Strange case of duality comes to the Shed

Robert Louis Stevenson’s fine bogey tale is coming to the Potato Shed, where audiences are invited to meet the most delightfully evil man alive and bring their inner monster out to play.

Hyde is a man so evil he punches the cleaning lady, drop-kicks a precious kereru and yells “shark” at the beach.

Jekyll is a man who washes and separates his recycling and puts it in the correct bin. Hyde is the man who uses the last of the toilet roll and never replaces it, who drains the shared flat account to buy cigarettes, and never, ever calls you by your given name.

Who does that?

Who is this madman?

A bonkers rendition of the classic 1886 novel, Jekyll and Hyde is retold by a team of charmingly “French” performers with the help of the audience and celebrates the darkness within us all.

New Zealand theatre company A Slightly Isolated Dog have built a reputation for shaking up well-known stories and injecting their trademark outrageous physical comedy and twisted pop songs into the telling.

With a focus on removing the barriers between audiences and performers, A Slightly Isolated Dog revel in the silliness of their stories, told with fast, furious and irreverently saucy performances.

Theatre critic Hannah Banks says Jekyll and Hyde has “some of the most gentle, loving and encouraging audience interaction that I have ever seen”.

“These larger-than-life clowns ease us into the games they’re playing, making it feel like being involved is the most exciting thing in the world.

“They whisper dialogue in your ear and rapturously praise and compliment any audience member that does anything remotely impressive. You can’t help but want to play with them.”

Jekyll and Hyde will be performed at the Potato Shed, 41 Peninsula Drive, Drysdale, on May 27 from 8pm.

For more information or to book tickets, head to geelongaustralia.com.au/potatoshed