Jekyll & Hyde.qxd - State Theatre

S Y N O P S I SThe Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hydeby Robert Louis StevensonMr. Utterson is a lawyer in Victorian London. He isconcerned about his friend, Dr. Jekyll, who has given up hismedical practice, withdrawn from his friends, and hiddenhimself away in his laboratory to work on some mysteriousexperiments. Utterson is especially upset that Jekyll haswritten a will leaving all his money to his sinister new friend,Mr. Hyde. The lawyer has heard disturbing stories about Hydeand disliked him even more after meeting him. He suspectsthat Dr. Jekyll is being blackmailed by Mr. Hyde.One day, Utterson is asked to identify the body of amurdered man. The victim turns out to be Sir Danvers Carew,one of Utterson’s clients. Hyde is suspected of committing themurder. When questioned, Jekyll says that he has not seenHyde and has broken off their friendship. With Mr. Hyde gone,Jekyll becomes much more sociable and friendly.Several months later, though, Jekyll suddenly changes again.He locks himself in his laboratory and, in a strange voice,shouts at his servants through the door that they must obtaincertain chemicals for him. Convinced that their master hasbeen murdered and that another man has taken his place in thelaboratory, the servants call Utterson, who breaks down thedoor. There on the floor lies Hyde, dead by suicide. Uttersonassumes that Hyde has killed Jekyll, but the doctor’s body isnowhere to be found.Instead, Utterson finds a letter from Dr. Jekyll that solvesthe mystery. In the letter, Jekyll explains that as a young manhe did some shameful things that he struggled to keep secretfrom his friends. He began to conduct experiments to find away to separate the good and evil sides of the humanpersonality. He eventually created a formula that released hisevil side, Mr. Hyde.For a while Jekyll enjoyed his two separate bodies; sinceHyde did not look like Jekyll, he could do whatever he likedwithout fear of discovery. After Hyde murdered Carew,however, Jekyll resolved never to take the potion again.Unfortunately, Hyde was now so strong that he could takecontrol even without Jekyll swallowing the formula. Indeed,Jekyll had to drink more of the potion to be rid of him, if onlytemporarily. When Jekyll ran out of one of the chemicals in hisformula, he knew that the only way to prevent Hyde fromreturning was to kill himself.T H ES T A R T I N GP O I N TAquila Theatre ADAPT - to changeCompany is known something so that it willwork in a differentfor adapting classicsituation or environmentplays and novels sothat modern audiences can clearly seeconnections to people and issues that areimportant to us today. They used Robert LouisStevenson’s 1886 book, The Strange Case ofDr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde as a starting point. Readon to find out what other characters, events,and ideas they introduced into the play.Do you think it’s okay for playwrights tomake significant changes to an author’swork when adapting a novel into a playor film? What kinds of changes do you thinkwould be absolutely necessary to make thisstory work as a stage drama?Reign of Great Britain’s Queen Victoria(1837-1901). A period characterized by:• Great industrial expansion and scientificdiscovery• Deep social and moral contradictions. Onthe surface, a strong emphasis on moralityand restraint; in reality prostitution, childlabor, and exploitation of the poor areallowed to flourish.Some descriptions of Hyde from the book:• “Mr. Hyde was pale and dwarfish, hegave an impression of deformity withoutany nameable malformation...”(narrator)• “There is something wrong with hisappearance; something displeasing,something downright detestable. I neversaw a man I so disliked, and yet Iscarce know why.” (Enfield)• “O my poor old Harry Jekyll, if ever Iread Satan’s signature upon a face, itis on that of your new friend.” (Utterson)2