October 24, 2024 • 15 mins
We spoke with Actress Sarah Chalfie about an upcoming play “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning. Thank you for listening to Community Access today.
My guest is actress Sarah Chalfe. She's starring in Doctor
Jekyl and Mister Hyde at Hartford Stage now through November third.
Good morning, Sarah.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Good morning, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
You bet, I love Hartford Stage. It's a gem.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, it really is. You know, this is my first
time actually working there, and I'm just so pleased and
grateful to be getting to work there. It's been a
lovely experience.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
There isn't a bad seat in the house.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
That's true. That's very much true. Yeah, it's it's such
a it's just a wonderful place to work. I mean
everyone who everyone who's there, from the designers to everyone
who works in the costume shop and the prop shop.
They're they're all just so dedicated and committed to making
(00:55):
the best theater that they possibly can, and they all
do it with a smile. Somehow, you can never be
stressed out and just are just so warm and welcoming.
And yeah, it's been a really it's been a wonderful
place to see this story come to life.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
So let's talk about the story. I think about bugs, Bunny.
When you know doctor Jekyll and mister Hide drinks the
potion and he turns into one and then he's I mean,
there's so many different adaptations. What is this story about?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, so this is so funny. I know. My probably
earliest connection with the story was because I grew up
in New York City and there was a restaurant called
Jacko and Hyde where you could go and be served
like by different Victorian monsters like Frank Time. Yes, it
has had the story has had a lot of life,
(01:46):
and I think for a good reason. It's it's still
a very relevant, you know, tale of good and evil
and the all of the afflicting urges you know, within
ourselves as human beings and are the struggles of our
(02:07):
internal life and and sort of how we manage those
and and be a person in the world and show
up and do you know good when sometimes we might
not always want to do the right thing or the
good thing. This version of the story is a new
adaptation by the playwright Jeffrey Hatcher that is trying, I think,
(02:31):
to get back to a lot of the original story
of Jacqueline Hyde, which was written in the nineteenth century
by Robert Louis Stevenson. The original novella was, and so
Jeffrey Hatcher is really this version of it is really
getting back to a lot of the original ideas from
(02:53):
the novella, but also it's it's a wonderful modernization of
the story, I think, and really brings it into our
world today and and sort of how we continue to
grapple with ourselves and with you know, doing the right thing.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
I love that. So it's a timeless piece.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, for sure. I mean this, I think there is,
whether we'd like to admit it or not, there we
all have within us the possibility of doing you know,
of following our worst impulses or or we all sort
of have this. I mean we've been sort of calling it,
I think, like the shadow self or the shadow side,
(03:37):
like these things that we repressed and we don't you know,
we try not to do them. But there is this,
uh we're sort of always battling, uh with ourselves to
be a good functional person in society and certainly in
our story. But that is what jockstor Jekyl is is
(03:57):
really struggling with.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Himself, sort of like the angel and the devil on
each shoulder.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Exactly, yeah, exactly, Yeah, And I mean in this story,
he he is a scientist, and he is, you know,
trying to uh manage and and sort of control himself
through experimental or scientific experimentation rather and as often happens
(04:26):
when you experiment on yourself, it does not really go
according to plan, and he has to grapple with the
consequences of that.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
So tell me about your character. What's her name?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
So I'm actually not sure how much I'm supposed to say.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Because don't want to give it all away.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Don't want to give it all away. And part of
the fun also of this uh you know, it's this
play is very you know, philosophical and about human nature
like we're talking about, but it's also really theatrical. And
one of the fun things about this adaptation is that
there are I think twenty one characters in the play,
but there's only six actors, so everybody is playing multiple characters,
(05:11):
and sometimes characters are being played by multiple people, so
there's a lot of I mean, it is like a
mystery and a psychological thriller, so there's a lot of
mistaken identity, and so some of the who's playing who
I think we're trying to keep as a surprise for
when you actually come through the play. But I will
(05:33):
say that I do play. I play a character who
she through a chance encounter, meets mister Hyde, and her
meeting him really ends up surprisingly disrupting what has up
(05:53):
until that point in the story of been a pretty
functional dynamic between Doctor Jekyll and mister Hyde. She kind
of creates an obstacle between these two parts of himself
and that that now you must and sort of the
consequences of of that unfold as the story goes on.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
It sounds so suspenseful.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
It's fun. Yeah, it's so fun to do a psychological
thriller on stage because it's usually a genre that's reserved
for film, and so it's been really fun to figure
out how to make that come to life on stage.
It's it should be a little scary, it's it's it's
(06:41):
heartbreaking at times, it should be it's sexy at times,
it's funny. There's a there's a real like dry wit
to this play too. And we have this incredible set
that was designed that are amazing side designer Sarah Brown,
and you know a lot of uh stage magic happening
(07:04):
with the lights and the sound and the set where
people are sometimes coming out of the darkness. They should
be surprising you, you know, popping up out of nowhere.
There's there's a lot of fun to be had in
this mystery.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
You make it sound so good, like I need to
go to Hartford Stage dot Org right now and get
my tickets. And the costumes. Is it set in the
specific time it is?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
It's set in uh in Victorian England, and the costumes
absolutely capture that. I mean it is. They are beautiful
costumes that were made for each of us and we're
so lucky to get to wear them. And the costumes
helped so much as an actor, get you into that
you know, time period. It's like you feel that corset
(07:51):
on you and shirts and you just you know, you
sort of go, oh, this is what was I mean
this is. It's also the it gives you such an
access to the time within which this story was written,
which it was such a conflicting time. Right It's Victorian England.
Everything is very proper and moral and restricted, and yet
(08:16):
you also have underneath that this a lot of very
a lot of like violence. I mean, it's the time
of Jack the Ripper and this sort of darkness that
live under lived underneath all of that performance of goodness,
you know, and and that really is the time within
(08:37):
which this story was written. And I think a lot
of what this story is grappling with, well.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
What did you do in order to prepare for this role?
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yeah? We I mean so it's it's been a really
fun role because it's both very technically and and emotionally challenging.
So as an actor, that's like what you kind of
always dream of getting to do. There's you know, we've
done a lot of movement work, and the plays very physical.
(09:09):
There's lots of we have a fight designer and a
movement coach who've been working with us. We also have
a dialect coach because it's set in England. So there's
all that technical work that goes on, and then there's
also the you know, all the work you do too,
(09:29):
which is different for every or for me at least,
it's different for every character and every production, but you know,
all the work to get yourself as close to your
character's experience as you can and try your best to
embody their what they're going through and what they hope
(09:54):
for and what they you know, dream of, and just
to try to tell their story as best as you can,
and our our amazing director, Milia has just she's such
a wonderfully collaborative, uh director who just embraces and encourages
(10:15):
everyone's ideas and instincts and really lets us a play
in the rehearsal room to really find who these people
are and and make them as human as possible and
really bring them to life.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Do you find that you need to decompress after shows?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
You know, I, it's that's a good question. It's funny,
you I mean, part of what's fun in this particular
play is it's like it's a it's really fast, and
it's there's a lot of kinetic energy, and so sometimes
we just come off stage and we're a little out
of breath, like I've been a fun thing about this one.
But I, you know, I I find that it's for myself.
(11:06):
It's just a joy to get to explore somebody else's life,
even if that life is a challenging or you know, tragic.
It's it is a it's sometimes yeah, you might need
to take like a moment just to kind of bring
yourself back to yourself, but it is it is like, ultimately, uh,
(11:32):
I think I'm an actor because I just there's something
to learn in all of in all of my characters experiences,
and and I think I try to approach them with
mostly a lot of love and a lot of and
(11:54):
and that sort of that helps too, even when when
they're going through something very very difficult. It's try to
build a sense of of knowing why you're telling their
story and who you're telling their story for. And I
think that that kind of purpose really helps to both
(12:19):
separate yourself from them and also, you know, enjoy the
time that you get to play them and then and
then say goodbye to them when you're done.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Wow. I love that. That's amazing. What do you hope
people come away with after they see the show?
Speaker 2 (12:38):
I mean, I it might sound a little trite, but
I think I think it's true. I think I hope
people come away with, you know, don't judge a book
by its cover, and and also don't maybe I hope
people come away not judging themselves too much. I think
(12:58):
one thing that I pretend particularly love in this adaptation
is that the notions of good and evil and and
who's good and who's evil are not so clear necessarily
and not so cut and rye and that you know,
(13:21):
if you try to over commit yourself to being good
and doing what you think is right, you may run
the risk of just losing sight of who you are.
And and that sometimes the parts of ourselves that we
judge the most and that we that we feel ashamed
(13:42):
of are actually have some good qualities and and have
some goodness in them, and a you know, maybe are
what makes us vulnerable or what makes us lovable even
And I think that's what's truly wonderful about this story,
(14:03):
is it? It is true to I think those ideas
we're in we're in the original novel too, But this, yeah,
it's just not as it's not as cut and dry
as we think, and there's a little I hope we
all have a little more grace for ourselves when you
come out of the play.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
I probably should have said at the beginning, this is
not a musical. This is a fast moving psychological thriller.
It is is it ninety minutes long?
Speaker 2 (14:32):
It is ninety minutes long, you are in and out.
It's yeah, it is fast, it's fun.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
And it's going to be awesome.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
So great to have audiences in this last week. I
mean they we're hearing screams in the audience this last
you know, and so it's just been you know. Please
come and and just enjoy yourself and maybe get ready
to be a little scared sometimes.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
I'm speaking with actress Sarah Chalfe. She's starring in Doctor
Jekyl and Mister Hyde now through November third at Hartford Stage.
Get those tickets at Hartfordstage dot org. Sarah, thank you
so much for being here today. I cannot wait to
see you in the show.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Thank you so much. It look forward to having you
Good morning. Thank you for listening to Community Access today.
My guest is actress Sarah Chalfe. She's starring in Doctor
Jekyl and Mister Hyde at Hartford Stage now through November third.
Good morning, Sarah.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Good morning, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
You bet, I love Hartford Stage. It's a gem.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, it really is. You know, this is my first
time actually working there, and I'm just so pleased and
grateful to be getting to work there. It's been a
lovely experience.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
There isn't a bad seat in the house.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
That's true. That's very much true. Yeah, it's it's such
a it's just a wonderful place to work. I mean
everyone who everyone who's there, from the designers to everyone
who works in the costume shop and the prop shop.
They're they're all just so dedicated and committed to making
(00:55):
the best theater that they possibly can, and they all
do it with a smile. Somehow, you can never be
stressed out and just are just so warm and welcoming.
And yeah, it's been a really it's been a wonderful
place to see this story come to life.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
So let's talk about the story. I think about bugs, Bunny.
When you know doctor Jekyll and mister Hide drinks the
potion and he turns into one and then he's I mean,
there's so many different adaptations. What is this story about?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, so this is so funny. I know. My probably
earliest connection with the story was because I grew up
in New York City and there was a restaurant called
Jacko and Hyde where you could go and be served
like by different Victorian monsters like Frank Time. Yes, it
has had the story has had a lot of life,
(01:46):
and I think for a good reason. It's it's still
a very relevant, you know, tale of good and evil
and the all of the afflicting urges you know, within
ourselves as human beings and are the struggles of our
(02:07):
internal life and and sort of how we manage those
and and be a person in the world and show
up and do you know good when sometimes we might
not always want to do the right thing or the
good thing. This version of the story is a new
adaptation by the playwright Jeffrey Hatcher that is trying, I think,
(02:31):
to get back to a lot of the original story
of Jacqueline Hyde, which was written in the nineteenth century
by Robert Louis Stevenson. The original novella was, and so
Jeffrey Hatcher is really this version of it is really
getting back to a lot of the original ideas from
(02:53):
the novella, but also it's it's a wonderful modernization of
the story, I think, and really brings it into our
world today and and sort of how we continue to
grapple with ourselves and with you know, doing the right thing.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
I love that. So it's a timeless piece.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah, for sure. I mean this, I think there is,
whether we'd like to admit it or not, there we
all have within us the possibility of doing you know,
of following our worst impulses or or we all sort
of have this. I mean we've been sort of calling it,
I think, like the shadow self or the shadow side,
(03:37):
like these things that we repressed and we don't you know,
we try not to do them. But there is this,
uh we're sort of always battling, uh with ourselves to
be a good functional person in society and certainly in
our story. But that is what jockstor Jekyl is is
(03:57):
really struggling with.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Himself, sort of like the angel and the devil on
each shoulder.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Exactly, yeah, exactly, Yeah, And I mean in this story,
he he is a scientist, and he is, you know,
trying to uh manage and and sort of control himself
through experimental or scientific experimentation rather and as often happens
(04:26):
when you experiment on yourself, it does not really go
according to plan, and he has to grapple with the
consequences of that.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
So tell me about your character. What's her name?
Speaker 2 (04:39):
So I'm actually not sure how much I'm supposed to say.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Because don't want to give it all away.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Don't want to give it all away. And part of
the fun also of this uh you know, it's this
play is very you know, philosophical and about human nature
like we're talking about, but it's also really theatrical. And
one of the fun things about this adaptation is that
there are I think twenty one characters in the play,
but there's only six actors, so everybody is playing multiple characters,
(05:11):
and sometimes characters are being played by multiple people, so
there's a lot of I mean, it is like a
mystery and a psychological thriller, so there's a lot of
mistaken identity, and so some of the who's playing who
I think we're trying to keep as a surprise for
when you actually come through the play. But I will
(05:33):
say that I do play. I play a character who
she through a chance encounter, meets mister Hyde, and her
meeting him really ends up surprisingly disrupting what has up
(05:53):
until that point in the story of been a pretty
functional dynamic between Doctor Jekyll and mister Hyde. She kind
of creates an obstacle between these two parts of himself
and that that now you must and sort of the
consequences of of that unfold as the story goes on.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
It sounds so suspenseful.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
It's fun. Yeah, it's so fun to do a psychological
thriller on stage because it's usually a genre that's reserved
for film, and so it's been really fun to figure
out how to make that come to life on stage.
It's it should be a little scary, it's it's it's
(06:41):
heartbreaking at times, it should be it's sexy at times,
it's funny. There's a there's a real like dry wit
to this play too. And we have this incredible set
that was designed that are amazing side designer Sarah Brown,
and you know a lot of uh stage magic happening
(07:04):
with the lights and the sound and the set where
people are sometimes coming out of the darkness. They should
be surprising you, you know, popping up out of nowhere.
There's there's a lot of fun to be had in
this mystery.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
You make it sound so good, like I need to
go to Hartford Stage dot Org right now and get
my tickets. And the costumes. Is it set in the
specific time it is?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
It's set in uh in Victorian England, and the costumes
absolutely capture that. I mean it is. They are beautiful
costumes that were made for each of us and we're
so lucky to get to wear them. And the costumes
helped so much as an actor, get you into that
you know, time period. It's like you feel that corset
(07:51):
on you and shirts and you just you know, you
sort of go, oh, this is what was I mean
this is. It's also the it gives you such an
access to the time within which this story was written,
which it was such a conflicting time. Right It's Victorian England.
Everything is very proper and moral and restricted, and yet
(08:16):
you also have underneath that this a lot of very
a lot of like violence. I mean, it's the time
of Jack the Ripper and this sort of darkness that
live under lived underneath all of that performance of goodness,
you know, and and that really is the time within
(08:37):
which this story was written. And I think a lot
of what this story is grappling with, well.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
What did you do in order to prepare for this role?
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yeah? We I mean so it's it's been a really
fun role because it's both very technically and and emotionally challenging.
So as an actor, that's like what you kind of
always dream of getting to do. There's you know, we've
done a lot of movement work, and the plays very physical.
(09:09):
There's lots of we have a fight designer and a
movement coach who've been working with us. We also have
a dialect coach because it's set in England. So there's
all that technical work that goes on, and then there's
also the you know, all the work you do too,
(09:29):
which is different for every or for me at least,
it's different for every character and every production, but you know,
all the work to get yourself as close to your
character's experience as you can and try your best to
embody their what they're going through and what they hope
(09:54):
for and what they you know, dream of, and just
to try to tell their story as best as you can,
and our our amazing director, Milia has just she's such
a wonderfully collaborative, uh director who just embraces and encourages
(10:15):
everyone's ideas and instincts and really lets us a play
in the rehearsal room to really find who these people
are and and make them as human as possible and
really bring them to life.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Do you find that you need to decompress after shows?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
You know, I, it's that's a good question. It's funny,
you I mean, part of what's fun in this particular
play is it's like it's a it's really fast, and
it's there's a lot of kinetic energy, and so sometimes
we just come off stage and we're a little out
of breath, like I've been a fun thing about this one.
But I, you know, I I find that it's for myself.
(11:06):
It's just a joy to get to explore somebody else's life,
even if that life is a challenging or you know, tragic.
It's it is a it's sometimes yeah, you might need
to take like a moment just to kind of bring
yourself back to yourself, but it is it is like, ultimately, uh,
(11:32):
I think I'm an actor because I just there's something
to learn in all of in all of my characters experiences,
and and I think I try to approach them with
mostly a lot of love and a lot of and
(11:54):
and that sort of that helps too, even when when
they're going through something very very difficult. It's try to
build a sense of of knowing why you're telling their
story and who you're telling their story for. And I
think that that kind of purpose really helps to both
(12:19):
separate yourself from them and also, you know, enjoy the
time that you get to play them and then and
then say goodbye to them when you're done.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Wow. I love that. That's amazing. What do you hope
people come away with after they see the show?
Speaker 2 (12:38):
I mean, I it might sound a little trite, but
I think I think it's true. I think I hope
people come away with, you know, don't judge a book
by its cover, and and also don't maybe I hope
people come away not judging themselves too much. I think
(12:58):
one thing that I pretend particularly love in this adaptation
is that the notions of good and evil and and
who's good and who's evil are not so clear necessarily
and not so cut and rye and that you know,
(13:21):
if you try to over commit yourself to being good
and doing what you think is right, you may run
the risk of just losing sight of who you are.
And and that sometimes the parts of ourselves that we
judge the most and that we that we feel ashamed
(13:42):
of are actually have some good qualities and and have
some goodness in them, and a you know, maybe are
what makes us vulnerable or what makes us lovable even
And I think that's what's truly wonderful about this story,
(14:03):
is it? It is true to I think those ideas
we're in we're in the original novel too, But this, yeah,
it's just not as it's not as cut and dry
as we think, and there's a little I hope we
all have a little more grace for ourselves when you
come out of the play.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
I probably should have said at the beginning, this is
not a musical. This is a fast moving psychological thriller.
It is is it ninety minutes long?
Speaker 2 (14:32):
It is ninety minutes long, you are in and out.
It's yeah, it is fast, it's fun.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
And it's going to be awesome.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
So great to have audiences in this last week. I
mean they we're hearing screams in the audience this last
you know, and so it's just been you know. Please
come and and just enjoy yourself and maybe get ready
to be a little scared sometimes.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
I'm speaking with actress Sarah Chalfe. She's starring in Doctor
Jekyl and Mister Hyde now through November third at Hartford Stage.
Get those tickets at Hartfordstage dot org. Sarah, thank you
so much for being here today. I cannot wait to
see you in the show.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Thank you so much. It look forward to having you
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