Review: The Man Inside at the Landor Theatre

The Man Inside

Landor Theatre

Reviewed on Thursday 13th March 2014

The Man Inside is a new take on the classic novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson: many will be familiar with Leslie Bricusse and Frank Wildhorn's musical adaptation, Jekyll and Hyde. It was with some trepidation that I took my seat for this performance at the Landor, then, having endured more than one performance of it's better-known equivalent. This version by Tony Rees and Gary Young is a far smaller affair - a chamber piece with just three actors and two musicians.

The eponymous role is played by the iron-lunged Dave Willetts who does a sterling job with a difficult piece, his singing voice effortlessly soaring up to the high notes, his performance able to portray the character's fragility, fury and madness with equal ease. Willett's voice is particularly uplifting in his big quasi 'this is the moment' number 'Now's the Time!'; the difficulty with writing a new version of an already famous musical is that every musical number draws comparisons with it's equivalent. The fact that the titles are so similar doesn't help matters. 

The musical follows Dr Jekyll's journey from a failed lecture amongst the medical fraternity to his eventual decline into madness and subsequent transformation into Edward Hyde. 

The only two other characters that appear in this production are Jekyll's fiancé, Katherine (played by the sonorous, sweet-voiced Alexandra Fisher) and Hyde's object of lust Lizzie (Jessie Lilley): the stark contrast between the protagonist's relationship with these two women is the meat of the ninety minute production. 

The problem is that the Rees & Young's writing of these two characters is paper-thin; we know nothing about Katherine other than her relationship with her father and Jekyll, and Lizzie comes across as a parody of Nancy from 'Oliver': another famous bawdy tart. This limits what these actors can do with such slim pickings text-wise and curbs our capacity to care about what happens to either of them.

There are some musical highlights: the best melodies come when all three characters get a chance to shine in 'I Don't Know What To Do' and the dramatically effective 'The Cacophony' but otherwise this is a score that could easily have been written thirty years ago - there is nothing musically new or exciting here. 

The twist that comes at the end of the piece raises some interesting questions but feels tacked-on and ill-thought out. It left me feeling frustrated that the writers hadn't been bolder in their choices: a modern retelling of this story in the context of 21st century mental health treatment could have really been something. Ultimately I felt sad that the talent of three clearly able and experienced performers had been squandered on a story that didn't really need to be told - not again, anyway.

Reviewed by Jody Tranter

The Man Inside runs at the Landor Theatre until Saturday 29th March 2014.
Please visit www.LandorTheatre.co.uk for further information and tickets.

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