★★★★

“Hyland pulls out all the stops of horror to bring us a must-see play”

The stage is shrouded in dark, hung with black curtains, a wooden lectern in a spotlight the sole prop. Already we, the audience, know we are in for a sinister hour in the presence of one of the towering characters of Victorian gothic horror. Actually two characters, of course.

On to the stage strides Dr Jekyll (pronounce that ‘Jeekyll’, we are immediately instructed). He approaches the lectern, about to deliver a lecture on the duality of mankind and his frustrated attempts to find a cure that will relieve the sufferings of evil doers. He has argued with the medical establishment over a potion which – he believes – will provide relief to split personalities. Prevented from experimentation on patients, to prove his point, he has self-administered. We are about to hear the outcomes and lessons of his experiments.

One of the great pleasures of watching a familiar story unfold, is that you don’t have to work out what is happening: you can just sit back and enjoy the show. And what a show this is. James Hyland – writer, actor, producer and founder of Brother Wolf productions – himself has a towering on-stage presence. Switching rapidly – and shockingly – between Jekyll, his alter ego Hyde, the innocent victims of the experiment and the upright associates of his profession, Hyland gives us an outstanding physical performance. He writhes, twists and spasms. He straightens to resume his lecture then collapses into a crippled heap of distorted anatomy to seek out another victim. His contortions scare and shock. He swings the lectern out to become a bench, a bier and a body. Finally, he paces to and fro, directly addressing the front row of the audience (I was glad I had chosen to sit at the back, for once), shape-shifting then confronting us with our own worldly intentions and the unwitting evil we all hide. He withdraws out of the spotlight, back into the black.

This is not an hour for the faint-hearted. It is a dark play in a dark setting, with a dark message. At one point some members of the audience screamed – a tribute to a master. There are a few moments of humour, although the laughter is more a relief from tension than due to anything truly comic.

Under the direction of Phil Lowe and with sinister musical interludes by Chris Warner (admittedly I was so wound up that I didn’t fully notice these) Hyland pulls out all the stops of horror to bring us a must-see play for those who enjoy grim revelations brought home. There is evil nesting in us all, if only we could see it.

COHEN, BERNSTEIN, JONI & ME

Upstairs at the Gatehouse

★★★★

“an extraordinarily uplifting show”

Coming away from Deb Filler’s one woman show, I find myself wanting to invent a word: ‘Raconteurism’. I google it to make sure that it doesn’t exist. It doesn’t, so I feel satisfied that I have invented it. But my main feeling of satisfaction stems from having just spent an hour and a half in the company of a woman who takes ‘raconteurism’ to new heights. Filler surely has a master’s in ‘raconteurism’. Witty, self-deprecating, engaging, funny, poignant, trivial and crucial in equal measure. “Cohen, Bernstein, Joni & Me” is a love letter, not just to the three icons that have influenced her, but also to her family and her heritage. Almost a hymn to Yiddish culture and her own story that has been shaped by it.

As you’d expect from the title, music takes a prominent role, although she plays little. The guitar is more of a prop that she uses to punctuate her free-flowing repartee with pertinent lyrics from the likes of Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and even Peter, Paul and Mary (the latter are excluded from the title of the show – despite the influence they may have had on a nine year old Deborah in the small suburb of Mount Roskill in Auckland, New Zealand).

She seems genuinely and humbly thrilled that we have turned up to see her on a wet January evening in London. But, to use the polite English cliché; the pleasure is entirely ours. Filler fills (excuse the pun) the space with her warm and generous personality but makes room to populate the stage with the many characters she has met on her life’s journey. It is a fascinating listen from start to finish. Her father was a Holocaust survivor but somehow, she states, he continued life without bitterness. It was music that sustained him. These traits of endurance and hope are echoed in Filler’s own story as she leads us through the musical milestones of her story, and the impact that they had on her.

First up is Leonard Bernstein. Filler recounts a story of how her father watched a performance, in 1948, of Bernstein conducting Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ to concentration camp survivors at the Feldafing Displaced Persons Camp, and how it made him believe it was possible to build a new life after the war. Later, when Filler was at teacher training college in Auckland, she relates this to Bernstein himself who, in turn, wishes to meet her father. Her father is too busy at work in his bakery to accept, but sends a freshly baked challah (Jewish bread) to Bernstein. The significance of all this is later revealed by Filler in a heart-wrenching anecdote (sorry… no spoiler I’m afraid). An almost fleeting moment, but a tear-jerking insight into Jewish culture that conveys a wealth of personal history.

It is a show of stark contrasts, and for the most part is filled with laughter. Raunchy Jewish jokes pepper the monologues and song fragments. It seems that humour and music has sustained her. Peter, Paul and Mary gave her the catalytic thumbs up to pursue a career in the performing arts. In her inimitable style she eschews telling us about her achievements, and instead prefers to focus on the chance meetings with some of the great musical icons of the twentieth century. Her desperation to be backing singer to Joni Mitchell is hilariously woven into her deadpan delivery of her numerous dead-end jobs in New York. Moonlighting as a limo driver, she picks up Leonard Cohen and single-handedly very nearly deprives the world of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”. The seemingly chaotic and accidental collisions invariably lead to life-long allegiances in which favours are repaid and loyalty abides. We are fascinated by Filler, and transfixed to her every word. There is nostalgia without sentimentality and there is brutal honesty. But above all, hers is a great story told with greater humour.

We don’t know if she ever found her dream but, like she says, a ‘dream is the prelude to finding your own voice’. Filler has definitely found hers and it is a delight and a privilege to be one of the ones she shares it with. She never claims to compare her own journey to her forebears, but mixing her family’s dramatic backstory into her own gives her the licence and qualities of an important spokesperson for the legacy of her predecessors. We would like to hear more of her singing – her vocal talents match her acting versatility. Slipping into ‘Both Sides Now’ she sounds eerily like Joni Mitchell. She gives us a few bars of a self-penned breakup song. And, of course, we are treated to Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’; the only full-length musical number. Sung in Yiddish up to the final verse when we are invited to join in. We feel like a group of her friends now, over whom she has held court for a little while, sharing her stories. “Cohen, Bernstein, Joni & Me” is an extraordinarily uplifting show. An unforgettable story. An unforgettable evening.

Tag Archives: Upstairs at The Gatehouse

STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE

★★★★

Upstairs at the Gatehouse

STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE

Upstairs at the Gatehouse

★★★★

“Hyland pulls out all the stops of horror to bring us a must-see play”

STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE

Upstairs at the Gatehouse

Reviewed on 9th February 2026

by Louise Sibley

STRANGE CASE

STRANGE CASE

STRANGE CASE

COHEN, BERNSTEIN, JONI & ME

★★★★

Upstairs at the Gatehouse

COHEN, BERNSTEIN, JONI & ME

Upstairs at the Gatehouse

★★★★

“an extraordinarily uplifting show”