Introduction
Victims
Suspects
Witnesses
Ripper Letters
Police Officials
Official Documents
Press Reports
Victorian London
Message Boards
Ripper Media
Authors
Dissertations
Timelines
Games & Diversions
Photo Archive
Ripper Wiki
Casebook Examiner
Ripper Podcast
About the Casebook


Most Recent Posts:
Motive, Method and Madness: 39 wounds - by drstrange169 1 hour ago.
Elizabeth Stride: The Schwartz/BS Man situation - My opinion only - by Wickerman 1 hour ago.
Elizabeth Stride: The Schwartz/BS Man situation - My opinion only - by Wickerman 2 hours ago.
Macnaghten, Sir Melville: Macnaughten Memorandum - by Lewis C 2 hours ago.
Macnaghten, Sir Melville: Macnaughten Memorandum - by Lewis C 2 hours ago.
Abberline, Inspector Frederick: The Investigator's Suspects - by Lewis C 3 hours ago.
Elizabeth Stride: The Schwartz/BS Man situation - My opinion only - by NotBlamedForNothing 3 hours ago.
Macnaghten, Sir Melville: Macnaughten Memorandum - by Fiver 3 hours ago.

Most Popular Threads:
Elizabeth Stride: The Schwartz/BS Man situation - My opinion only - (33 posts)
Macnaghten, Sir Melville: Macnaughten Memorandum - (18 posts)
Motive, Method and Madness: 39 wounds - (9 posts)
Abberline, Inspector Frederick: The Investigator's Suspects - (9 posts)
Pub Talk: Poe was a time traveler… according to this article. - (4 posts)
Ripper Discussions: Motive, Method and Madness - (2 posts)


The Times (London)
Wednesday, August 8 1888

LYCEUM THEATRE. - Sole Lessee, Mr. Henry Irving.
LYCEUM. - Every evening, at 8.15.
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE. - LYCEUM.
MR. RICHARD MANSFIELD as DR. JEKYLL and MR. HYDE. - LYCEUM.
LYCEUM. - Box Office (Mr. J. Hurst) daily from 10 to 5.
LYCEUM. - Mr. RICHARD MANSFIELD.
LYCEUM. - The Daily Telegraph says:- "The actor triumphed, for he held the audience. His nervous electricity caused silence throughout the house - the surest test of power. Mr. Mansfield has come, he has been seen, and he has conquered as an actor of remarkable power and intelligence."
LYCEUM. - DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE.
LYCEUM. - The Daily Telegraph says:- "The attention of the audience was arrested by the dominant power of the actor. The murder of General Carew will be pronounced the most powerful and horrible thing ever seen on the modern stage."
LYCEUM. - Mr. RICHARD MANSFIELD.
LYCEUM. - The Daily Telegraph says:- "A success of esteem won under conditions the most formidable and arduous that were ever self-imposed by an ambitious artist."
LYCEUM. - DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE.
LYCEUM - The Daily Telegraph says:- "At the transformation, to the surprise and admiration of everybody, there arises, without screens, or gauzes, or traps, or anything, from the grovelling, ill-dressed jabbery mass on the ground, the well knit frame, the well-dressed body, and the pale, calm, clear-eyed face of the renewed Jekyll - all this is most admirably done."
LYCEUM. - Mr. RICHARD MANSFIELD.
LYCEUM. - The Daily Telegraph says:- "Badly done, such a scene would have created roars of laughter, or have been hooted from the stage. But the curtain fell upon a shock of silence, followed by a roar of sympathetic applause for the actor."
LYCEUM. - DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE.
LYCEUM. - Mr. RICHARD MANSFIELD.
LYCEUM. - A Morning Paper says:- "The 'Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' appeals to the love of the occult which is deeply implanted in the human mind."
LYCEUM. - DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE.
LYCEUM. - A Morning Paper says:- "Hyde is a crouching, Quilp-like figure, a malignant Quasimodo. Mr. Mansfield plays Hyde with a vigour or power which thrills the house, producing a sensation."
LYCEUM. - Mr. RICHARD MANSFIELD.
LYCEUM. - The Standard says:- "Mr. Mansfield contrives the marvellous transformation with wonderful adroitness. It is the puny fiend that swallows the draft, then the figure straightens itself, actually seems to increase in stature, passes its hands upwards over its face, and Jekyll stands revealed. The change is amazing in its completeness and rapidity."
LYCEUM. - DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE.
LYCEUM - The Standard says:- "It is Hyde in all his loathsomeness who swallows the potion and after that one sweep of the hands over the face, a perfectly natural action, Jekyll stands before his friend, the light being now, of course, gradually and unobtrusively raised. This change in itself is, doubtless, enough to make the fortune of the play."
LYCEUM. - Mr. RICHARD MANSFIELD.
LYCEUM. - The Standard says:- "Mr. Mansfield plays very forcibly in the final scene. The agonized glances into the mirror to see if the fearful change has begun, the relief and the return of the deadly fear are so powerful that the play is brought to a most exciting end."
LYCEUM. - DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE.
LYCEUM - The Standard says:- "Mr. Mansfield was most cordially called and congratulated when the curtain fell and finally retired amidst applause which left no doubt as to his prospects of popularity."
LYCEUM. - Mr. RICHARD MANSFIELD.
LYCEUM. - The Daily News says:- "It was the sudden entrance of the terrible Hyde and the murderous attack upon Sir Danvers that struck the imaginative keynote and brought the whole house to that mood of silent attention which is the crowning evidence of the actor's power."
LYCEUM. - DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE.
LYCEUM. - The Daily News says:- "The change appears to be accomplished without mechanical aids, beyond some touches that give a repulsive pallor to the features, and some sudden manipulation of the eyes, which completes the sinister aspect of this embodiment of evil. The wigmaker's art, which is potent on these occasions, played no part."
LYCEUM. - Mr. RICHARD MANSFIELD.
LYCEUM. - The Daily News says:- "The town will doubtless flock to see Mr. Mansfield's dual impersonation. Whenever Mr. Mansfield becomes Hyde, his savage chuckles, his devilish gloating over evil, his malignant sarcasms, his fierce energy of hate and revelling in all sinful impulses, awaken strange sensations in the spectator, and the unearthly restless figure of this variation upon Frankenstein's fatal handiwork takes a powerful hold on the imagination. Hyde, in brief, in Mr. Mansfield's hands, is a creation of genius."
LYCEUM. - DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
LYCEUM. - The Morning Post says:- "He held the audience breathless, and was twice recalled to receive their applause. A performance of remarkable power and finish."
LYCEUM. - Mr. RICHARD MANSFIELD.
LYCEUM. - The Morning Post says:- "From the moment when Hyde's livid face, lit by the moonlight, appears at the window, driving Dr. Jekyll's love shrieking from the room, while with rancorous ravings he demands her from her father, and being repulsed hurls the old man to the ground and strangles him, till the curtain falls on him gibbering with fiendish glee over his victim, he held the audience breathless, and was twice recalled to receive their applause."
LYCEUM. - DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
LYCEUM. - The Morning Post says:- "The change from Hyde to Jekyll, which takes place in full view of the spectators, is a remarkable piece of stagecraft, but the portrayal of shuddering horror at the dreaded anticipation of descent into the baser nature of Hyde in the last act should not be omitted from appreciative mention."
LYCEUM. - Mr. RICHARD MANSFIELD.
LYCEUM. - The Daily Chronicle says:- "The apish, sneering, malignant and crouching Hyde has vanished, and on the exact spot he occupied was Dr. Jekyll, dignified, albeit depressed. The alteration is rapidly accomplished - far more quickly than in the novel - and to those who do not know to what the swallowing of the draft will lead, it must be a great dramatic surprise. It does not require alteration of apparel to exhibit the difference between the two in one."
LYCEUM. - DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
LYCEUM. - The Daily Chronicle says:- "Mr. Mansfield was not likely to regret travelling across the Atlantic with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Of the cordiality of his greeting there was no doubt. He was recalled again and again."
LYCEUM. - Mr. RICHARD MANSFIELD.
LYCEUM. - The Daily Chronicle says:- "Apart from the force and impetuosity of his delineation of the savage instincts of Hyde, Mr. Mansfield displays capabilities in a more subdued style. His Jekyll betrays the gift of tenderness and sympathetic expression."

LYCEUM. - DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
LYCEUM. - The Morning Advertiser says:- "Hyde finds a magnificent exponent in Mr. Mansfield. His first entrance, his savage manner, the wild beast-like leap on Carew, his scene in Hyde's lodgings in Soho, especially with his mercenary landlady, his cleverly contrived change in front of the audience in the third act, were all manifestations of the study of the terrible in art. The piece was beautifully mounted and stage-managed."
LYCEUM. - Mr. RICHARD MANSFIELD.
LYCEUM. - The Morning Advertiser says:- "With the terrible feeling that the evil is overcoming the good, with the dread thought that his experiments in the cause of science have ended in making himself their victim, in the realistic inspection of the cheval glass to learn the first intimation of the change which he believes will be final, the actor gave a phase of the character that thrilled with its terror."
LYCEUM. - DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
LYCEUM. - The Morning Advertiser says:- "The piece is one to be seen, but beyond the play Mr. Richard Mansfield, with his dramatic power, his rich voice, his grand elocution, and stage capacity, should attract by himself."
LYCEUM. - Mr. RICHARD MANSFIELD.
LYCEUM. - The Pall Mall Gazette says:- "It is a play which will, we believe, attract all playgoers by the extraordinary impersonation of the abominable and apish Hyde."
LYCEUM. - DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
LYCEUM. - The Pall Mall Gazette says:- "It makes your flesh creep; the auditorium is in semi-darkness for the greater part of the evening, there is absolutely no relief from the sombre, but we venture to prophesy Hyde will draw crowds in London."
LYCEUM. - Mr. RICHARD MANSFIELD.
LYCEUM. - The Star says:- "For the actor himself they had great enthusiasm. It is a play to be seen, it is a splendid piece of acting."
LYCEUM. - DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
LYCEUM. - The Star says:- "Twice on the stage, in full view of the audience, the transformation is made from the smiling, bland, mild, handsome Dr. Jekyll to the odious monster, with brutality in every line, and look, and gesture. It is marvellous art, and the audience fully appreciated it."
LYCEUM. - Mr. RICHARD MANSFIELD.
LYCEUM. - The Star says:- "The play is one that every student of the stage should see for it brings out one of the most marvellous pieces of acting and stage illusion that has ever been seen."
LYCEUM. - DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
LYCEUM. - The Evening News says:- "Nothing finer in its way has ever been put upon the English(?) stage. The transformation takes place at midnight. The stage is dim, as befits the hour, but there is quite enough light to enable the audience to see the marvellous change as it takes place."
LYCEUM. - Mr. RICHARD MANSFIELD.
LYCEUM. - The Evening News says:- "In the delineation of Mr. Hyde, in all his blood-curdling repulsiveness, the true power, the unmistakable grasp of the genuine artist is felt. It is realistic to the highest degree; but it goes beyond mere realism, it is the finished, vivid study of an actor of more than the average ability."
LYCEUM. - Mr. RICHARD MANSFIELD, every evening, at 8.15, as DR. JEKYLL and MR. HYDE.

[The above is taken from a full-column theatre advertisement for the play].



Related pages:
  Lyceum
       Press Reports: Times [London] - 6 August 1888 
  Richard Mansfield
       Dissertations: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Saucy Jacky 
       Message Boards: Richard Mansfield 
       Press Reports: Atchison Daily Globe - 16 September 1887 
       Press Reports: Atchison Daily Globe - 20 July 1888 
       Press Reports: Daily News - 11 September 1888 
       Press Reports: Daily News - 12 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Daily News - 23 October 1888 
       Press Reports: Daily News - 6 August 1888 
       Press Reports: Daily Telegraph - 12 October 1888 
       Press Reports: Daily Telegraph - 16 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Daily Telegraph - 18 October 1888 
       Press Reports: Daily Telegraph - 19 October 1888 
       Press Reports: Daily Telegraph - 20 October 1888 
       Press Reports: Echo - 13 August 1888 
       Press Reports: Marion Daily Star - 11 June 1887 
       Press Reports: Morning Advertiser - 12 December 1888 
       Press Reports: Morning Advertiser - 19 October 1888 
       Press Reports: Morning Advertiser - 20 October 1888 
       Press Reports: Morning Advertiser - 23 October 1888 
       Press Reports: Morning Advertiser - 3 December 1888 
       Press Reports: Morning Advertiser - 7 August 1888 
       Press Reports: Morning Advertiser - 9 October 1888 
       Press Reports: Pall Mall Gazette - 8 September 1888 
       Press Reports: Star - 13 October 1888 
       Press Reports: Star - 17 November 1888 
       Press Reports: Star - 18 September 1888 
       Press Reports: Star - 2 October 1888 
       Press Reports: Star - 20 October 1888 
       Ripper Media: Jack the Ripper: A Suspect Guide - Richard Mansfield