Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde begin the OSF season

It was very difficult for me to get up this morning. Although I have been full of excitement, I did not sleep very well last night. The air conditioning in the hotel room kept switching on and off - Perhaps staying at the Motel 8 wasn't such a good idea. I rolled our of bed a little before 8:00 AM and took a hot shower. I was relieved when my father handed me a cup of coffee from the breakfast car.

We showed up early to class and met our instructor, Hilary Tate, at "Wake Up With Shakespeare". The class is rather large this year. I think there are 24 of us. There are a few familiar faces and some new ones as well. Hilary handed out name cards for our desks, but mind said “Karen” (my mother's name since she made the reservation) instead of “Jamie”. She offered to make me a new one for tomorrow. We read Shakespeare quotes out loud and discussed Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Hilary is very organized and had lost of reference material to share with us.

At 8:30 PM father and I attended Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It was very exciting. This is only the second production of the play, so they worked very closely with the playwright. The set was enormous and turned on a giant turntable. James Newcomb played the lead and is excellent in his role. He has very distinct physical and oval tactics when switching from Jekyll to Hyde.

I enjoyed the women characters very much. The relationship between Catherine and Jekyll is frictional and brilliant. I am glad that I was able to leave my pre-conceived notions from the novella at the door and accept the play as its own entity. The only thing that my father and I wonder at is the scene on the train. The significance of the scene is unclear to us and we suppose that the play would continue nicely without it.

As I ready myself for bed and hope for a better nights sleep, I take my hat off the James Newcomb. What a brilliant actor!