Jekyll and Hyde Blog (Revised)

Dillon Stein

The Jekyll and Hyde play at Edinburgh Fringe Festival was a fun, fast, exciting, and immersive experience. I believe it was the goal of the performers to invite audience attention and interaction. The actors were in character before I even entered the Piccolo tent. The characters greeted all of the audience members as they entered. The relevance of this can not be understated because it created an immediate connection to the play and a level of immersion. When I sat down the actors remained in character and started conversation. They continued to interact with audience members. The actors utilized these interactions later in the play referencing dialogue they shared.

Once the play started it took me a second to realize that it had. This is because of the level of immersion that was presented from the get-go. The actors had smoothly transitioned from causal conversation with audience to dialogue/ script. At that point I was engaged and ready for the story. I wasn’t familiar with the story of Jekyll and Hyde before the play and I found it interesting. The perpetual battle between good and evil and the balance between the two. I think the performers did fantastic at showing both sides of the character. I liked the distortion of Hyde’s voice and thought it was a nice touch. The sound and lighting department did extremely well too. Later in the show a fight broke out and the sound effects lined up perfectly with the action. At another point a shootout occurred and an older lady from the audience was pulled on stage to participate firsthand in the action. It was one of my favorite moments from the show. As she shot with finger guns gunshot sound effects railed through the stage as actors fell clutching their fresh bullet hole “wounds.” The lights were used effectively and set the scene. Another audience member ended up playing a pivotal part in the story. I still don’t know how they pulled this off. He was invited on stage and interacted so naturally that he could’ve passed for an actor in the play. The actors guided him through scenes and efficiently whispered lines of important dialogue into his ear. The rest was up to him and he had the freedom of choosing how to deliver lines and interact with the story. It added another layer of immersion and I think it kept everyone on their toes so they wouldn’t miss out on an exciting interaction!

It’s fascinating how much trust was put into the audience for the show to work. If the audience had not been so receptive it would’ve created awkward moments and sudden stops. The cast earned every ounce of the audience’s enthusiasm. I didn’t see one person refuse to interact when the audience was given a task. The Jekyll and Hyde play left me feeling energized and excited. It was an interactive experience and if you want to feel like a part of the play then this is something you should seriously consider. If that audience interaction makes you a little nervous, I’d still encourage you to go. It’ll be an exciting new experience for you! If you despise audience interaction this is not the play for you. The (for lack of a better word) replay value of this play is phenomenal.

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