Rediscover Jekyll & Hyde with Ropetackle Storytellers

Later this month, award-winning performers Amelia Ace Armande and Joshua Crisp of the Ropetackle Storytellers head to Dorset to bring to life Robert Louis Stevenson's classic Gothic thriller Jekyll & Hyde, blending the original text with sinuous physicality, mesmerising puppetry and dark humour.

In this blog, Amelia tells us what’s unique about their adaptation, the importance of rural touring and what audiences can expect from this twisting tale...

What are you enjoying about portraying such a classic story? 

We love the language - Robert Louis Stevenson's text is just beautiful to speak. And we put this adaptation together ourselves, so something we're proud of is how true it is to the original text. A lot of adaptations explore things that aren't explicitly part of the original, because they assume that when most people know the twist, telling the original story is redundant. We simply don't agree. We wanted to try and go back to something closer to what those first readers might have experienced, following the twists and turns of the mystery.

The tour began in September - what are you enjoying about it so far? Is anything surprising you about how audiences are responding?

Honestly, we love performing this show. It's such a treat to be able to bring it to new audiences. Theatre is ephemeral, so every performance is another night this lovely piece of magic gets to be alive. Something that has been surprising for us is that some people are really shocked at how good the show is! There is perhaps an unspoken idea that you can't have a powerful, moving, and really entertaining night of professional theatre in your own village hall, and we're here to prove that wrong.

How long have you been involved with Ropetackle Storytellers?

We started as the Worthing Storytellers, but when lockdown happened, we moved the club onto Zoom, and as things began to open up the Ropetackle Arts Centre in Shoreham-by-Sea offered to be our home. We always said we'd run as long as there was an audience that wanted to come and listen, and it's been really gratifying that our audience keeps on growing. As the hosts, we usually kick off the evening with shorter stories, and we host brilliant guest storytellers from far and wide. It's also been the space where we could test and develop the storytelling pieces we take out on tour. We film and stream our nights online to make them more accessible. We really recommend checking out your local storytelling club - they're cultural gems, and probably closer than you think.

Tell us a bit about the club's members. 

A big part of the reason we started the club was because we wanted to see more brilliant storytellers! We've had all kinds of storytellers, from big established names like Shonaleigh, Xanthe Gresham-Knight and Tim Ralphs, to rising stars like Niall Moorjani and Aaron Oliver. And we're building a formidable roster of local storytellers, including Jon Norman-Mason, Joanna Gilar, Heidi McNie and Marina Evans. We always learn things from watching other storytellers performing, and getting to nerd out with other storytellers after the show is a brilliant way to find new stories you didn't know about before.

How do you find touring to village halls and similar venues?

It's a home away from home. As event organisers ourselves, we know the hard work that goes in behind the scenes to get audiences in, to get the hall ready and the tea urns filled. The people you meet keeping local arts scenes alive are the best of us. Not to mention that the connection you can make with an audience in these venues, up close and personal, can be more powerful than the connection you'd get from up in the gods in a West End theatre. Everyone gets good seats! And touring is a lovely chance to explore a new part of the country. Joshua will spend the journey looking up the folklore of the area we're going to, diving into local legends and historical tales. We went to King's Lynn recently, which has just an unbelievable amount of ghosts attributed to it!

What can audiences look forward to about this show? Are there any surprises?

There's only two of us and we perform the whole novel in Stephenson's own words. We jump between characters, portraying murder, melodrama and supernatural transformations through clever prop puppetry and the power of the imagination. If you are already familiar with the story, come and enjoy how vivid and rich Stevenson's writing is when brought to life on stage. You might be surprised at the moments of humour we've found in among the darkness.

Touring to Child Okeford (18 November), Winfrith (19 November) and Burton Bradstock (21 November) find out more and book your tickets here: