Jekyll And Hyde Analysis

Introduction

Chong Tze Chien's production of Starring Hitler as Jekyll & Hyde captured all the horror of similarities between 1930s Germany and the state of affairs in the present. The production, directed and written by Chong, makes one sympathise with the notion that freedom must permit eccentricity and even, to a point, endorse it. Without that sympathy, the play would have been reduced to pure chaos and would have failed to portray an ideal of freedom in Singapore and other parts of the world today.

About the Play

Starring Hitler as Jekyll and Hyde is essentially a two hour allegorical play where history and fiction collide. This Singaporean play, which premiered at the Flexible Performance Space of LASALLE College of the Arts, featured undergraduates from the school's Acting Programme.

The story began with Eva Braun, Hitler's mistress, standing trial for crimes against humanity; she tells her side of the story, defending Hitler in the form of a parable, a retelling of the literary classic Jekyll & Hyde. Hitler is Jekyll, a failed painter by day; he turns into Hitler by night, terrorising the populace. To build a “perfect” country, Hitler murders the non-natives in the country to preserve the blood and lineage of his countrymen. Meanwhile, Jekyll the painter rises in stature and wealth as his alter-ego coerces the population into putting up his subpar paintings in galleries, turning the nation into a twisted cultural state.

Chong's work has socio-political overtones which suggests the world might not be as rational and ordered as one would like to think. The classic text of Jekyll & Hyde is intentionally deconstructed by Chong to cause the audience to reflect on their nation's current state. This intense production has succ...

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...us society. Because of that, each and every one has a duty to resolve unhappiness of all residents and seek a deeper and more lasting sense of harmony.

Conclusion

Provoking a re-imagination of social relations, and claiming presence of nation's obsession with race and labels, Chong has embarked on a subject with interdisciplinary significance for the contemporary theatre in Singapore. Chong has effectively captured and delivered the essence of the performance through his script and his artistic directions for the performance. The communication is clear and sharp, and Chong challenges the audience to relook and examine at their attitudes for their nation and their fellow humans. No playwright or director could have done it better than Chong who could capture the complicated tangle of emotions and twist them into something the audience can sympathise and relate to.