ACT ONE – SCENE ONE – THE DOOR

Utterson:

(Raps his cane on the shabbiest door) This door, you say?

Enfield:

Aye.

Utterson:

But this is the door to… (Trails off. A long pause. He turns to go)

Enfield:

Yes? What’s behind that door?

Utterson:

(evasively) What indeed? (He surveys Enfield, and the other doors with a thoughtful air) Any door in this street. What do they conceal? Who can judge a house by its door, or the events unfolding within, by the externals.

Enfield:

Uncle, I see you are determined to evade the point as usual.

Utterson:

Well, well. As you say. As a lawyer these thirty years I have become used to hearing many strange tales. But this one of yours is a new and altogether more inexplicable one. You say you saw him enter this very door?

Enfield:

Yes. And what’s more, with a key.

Utterson:

(Cannot conceal his amazement on hearing that) But - surely? (recovering himself) At what time was this?

Enfield:

At half past three, of a foggy morning last week… last Monday. I had been called out, as we doctors are, and was coming home from the place at the end of the world- as it seemed, for all the world was asleep. Nothing to be seen but lamps, with blackness and cold between. I got into that state of mind when one listens and listens, and longs for the sight of a policeman. It was then I – (stops and interrupts himself) But why shouldn’t he have a key? Do you know who lives here?

Utterson:

(Thoughtfully) Do I know who lives here? A very good question. Do any of us know who anyone really is? Or what they are capable of? Their inner secrets?

Enfield:

Uncle, please! I have told you all I know of the case, and yet you will not return the favour.

Utterson:

You said the mob brought the man here, and forced him to pay compensation for his crime.

Enfield:

Yes. They would take no less than one hundred pounds. But really it chills the blood to recall how he trampled over that child, simply walked over her unheedingly and crushed her face against the cobbles: her screams, and his total indifference!

Utterson:

He came here, and came out with the money, in a matter of.. ten minutes at the most, I think you said?

Enfield:

Five, I would guess. He returned with ten pounds in cash, and a cheque for the remainder.

Utterson:

A cheque? In whose name? Who had signed the cheque? Did you see the name? (Utterson grabs the lapels of his nephew, then recovers his composure) I beg your pardon nephew.

Enfield:

Won’t you trust me Uncle? I know you have a personal interest in the case, and Dr Jekyll is your friend and your client, but-

Utterson:

Dr Jekyll? You don’t mean… it was his name? On the cheque? (he mops his brow with a large handkerchief) But why would he want to pay for the crimes of… of… what was the blackguard’s name again?

Enfield:

Mr Hyde. I wondered that myself. I recognised the name ‘Jekyll’ when I heard the girl’s father grasp the cheque, and read it, with the same amazement I felt myself. Everyone knows dear Dr Jekyll, and of his kindness to the poor and deprived, of his many charitable works, his… generosity. I told myself this fiend Hyde must have become Jekyll’s latest project.

Utterson:

Yes, his latest philanthropic project. No doubt the mysterious Mr Edward Hyde has persuaded the good Doctor of his possibility for change.

Enfield:

Edward? Edward Hyde? You know the man?

Utterson:

What? Why do you say that?

Enfield:

How did you know his first name? I never told you.

Utterson:

(caught out) I… I… may have heard of him. Some other… misdemeanours, other crimes. I am a lawyer, and we hear many things. He is… infamous, in the circles in which I… (trails off) But nephew, I feel I may well have to unburden myself to you ere long. This... case is... possibly… one which… will baffle even the greatest minds in our city: my thoughts are in a maze.

Enfield:

Uncle, you seem much affected. Come, let us sit down. Or should I knock, and seek aid? A brandy might settle your nerves.

Utterson:

Not on this door! Do not knock on this door, nephew.  Who knows what is behind it.

Song here – ‘Hidden secrets - behind the mask’

Smile on my face
Like Janus, like masks
I'm alone with myself
I change with the light
Hiding away running from reality
Who am I now
A  shadow in this game
Feel my vibrations
While shaking my mind
Changing my face
Which one is  mine
Excited by the strength
Drunk with the freedom
Makes me totally blind
Hypnotise .Traumatise
Morph into me
Split in my  mind

I can't resist the voices
Tempted by the choices
Like a diamond
Sparkling and shining
All my hours of torment
Don't  stop this feeling
Change with the light
Change with the night

Be my double
Change with the light
Change with the night
What’s wrong or right?
How can I learn control again
I will never be the same again
Never let this feeling go

ACT ONE - SCENE TWO – DR JEKYLL’S DIARY

Dr Jekyll enters, and addresses the audience as he mixes up the potion.

Jekyll:

From an early age, I kept a diary, in which I recorded my daily struggle against the Evil which forces us to stray from the path of the righteous and the Christian teachings of the Church. My reading of the Bible and the sermons I listened to- with horror- informed me of the Hell awaiting me if I did not drive out this Evil. ‘Root it out’! I heard of the Black side of each of us, and the good immortal soul. How I longed to rid myself of my Evil Half, and to be wholly pure, with no blemish. If only I could find a way to separate out the unholy part of myself, and be saved!

There is a knocking on the ‘laboratory’ door, from the upstage side: the person knocking is unseen.

Jekyll:

Who’s there?

Utterson:

It is I… Gabriel Utterson.

Jekyll:

Oh… wait, wait, dear friend. Wait one moment. (he bustles about and hides the potion, then opens the door).

Utterson:

I beg your pardon Henry. You are engaged in your, erm, experiments... your work… I will leave you.

Jekyll:

I am always ready to see you, dear Gabriel. Come in, come in man. What will you have? Wine? Spirits?

He begins mixing up a brandy and soda or similar.

Utterson:

Are you quite sure it is convenient? (He accepts the glass.) What is it you are working on this time? We rarely seem to see you these last six months.

Jekyll:

Oh, the usual ‘nonsense’, you know.

Utterson:

My dear fellow: it was not I that called it that. And I’m sure Lanyon never meant -

Jekyll:

Lanyon is a fool, and a blind fool at that. If he only knew what I have discovered - what I have proved!

Utterson:

Well? And what have you discovered?

Jekyll:

(evasively) Ah. Well, as you say, Lanyon never meant to anger me. There are more things in Heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. (chuckles, weirdly) Mysteries. Science discovers new things every day, new secrets, the workings of the mind. Dr Freud. The divided self. ‘If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.’ St Mark, chapter 3. Verse 25.

Utterson:

Ah… some more of your philosophy on the duality of human nature, is it? I must say, most of it went over my head.

Jekyll:

It’s the curse of mankind. Cain and Abel, the warring impulses of Good and ill in the one form. The one body, but polar twins. Opposites.

Utterson:

I seem to recall you were contemplating some chemical compound which might… (he trails off)

Jekyll:

It seems you were listening after all.

Knocking is heard from another part of the house.

Utterson:

Oh - you were expecting a visitor?

Jekyll:

Not I.

Utterson:

Possibly - Mr Hyde?

Jekyll:

(reacts violently) What? How do you know about him? Have you… seen him?

Utterson:

I have not. But, look here Henry…

Jekyll:

No doubt you have heard of his … doings. And you are about to warn me of him. You will tell me to have nothing to do with him, and to avoid his company. Well Gabriel, I can promise you, that I, Henry Jekyll, will never be standing  in the same room with him (weird laugh)

Door is tapped on softly and Mr Poole enters, the butler.

Poole:

Oh - beg pardon, Dr Jekyll, and Mr Utterson: there’s a young woman, much distressed, wishes to speak to you, Sir.

Jekyll:

Dear me, Poole, I have a guest, as you can see. Please ask her to come back tomorrow morning. And here - give her this.

He fetches a small purse with coins in from a drawer.

Poole:

But Sir, I already gave her the… the… usual amount. She says no money will make amends Sir.

Girl:

(bursting in) I’m ruined. Ruined I am! He told me I was to seek here for him - he told me to ask for you and you’d make it right!

Jekyll:

My dear young woman, I can only offer you… offer you my sympathies, and... and a lifetime’s annuity, which I hope… and here is a payment which will serve as this month’s portion… I regret…

Girl:

(to Utterson) Here- I know you: you’re the legal man, the lawyer- Mr Utterson? If you draw up a legal paper and he signs it and you witness it, then...

Utterson:

Come to my office in the morning. Off you go now: before I change my mind.

Poole:

Come along Miss.

Girl:

There’s no amount of money can wipe away the memory. Do you hear? Where is he? Where’s that - monster?

Jekyll:

He told you I’d make it right, and I will. I always keep my word.

Girl:

I don’t see how you can. Can you turn back the clock? Have you a magic wand?

Poole:

Come on now, you’re upsetting the gentlemen.

Girl:

Oh dear, we can’t have that, can we. (to Jekyll) What’s he to you anyway? Why should you do his dirty work? I want to see him!

Jekyll:

You won’t see him here. You’ll never find him where I am. I tell you I won’t be in the same room with him.

Girl:

I don’t blame you. He’s deformed - an inhuman monster!

Utterson:

Deformed you say - how so? Physically?

Girl:

If you’d seen him, you wouldn’t ask. He’s not right. He makes me sick, with... a cold horror! And what he did to me…

Jekyll:

Enough of this now. Poole, take her to the kitchens and give her brandy.

Poole hustles her out.