Bringing Jekyll & Hyde to the stage in Chichester

SussexWorld

James Etheridge directs CAOS Musical Productions for the first time as they bring Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical to the stage at Westbourne House, just outside Chichester, from February 19-22.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Always a

00:06big pleasure to speak to James Etheridge. Now, you are doing something really exciting

00:10for us ever, and it is directing for the first time with Chaos in Chichester, and it's a

00:16musical that means a lot to you, that you first saw some time ago, Jekyll and Hyde.

00:21Why is it a good one to do? Because it's not done a lot, is it?

00:25It's not done a lot, no. But you know what? It's nice when it comes around, and it's really

00:33nice when you can actually get involved with it, and you can be kind of sailing that ship

00:37and guiding it. So yeah, Jekyll and Hyde, it is a gripping, gothic musical following

00:45the life of Dr. Jekyll, and it explores the themes of duality, morality, and the boundaries

00:53of human nature. And it is centred around Dr. Jekyll, who is desperate to find a cure

01:00for his father's mental illness, and he's a scientist. Those of you that know the story

01:06know how it kind of goes. The science goes wrong, and he brings to life, if you want

01:16for a better word, his alter ego, Edward Hyde. And as I said, it's a great gothic musical

01:25filled with soaring score, and fantastic music. And yeah, it's perfect for right now, you

01:36know, these long winter nights. Yeah, it's good. It's going to be great. It's going to

01:41be great. And it's really, it's been really great working with the new company. I've not

01:45worked with Chaos before. They're a vibrant young company. And it's just been really exciting

01:52to work with them and to explore this show, and to put on our version of it as well.

01:57Absolutely. And you've directed big productions in the past, but this is the biggest one for

02:02a little while. So what do you think you've really got to nail for this one to be right?

02:08That's a really good question. It's got to land with the audience. It's got to be entertaining.

02:14I like to work, I like to challenge my cast, and I like to challenge the audience. I don't like to

02:20to spoon feed everything. So it'll be, it's, you know, I hope the audience will come and enjoy

02:26and watch the show, and then leave questioning and conversing about the themes of the show,

02:35and taking away kind of what they feel about the show and stuff, rather than kind of spoon feeding

02:42those whole themes. So for me, I want to make sure I deliver a really good, entertaining,

02:51little scary show for the audience.

02:55So it's Chaos Musical Productions. It's Jacqueline Boyd. Lovely to speak to you.

03:00You too. Thank you very much.

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