JEFF KORBELIK / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Thursday, March 16, 2006 6:00 pm
Shakespeare may have been under as much pressure to produce a hit in 1600 as today’s most successful filmmakers. It may explain, in part, why his tragedy “Hamlet” had just about everything in it: intrigue, murder, revenge … even ghosts.
“He was right in the middle of a successful career, but the Globe had opened within the last couple of years, and there was pressure to produce plays with high-level acting and stories,”said Robert Richmond, Aquila Theatre Company associate artistic director.
Of course, the Bard succeeded with “Hamlet,” the story of a prince who returns home after learning his father is dead and his mother has remarried his uncle, who has assumed the throne.
“In terms of domestic dramas, things haven’t really changed,” Richmond said in a phone interview. “Rivalry in families is still very prevalent.”
The Aquila Theatre Company will present two performances of Shakespeare’s classic next week at the Lied Center for Performing Arts.
The company will begin its Lincoln run with a performance of “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde,” adapted from the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Founded in London in 1991 by Peter Meineck, Aquila is now based in New York City and is one of the foremost producers of touring theater. Since its inception, the company has won critical and academic acclaim for its dedication to classical drama.
With Stevenson’s “Jekyll & Mr. Hyde,” the company has merged the author’s horror tale with events of the day, creating a play within a play.
In 1888, American theater artist Richard Mansfield was in London starring in a version of the play when the notorious Jack the Ripper killed his first victim.
Accounts say Mansfield’s’ portrayal of the evil Hyde was so disturbing — women reportedly fainted when Hyde made his first entrance — that Hyde and Jack the Ripper became intertwined in the public’s imagination. Mansfield even was considered a suspect in the case.
Richmond said merging the stories allowed Aquila to explore the idea of addiction and transformation as well as Mansfield’s work on and off the stage.
“The (Mansfield) story really runs parallel to ‘Jekyll & Hyde,’” Richmond said. “His transformation was so good, people thought he must be The Ripper.
Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.