The Centre Theatre and Iron Age Theatre
Present



October 30, 31 and
November 1-23 2008


at Ticketleap.



Friday - Saturday at 8PM
Sundays at 2PM
Special Performance on
October 30 (Thursday) at 8PM

Directed and Designed by Randall Wise and John Doyle

with
Matthew J. McDonough
Kristi Good
Adam Altman
Chuck Beishl
David R Fiebert
Claire Golden-Drake
Steve McLean

at the Centre Theater
208 DeKalb Street Norristown

610-279-1013

The timeless tale about the good doctor, Henry Jekyll, and his dark echo, Edward Hyde, is brought to the stage in a fiercely theatrical new adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher. Echoing the Barrymore nominated The Elephant Man and Waiting for Godot, Iron Age invigorates this inventively script. Stripping away the melodrama and romantic distractions of the novel, Hatcher develops a smart and suspenseful new take on Stevenson’s look at the evil that lurks in the hearts of men. Against the backdrop of Victorian London, the respectable Dr. Jekyll has begun to display alarmingly erratic behavior. At the same time, a brutal figure haunts the city’s streets, committing assault and murder under the cloak of darkness and dismal London fog. A terrified community tries to learn the secret of the deaths and discovers much more in the dark depths of the human heart. Opening for Halloween, Iron Age plays trick or treat with their audience.

Utilizing Lighting, a strong ensemble playing multiple roles and stylized acting, Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde reinvents the legend of the transformed man and like Hyde himself, unleashes man's passions and rage onto the Centre Theater stage.

Meet the cast of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Read more about the production.
A Hyde Image Gallery From our production

Download and Play the Iron Age Theatre Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Card Game

REVIEWS
Jeffrey Hatcher's adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde focuses on the original's exploration of man's dual natures, defined here as the aspiration for good and the instinct for evil. Iron Age Theatre's excellent production delivers not only Stevenson's still-relevant philosophical debate, but the great horror story's suspenseful build. Co-directors and co-designers John Doyle and Randall Wise make the most of Norristown's Centre Theater stage as always, creating a black, cavernous space sculpted by light and full of surprises, centering on the key image of a red door: metaphorically, the portal into the mysteries of mind, morality and free will. Modern sensibilities also peek through in Hyde's seduction of chambermaid Elizabeth (Kristi Good), the only actor besides McDonough not playing multiple roles. Adam Altman, Chuck Beishl, Steve McLean, David Fiebert and Claire Golden Drake multitask with skill and a surprising but appropriate measure of humor in Doyle and Wise's expertly paced production.
Mark Cofta
Philadelphia City Paper

The character of Dr. Jekyll shines in McDonough's strong performance as a hard-nosed intellectual dealing with his own science and his own beliefs that are destroying his life.
The supporting cast is superb, as they are asked to play several roles apiece. Adam Altman deserves special mention, as his character of Dr. Lanyon, a Scottish friend and mentor of Jekyll, is quite different from his role as the inspector who looks into a murder committed by Hyde. The inspector's characteristic British persona brings just the right amount of comic relief to an otherwise thoroughly intense play. Altman also plays one of Hyde's inner voices and he switches among the three roles and accents with such skill and distinction that it's difficult to tell it's all being done by one actor without looking at the playbill.
The direction and stage management make good use of the set as the story moves throughout more locations than one can count. Hidden doors, props and creative maneuvering make it easy to follow the characters all over Victorian London. From
Jekyll's laboratory to Hyde's lair, from the park to the square, from the university to Lanyon's study, each location is well-designed and believable.
"Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" is a masterpiece both in print and on the stage. The Iron Age Theatre Company does not fail to capture the intricacies of Robert Louis
Stevenson's tale of the horror and mayhem of which every person is capable. McDonough's range of emotions is remarkable throughout the play's climax, as Jekyll himself falls prey to Hyde's control. The audience is taken along for the moral questions that arise as sympathy for Hyde and contempt for Dr. Jekyll challenge the traditional roles of good and evil.
Kaitlyn Foti
Ticket

Online event registration
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Links About the Production
Link to Audio and Text Versions of the Novel
Text from Project Guttenberg
Mitsuharu Matsuoka's Hyper-Concordance allows word searches the complete texts of five works by Stevenson
Audio Version of the Novel in MP3
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde fan fiction
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Novel Analysis
Videos from many versions of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The 1912 Film
The 1931 Film
Internet Archive full version of the 1920 John Barrymore film
Bio Of Robert Louis Stevenson from Famous Scotts
Another Bio Of Robert Louis Stevenson
Bio Of Robert Louis Stevenson with Analysis
Class Issues in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Haloween COLORING PAGES
Themes in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Card Game
Another Link to the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Card Game
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the History of Horror
Street Safety in Victorian London
Murder in Victorian Street Ballads
Animal Rights and Victorian London
Victorian Autopsy
Victorian Medicine
More Victorian Medicine
Images of Victorian London
Visual Setting Images for the Novel
Stevenson's Edinburgh
The Robert Louis Stevenson Club
Allusion in Jekyll and Hyde


For information e-mail us.


Iron Age Theatre and The Centre Theater has been nominated for the 2002-2003
Barrymore Award for
Best Ensemble in a Play for Terra Nova and Outstanding Actor in The Elephant Man

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