Jekyll and Hyde (Belated) Round Up

So it has been several days since the run of Jekyll and Hyde ended. I could and should have updated before this, but I think part of me needed a break from even thinking about the show.

The second weekend overall was better than the first. By a hair, the Saturday night show was probably the best over the closing matinee. But the latter was surprisingly well attended, and most of us in the show had decent energy because of that. Two near full houses in a row will do that. (Though there were times I found people laughing at dramatic places, hopefully not because of our performance.)

It was in some ways like another opening night on Friday. As I've said often throughout this production, we were working through some obstacles on this one, not the least of which was a shortened rehearsal time. So while there is usually almost no nervousness for me on a second weekend, there was some remaining. (Especially since the pick-up rehearsal wasn't exactly solid.) Not as bad as the first night of the show, but more nerves than I am used to by second weekend.

I am happy to report that some of the lines I had been messing up the first weekend, or in some cases switching around or unintentionally paraphrasing were corrected in the second weekend. Not all of them, however, as I realized when reviewing certain parts of the script later. I don't ad-lib my way through a show on purpose, and I don't like to paraphrase, (even though it's usually slight.) And I am always extra certain to get someone's cue line correct. Yet for this show, perhaps because of the reduced rehearsal time, or because of a highly disagreeable cast mate, I found myself less able to get every word into my head as written than i usually am. Better than I thought I was going to be by the end, but I prefer to be better still. (Even though I had a ton of lines for this one.)

I won't belittle myself or beat myself up over this, though. Sometimes one's best in one show is just not one's best in the next show. "Best" is what we have in us, earnestly offered and polished by hard work on a consistent bases throughout the rehearsal process. It took me a while to realize that even when we try hard, and do everything we are supposed to do, we aren't always going to have as high a quality ceiling for every single show. The key is to strive for it, want it, do one's best, and accept it in the end. (Mostly.) I would like to have done better with this show, but on the whole I have to say I still did pretty damn good, given all that was going on.

My director said she was happy with what I did in the show, so I have that to remember in the future as well.

Though I wouldn't want to have this many lines, and be on stage for that long on every show I am in, this does prove that I have it in me to do so, and that I have extended my comfort zone to some degree. Throw in the fact that originally I stated I preferred to not play Jekyll, and my overall ambivalence toward the original story of the novella, and I have come a long way in, I hope, giving life to the character that was familiar for an iconic personality, but also unexpected in places, with some aspect of myself and my own creativity thrown in there.

On the back wall of the stage were the words "Aliud et idem," as part of the graffiti design for the space. That was my contribution. It is Latin for, "Another, and yet the same." I couldn't think of a more appropriate short phrase to sum up the experience of Henry Jekyll, in both his own eyes, and in the eyes of this around him. Hyde(s) were different from Jekyll, another being, and yet part of him, the same. How much did he really change as a result of the "perfect tincture"? How much did he stay the same. The questions apply to "Hyde(s)" as well.

And also to the concept of theatre, here at the end of another run of another play. I've done this for years now, and no production is ever the same, even if it's the same play, or the same actors. It's always a little different. The same excitement, different triumphs. The same difficulties, different annoyances. Different show, but all of them are the human show.

They are another thing, and yet the same. Aliud et idem.