The fight between good and evil has long plagued and fascinated humanity. One famed example of this divide is Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novel “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” The dark story investigates the balance between outward good and evil nature, but this weekend, the Lost Flamingo Theater Company has added a new twist to the serious tale: comedy.
Lost Flamingo, or LFC, will present “Chemical Imbalance: A Jekyll and Hyde Play” this Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at Arts/West, 132 W. State St. The comedic spoof of the classic story maintains the darkness with hilarious twists.
“Basically, Dr. Jekyll is trying to create a potion that allows him to separate the good from the evil, all in itself for morally dubious reasons,” said Ean McFadden, a senior studying games and animation and the actor portraying Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Chaos ensues, and the cast of 10 actors embark on a two-act journey down a tightrope between good and bad. Heylea Allan, a senior studying film who portrays both Ambrosia and Constable, said the show is, simply put, fun.
“I feel like I get to embrace the side of me that's kind of goofy, and I don't normally do that,” said Allan. “It makes you feel like you don’t have to be impressing anyone but you’re just making people laugh.”
Allan said the character of Ambrosia is constantly trying to grab control of every situation, a sharp contrast to the constable, who is in control of nothing, creating hilarity.
Allan has also never read “Jekyll and Hyde” and knew nothing about the plot prior to joining the cast, adding therefore anyone can enjoy the story.
“This play really has nothing to do with the original novel other than the title and like two characters in it, which makes it really fun,” Kyle Nienaber, a senior studying interdisciplinary arts and the director of the production, said. “It's just an adaptation of a crazy story but in a crazy stupid way.”
Nienaber said the fun of the script is not the only positive for the show, however.
“This process has been really fun,” Nienaber said. “It’s been super stress-free for the most part.”
A lack of stress within the production process seems to be agreed upon by the cast and crew. “Chemical Imbalance” was a relaxed process for McFadden, who said this was the least stressful show throughout the actors’ collegiate career.
“We’re able to thrive with a really nice and chill group of people,” Allan said. “They took the drama out of drama.”
In terms of challenges, they were largely technical rather than personal, Nienaber said.
“There’s just a lot of stuff that we didn’t expect,” said Nienaber. “A lot of challenges that we’ve run into (are) because we’re an amateur theater company who doesn’t have a lot of money or resources or our own space to perform.”
Allan countered, saying the hardest part was the accents the cast performs in.
“The hardest part is being British and also Irish,” Allan said.
No matter the difficulties, all three encouraged anyone to stop by this weekend and watch “Chemical Imbalance.” Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday for the production, and tickets are $5 cash at the door.
“It's been really fun to watch everyone grow into roles and get really comfortable doing really goofy and silly things,” Neinaber said. “Everyone is putting a lot of themselves into this and I'm really proud of it.”
Editor-in-Chief
