Ballet: Jekyll & Hyde

Even less on telly these days, with Virgin Media's Festival of Football - the halfway decent programmes finished so early that I determined to see what Meetup was up to. And so I discovered that Up in the Cheap Seats was watching Jekyll & Hyde, yesterday. Screened free on YouTube by the Old Vic, when I checked the details, I discovered that it's showing until Wednesday. Excellent - this seemed a much better option than the telly!

Now, nowhere in the description did it mention that it was a ballet - which came as a complete surprise to me. Mind you, if they can do a ballet version of Frankenstein.. Anyway, in this version, Dr. Jekyll is a mild-mannered botanist who runs a flower shop, and whose life is made a misery by the local tough guy. One evening, of course, Dr. Jekyll makes a surprise discovery when he's messing around with a growth potion in the lab.. and enter Mr. Hyde, and a complete change in Dr. Jekyll's fortunes!

I thought it started out very Little Shop of Horrors, with the nerdy florist and the 50s costumes. And to be honest, I wasn't at all sure I was in the mood. But I was to be very glad I persisted - the sequences with Mr. Hyde have a sexiness and an edge to them that's completely lacking from Dr. Jekyll's. And by the end, I found I really cared about the characters. Highly recommended - you will not believe the transformation, once the man takes his potion..! (Contains some nudity, and plenty of suggestive scenes..)

I was very excited about tomorrow - the Old Vic has taken to streaming shows live in camera (so, played to an empty theatre). And coming up next is Three Kings - a one-man show with Andrew Scott! Showing from Wednesday to Saturday, it replicates a live theatre show, in that you have to attend at the scheduled time - so the only show I can make is the Saturday matinée. For which I snatched a ticket asap! Caveat - despite the different ticket prices, the view is the same for everyone - it's just a question of how much of a donation you feel like making. They're supposed to send me a Zoom link, shortly beforehand - oh, and these are non-transferable, you can only use the link on one device. But boy, do I love Andrew Scott.. 

Sadly, it was supposed to take place last week, but he's been in hospital (neither serious nor Covid-related, we're assured!). So it was rescheduled to this week - but they then informed us that it's now postponed to an unspecified date, as he's still not feeling well. Watch this space.. blast. At least it frees me up for Meetups - so I've booked my first meeting in months with London Social Detours. This one is a chat about Elizabethan times, along with a short film.