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Jekyll & Hyde

The Vaults

Reviewed – 25th February 2020

★★★½

“Fire Hazard Games offer a slick production”

Combining mobile gaming, real-world scavenger hunting, narrative storytelling and live performance, Jekyll and Hyde is the latest immersive experience from Fire Hazard Games.

Players meet the chemist Emerson Frey (Daniel Chrisostomou), the lawyer Jude Edmonton (Tim Kennington) and the psychoanalyst Aubrey Goldmann (Chloe Mashiter) who explain that last night you committed a terrible deed. However, you, Dr Jekyll, cannot remember what you did as you took a mysterious serum that both altered your personality and caused selective amnesia of the night’s events.

Players – either solo or in a team of up to three – must thus uncover their missing memories by solving online clues and make decisions about their future, all while under increasing time pressure.

The plot is relatively simple, and there is a fair degree of customisation depending on the choices made. However, it is rather easy for players to ignore the game’s story and focus only on solving clues, as one does not need to remember earlier information to solve later clues.

There are 21 locations with clues to solve around the Waterloo area. It is unlikely that players will have time to cover all of these which gives the game a fair amount of replay value. The most atmospheric locations are the Church (set in the spooky grounds of St John’s Church on Waterloo Road) and the Hospital (set outside the nineteenth century Royal Waterloo Hospital for Children and Women). Other locations, such as Press Night (next to the Young Vic), do not set the scene so well, with blatant reminders – like a Sainsbury’s Local – that players are not in fact exploring Victorian London.

At select locations, Frey, Edmonton and Goldmann will appear to offer players a deal that will affect the outcome of their game. For example, at the Church, Frey makes a frightening appearance, encouraging you to come under his ward and continue the experiments with the mysterious serum. The trio do well to stay in character and are a helpful reminder to think beyond clue hunting and about the wider story.

Unfortunately, not every team will meet the characters individually as this is entirely dependent on the locations one visits. This is a shame for those participants who are especially interested in becoming immersed in the story and its world.

The mobile aspect of the game works well for the most part, though poor internet connectivity outside the VAULT Festival where the game begins does not fill players with much initial confidence. The game is dependent on a strong internet connection and significant phone charge and if these fail there is no way to rejoin. Frey, Edmonton and Goldmann can track players and their actions on their own devices which are cleverly hidden in empty book props. This also means that they can tailor their conversations if they do meet.

Jekyll and Hyde is a lot of fun and Fire Hazard Games offer a slick production that does fairly well to adapt a complicated and multifaceted experience to different interests and game play styles.

Reviewed by Flora Doble

Click here to see all our reviews from VAULT Festival 2020

★★★★

“a clever interpretation of a classic story with some impressive performances from a talented diverse cast.”

The Robert Louis Stevenson story of the nature of humanity and potential for us all to choose to do both good and evil is vividly explored in a new musical opera version of “Jekyll and Hyde” by a dynamic young cast in the Studio performance space at Chickenshed Theatre. The audience enter the Studio along a Victorian street and sit on four banks of rather uncomfortable bench seats facing each other across the cobbles. Flickering street lamps and Victorian smog set the scene. A bridge and sewer below face down to Jekyll’s house and the evocative set designed by Constance Villemot is well used throughout.

The writing team (music by Dave Carey and Hannah Bohlin with lyrics by Paul Morrall) chose to use modern music and words to update the story for today. With director Jonny Morton, they also made the decision to reorder and perform the story chronologically to make it more accessible to a modern audience.

The opera requires careful concentration as it moves quickly through events with two halves of around thirty five minutes each. The music has been prerecorded but all the singing is live. There are twenty-one songs in a variety of styles and enough repetition to make the audience feel familiar with the music during the show.

Chickenshed has an inclusive ethos and the cast reflected this. The dual role of Jekyll/Hyde was performed by Nathaniel Leigertwood. He contrasted the two roles most effectively and the physicality of his transformations and violence as Hyde clearly scared two audience members opposite me. Nathaniel has long dark curly hair which he released from a ponytail as Hyde and used to disguise his face most successfully. His friend and lawyer Utterson was played by Demar Lambert and Dr Lanyon was sung confidently by Finn Kebbe. Sir Danvers Carew was performed by Ecevit Kulucan and Poole by Will Laurence. Vocal performances were generally strong although there were moments when the score was too demanding for individuals.

The chorus were both dancers and singers and their performance was pivotal to the success of the production, with dynamic choreography by Michael Bossisse. The lighting by Andrew Caddies really enhanced the opera throughout. There is a clever piece of stagecraft at the end of the opera which surprises the audience and allows them further insight into the dilemma that Jekyll has faced, forming a neat conclusion to the opera. This is a clever interpretation of a classic story with some impressive performances from a talented diverse cast.

Reviewed by Max Bender

Photography by Natalie Greco

Tag Archives: Jekyll & Hyde

Jekyll & Hyde

★★★½

VAULT Festival 2020

The Vaults

Reviewed – 25th February 2020

★★★½

“Fire Hazard Games offer a slick production”

Combining mobile gaming, real-world scavenger hunting, narrative storytelling and live performance, Jekyll and Hyde is the latest immersive experience from Fire Hazard Games.

Players – either solo or in a team of up to three – must thus uncover their missing memories by solving online clues and make decisions about their future, all while under increasing time pressure.

The plot is relatively simple, and there is a fair degree of customisation depending on the choices made. However, it is rather easy for players to ignore the game’s story and focus only on solving clues, as one does not need to remember earlier information to solve later clues.

Unfortunately, not every team will meet the characters individually as this is entirely dependent on the locations one visits. This is a shame for those participants who are especially interested in becoming immersed in the story and its world.

Jekyll and Hyde is a lot of fun and Fire Hazard Games offer a slick production that does fairly well to adapt a complicated and multifaceted experience to different interests and game play styles.

Reviewed by Flora Doble

Click here to see all our reviews from VAULT Festival 2020

Jekyll & Hyde – 4 Stars

Jekyll & Hyde

Chickenshed Theatre

Reviewed – 27th September 2018

★★★★

“a clever interpretation of a classic story with some impressive performances from a talented diverse cast.”

Reviewed by Max Bender

Photography by Natalie Greco

Jekyll & Hyde

Chickenshed Theatre until 20th October

Previously reviewed at Chickenshed:

Monolog | ★★★ | February 2018

Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow | ★★★★ | March 2018

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest | ★★★ | April 2018

Mr Stink | ★★★★★ | July 2018

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