Review: Jekyll and Hyde at Liverpool Everyman Theatre

“…enthusiasm, imagination and collaborative spirit…”

Jekyll and Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson adapted by Evan Placey, Liverpool Everyman Theatre

By Abi Kelly

The Young Everyman Playhouse (YEP) returns to the Liverpool Everyman with an ambitious reimagining of Jekyll & Hyde, breathing new life into Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic while showcasing the next generation of Liverpool theatre-makers.

Rather than following the familiar story, playwright Evan Placey introduces Harriet Jekyll, a recently widowed woman navigating the expectations and limitations placed upon Victorian women. This gender-swapped adaptation explores misogyny, power and identity through Harriet’s transformation into Flossie Hyde, asking what happens when repression gives way to rage. While rooted in Stevenson’s original, this is a production unafraid to carve its own path, taking audiences in directions they are unlikely to anticipate.

From the moment the house lights dim, the anticipation in the Everyman is palpable. With many friends and family of the young performers and creatives in attendance, the audience arrives eager to support them, creating an atmosphere that is warm, encouraging and completely engaged. Laughter comes easily throughout the theatre during the production’s comic moments, while the darker scenes are met with an almost complete silence. By the final curtain, the company are rewarded with a standing ovation.

The Everyman’s thrust stage is used effectively throughout. Performers enter through the audience, blurring the line between spectator and participant, while the theatre’s upper levels are cleverly incorporated to add scale and authority to key moments. During scenes of protest, the audience feels swept into the action, sharing the characters’ momentum and urgency. Elsewhere, quieter scenes draw the focus inward, creating an intimacy that makes it feel as though we’re witnessing private conversations unfold just a few feet away. It’s a confident use of the space that continually refreshes the production’s visual language.

The ensemble is one of the night’s greatest strengths. There’s an infectious energy to the company, with the performers working together and embracing each opportunity the production gives them. Comic timing is consistently sharp, but the cast are equally capable of shifting into moments of genuine tension, maintaining the audience’s attention throughout.

The transformation sequences avoid leaning on costume alone: lighting and sound combine to create an unsettling atmosphere, with contemporary musical influences sitting alongside the Victorian setting.

One of the most impressive aspects of the production is that its design has been shaped by young people themselves: lighting and sound created by members of the Young Everyman Playhouse cohort, while the set and costumes were designed by students from LIPA, with both LIPA and YEP members assisting in building the set and making the costumes. None of it feels like student work. Instead, the design choices appear purposeful, supporting the story without ever distracting from it. The lighting, in particular, deserves praise for integrating so naturally into the action that it becomes part of the storytelling rather than something that calls attention to itself.

YEP continues to prove why it is such an important part of Liverpool’s theatre community. By providing aspiring actors, designers, technicians and creatives aged 18 to 25 with the opportunity to work in a professional environment, it offers invaluable experience while giving audiences the chance to witness emerging talent at the beginning of their careers.

Jekyll & Hyde is an ambitious production that embraces creative risk while providing a valuable platform for the city’s young theatre-makers. Whether you’re drawn in by its fresh interpretation of a literary classic or simply want to support the next generation of Liverpool artists, this is an evening that demonstrates the enthusiasm, imagination and collaborative spirit that continue to make YEP such a vital part of the city’s cultural landscape.

Jekyll and Hyde plays at Liverpool Everyman Theatre until Saturday 04 July.

Abi Kelly is a writer and theatre enthusiast who has studied both Drama and Scriptwriting. A lover of weird and wonderful stories, she’s usually found at home with a book in hand or deep in a theatre seat.