective. I especially liked the care that had gone into ensuring that the whole stage is used, not just the bit that forms the current set. Because the ‘walls’ of every set are, essentially, see through then people sat at certain angles can see what’s going on in the background. This had been considered and accounted for really well, even if it only meant simple things like ensuring that cast members entering and exiting did so in keeping with both their character and the current mood of the music. It’s sadly rare to see so much thought going into sightlines and it really paid off.
I have no idea how you talk about the relative merits of dancers beyond what I've heard on Strictly. With that in mind, I have one word for the super talented cast of Jekyll and Hyde: uh-may-zing. In a small but perfectly formed cast almost everyone is a standout, but the biggest praise must go to the simply brilliant Daniel Collins’ sublime Jekyll. As good an embodiment of a character as almost any I've seen on stage this year which is all the more remarkable given it was all delivered via dance. Hurrah also for yet another of the West End’s super understudies, Jason Winter, on as Hyde on the night I was in - which also happened to be the first preview so, y’know, no pressure. He was great, a perfect swaggering Hyde, and if no one had told me he was an understudy I’d have never guessed in a million years.
To summarise, you should see Jekyll and Hyde. Regardless of what you know or don’t know about dance or about the story, this is a genuinely great production. It’s easily one of my favourite things this year. A ten from Len, if you will. Get your skates on though - its run is tragically, if understandably, short.
Jekyll and Hyde plays at the Old Vic until 28th May. AKA this Saturday. Hurry up.
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