Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Or a Mis-Spent Life
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''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Or a Mis-Spent Life'' is a four-act play written in 1897 by Luella Forepaugh and George F. Fish. It is an adaptation of '' Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'', an 1886
novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...
written by the Scottish author
Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...
. The story focuses on
Henry Jekyll Dr. Henry Jekyll, nicknamed in some copies of the story as Harry Jekyll, and his alternative personality, Mr. Edward Hyde, is the central character of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde''. In the story, ...
, a respected London doctor, and his involvement with Edward Hyde, a loathsome criminal. After Hyde murders a vicar, Jekyll's friends suspect he is helping the killer, but the truth is that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person. Jekyll has developed a potion that allows him to transform himself into Hyde and back again. When he runs out of the potion, he is trapped in his Hyde form and commits suicide. Forepaugh and Fish wrote the adaptation for the
repertory company A repertory theatre is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. United Kingdom Annie Horniman founded the first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawing ...
at a family theater Forepaugh managed in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. After Forepaugh and Fish left the theater business, the play was published in 1904 for the use of other theater companies. A 1908 silent film was based on the play.


Plot

In the first act, attorney J. G. Utterson is visiting with friends outside a London
vicarage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically own ...
. The
vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...
, Reverend Edward Leigh, relates a story about how he intervened when he saw a girl trampled by a man named Edward Hyde. Utterson is dismayed to hear the name Edward Hyde, because his friend and client, Dr. Henry Jekyll, recently made a new will that gives his estate to a mysterious friend named Edward Hyde. After the vicar leaves, Dr. Lanyon arrives. Utterson asks Lanyon if he knows Hyde, but he does not; he and Jekyll have become more distant recently due to scientific disagreements. Jekyll, who lives next door to the vicarage, passes by on his way to see a patient. Utterson expresses his concern about Jekyll's will, but Jekyll refuses to consider changing it. After Jekyll and Utterson leave, Lanyon speaks to the vicar's daughter, Alice Leigh, who admits to being in love with Jekyll. Alice sees that Lanyon does not approve, and she asks Jekyll about it when he returns. He says she would not understand and begins talking about the dual presence of good and evil in men. Suddenly, Jekyll feels "the change approaching" and runs home. Before he reaches his door, he transforms into Hyde in view of the audience, but not Alice, who has gone to the other end of the stage. Hyde menaces Alice, who calls for her father. The vicar comes out of the vicarage and is clubbed with a stick by Hyde. Hyde runs away; Jekyll returns and asks who has attacked them. With his dying breath, the vicar says it was Hyde. In the second act, Inspector Newcomen shows Utterson part of the walking stick that Hyde used to kill Howell. Utterson recognizes it as one he gave to Jekyll. Newcomen vows to find the killer, and asks to interview Alice, who has been staying with Utterson since the murder. Jekyll visits Utterson with a letter from Hyde, claiming he has departed. When Jekyll leaves, Utterson's assistant, Mr. Guest, points out that the handwriting on the letter is very similar to Jekyll's. When Utterson leaves, Jekyll returns and delivers a
monologue In theatre, a monologue (from el, μονόλογος, from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes a ...
confessing that he is the murderer. After a brief conversation with Alice, Jekyll leaves. Utterson and Newcomen return, saying they play to lay a trap for Hyde. Alice insists on going with them. As they wait outside the vicarage, they see Hyde approaching Jekyll's house. He is talking to himself about his enjoyment of hurting women and children, and his hatred of Jekyll. When Utterson confronts him, Hyde rushes into Jekyll's house. When Utterson, Newcomen, and Alice pursue him, they find Jekyll instead. In the third act, Utterson and the police discuss their failure to catch Hyde. One of Jekyll's servants, Poole, says Hyde is allowed free access to Jekyll's house. Alice overhears this and is distraught to learn that Jekyll has helped her father's killer. Alice resolves to confront Jekyll about this. In the act's final scene, Lanyon waits at home with drugs from Jekyll's laboratory, retrieved on written instructions from Jekyll. Hyde arrives to retrieve the drugs. He mixes them with water and drinks the resulting potion in front of Lanyon, after which he transforms into Jekyll. The final act begins four months later. Lanyon has died of shock and Jekyll is refusing to see Utterson or Alice. Alice is still angry that Jekyll is believed to have helped Hyde. Poole visits to say he fears Jekyll has been murdered. Someone is secluded in Jekyll's laboratory, claiming to be him and communicating mostly through written notes, but Poole thinks it is someone else. Utterson and Alice agree to accompany Poole to confront the person in Jekyll's laboratory. In the laboratory, Jekyll gives a monologue explaining that he can no longer find the ingredients for his potion and therefore will soon revert to Hyde, without the ability to transform back. Alice comes to the laboratory and sees that Jekyll appears ill. He tells her they will marry when he is better, but when she leaves he monologues that he will die soon, then he transforms into Hyde. When Utterson and Poole come to the laboratory, Hyde commits suicide by drinking poison, declaring that he has also killed Jekyll.


Characters

* Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde * J. C. Utterson, a lawyer of Chancery Lane * Rev. Edward Leigh, a vicar and father of Alice * Doctor Lanyon, of Cavendish Square * Inspector Newcomen, of Scotland Yard * Poole, butler of Dr. Jekyll * Guest, Utterson's clerk * McSweeny, a policeman * Wilson, a detective * James, footman to Lady Durswell * Biddy, a cook * Alice Leigh, the vicar's daughter


History

The Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson wrote ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' in 1885. In January 1886, it was published in the United Kingdom by Longmans, Green & Co. It was published that same month by
Charles Scribner's Sons Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan Rawli ...
in the United States, where it was also frequently pirated due to the lack of copyright protections in the US for works originally published in the UK. Despite the opportunity to adapt without authorization, the actor Richard Mansfield secured permission for both the American and British stage rights in early 1887. Mansfield asked Boston writer
Thomas Russell Sullivan Thomas Russell Sullivan (November 21, 1849 – June 28, 1916) was an American writer. He is best known for ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1887 play), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'', an 1887 stage adaptation of ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' by R ...
to create the script. Their authorized adaptation debuted at the Boston Museum on May 9, 1887, under the title ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde''. A competing, unauthorized adaptation was written by John McKinney in collaboration with the actor Daniel E. Bandmann. It also used the title ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'', and it opened at Niblo's Garden on March 12, 1888. Both of these adaptations were subsequently performed on tour in other cities. Luella Forepaugh became the manager of Forepaugh's Family Theatre, a
repertory theater A repertory theatre is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. United Kingdom Annie Horniman founded the first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawing ...
in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, when her husband, John A. Forepaugh, became ill and died in 1895. In 1897, she and George F. Fish wrote a new adaptation of ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' for the theater's company. Their version is very similar to McKinney and Bandmann's 1888 adaptation. It debuted at Forepaugh's on March 14, 1897, with the company's leading man, George Learock, in the dual role of Jekyll and Hyde. The debut was a matinée, with
cinematograph Cinematograph or kinematograph is an early term for several types of motion picture film mechanisms. The name was used for movie cameras as well as film projectors, or for complete systems that also provided means to print films (such as the Cin ...
images projected between the acts for the entertainment of children in the audience, and patrons were given souvenir copies of Stevenson's novella with their admission. Forepaugh and Fish married in 1899, and they decided to leave the theater to start the Luella Forepaugh-Fish Wild West Show, which opened in
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
on April 17, 1903. Their adaptation of the Jekyll and Hyde story was published by Samuel French in 1904 under the title ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Or a Mis-Spent Life'', for use by other stock theater companies.


Reception

The play's debut received positive reviews in the local Philadelphia papers, ''The Times'' and ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''. Theater historian Brian A. Rose compared it unfavorably to Sullivan's 1887 adaptation, saying the earlier version had more nuance. In contrast, he described Forepaugh and Fish's version as a "melodramatic potboiler" that lacked subtlety and played to stereotypes. Robert Louis Stevenson was not happy with any of the stage play adaptations, since he said they all added a sex angle to the story that was not in the original novel, which in fact featured no major female characters. He called the plays "ugly" and said, "Hyde (was) no more sexual than another, but (was) the essence of cruelty and malice and selfishness and cowardice, and these are the diabolic in man....not this great wish to have a woman, that they make such a cry about." He also complained that Hyde was supposed to appear younger than Jekyll in the story and "not the other way around as it appeared in the (plays)".


Adaptations

The 1908 silent movie ''
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Doctor is an academic title that originates from the Latin word of the same spelling and meaning. The word is originally an agentive noun of the Latin verb 'to teach'. It has been used as an academic title in Europe since the 13th century, w ...
'' was a filmed theatrical performance of an abbreviated version of the 1897 play by Forepaugh and Fish.


References


Works cited

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External links


Full text
of published play at Internet Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, Or a Mis-Spent Life 1897 plays Plays based on Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde American plays adapted into films Horror plays Melodramas Plays based on novels Science fiction theatre