Hyde and seek: English–Irish hybridity in Stephen Frears' Mary Reilly

Abstract

This article analyses Stephen Frears' film adaptation of Valerie Martin's novel Mary Reilly. Martin's novel is an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and together the three texts offer a discourse on the notion of a buried Irish identity in England. The article argues that the layering of sources becomes symbolic of the ways in which Irishness is ‘hidden’ and ‘silenced’ in Victorian England. In a bid to unearth the film's ambiguous Irish identity, it examines the effects of the casting of Hollywood stars Julia Roberts and John Malkovich and offers a detailed reading of the presence of Michael Gambon in the role of the anti-Irish colonial stereotype. The article concludes by suggesting that the adaptation offers renewed readings of old discourses of conflict and opposition by foregrounding cultural hybridity.