Classic two-faced 'Dr. Jekyll' is an enjoyable production

DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE, Pioneer Theatre Company, Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre, 300 S. 1400 East, through Nov. 15 (581-6961). Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes (one intermission).

The children's favorite playmate is their uncle. Oh, yes. It is perhaps a wee bit odd the way he stares at the shiny top. Then, too, he's a tad sinister when he plays hide-and-seek. He practically gives the maid a heart attack, skulking around in his black cape. And it's a little weird, maybe, how he searches through his dead father's books without telling his sister what he's looking for.

So, from the first moments of the Pioneer Theatre production of "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde," you get the foreshadowing, a chill up your spine. This uncle, the well-respected doctor, is a little too secretive, a little too obsessed.

Kurt Rhoads is Henry Jekyll. You'll like him best as Mr. Hyde, with teeth bared and voice growly. Rhoads is a worthy villain. Jekyll's sister, Katherine, played perkily by Pilar Witherspoon, is his perfect foil. Her father and her husband have died within the year, but she couldn't be less morbid. She wears red and laughs a lot and is a loving mother with happy children.

It's hard to believe Henry and Katherine are siblings. It's not hard to believe there is something sinister in their past. They dance around each other, treating each other somewhat gingerly.

The staging is marvelous — the set design is by Peter Harrison. A brick wall with a green door spins around to reveal the inside of Jekyll's home, then spins again to reveal his dissecting room. In fact, spinning is another minor theme of the production. The women — sister Katherine and maid Annie — are prone to vertigo. Their heads spin.

Mirrors also appear often. Jekyll has to keep checking himself. But then too, early on, Katherine tells him that to know yourself, you must look at yourself the wrong way 'round.

This particular adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's story was written by David Edgar. Geoffrey Sherman directs. The dialogue and the production are rich and full of nuances.

Sometimes, actually, the dialogue verges on ponderous. Ian Stuart and Stephen Temperley play Jekyll's friends, who stop by regularly for stilted conversation. Like their buddy Jekyll, they, too, have a secret in their past. Richard Mathews, a consummate local character actor, plays Poole, the butler. Emma Bowers is swell in the role of Annie, the silly maid who is actually the only person to recognize how Hyde and Jekyll seem to know each other from the inside.

(In this play, you have to suspend belief as you do with Shakespeare. Jekyll and Hyde may look like the same guy to the audience, but other actors don't see the resemblance.)

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