Stage play by Thomas Russell Sullivan
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a four-act play written by Thomas Russell Sullivan in collaboration with the actor Richard Mansfield. It is an adaptation of "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde", an 1886 novella by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. The story focuses on the respected London doctor Henry Jekyll and his involvement with Edward Hyde, a loathsome criminal. After Hyde murders the father of Jekyll's fiancée, Jekyll's friends discover that he and Jekyll 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 as Hyde and commits suicide before he can be arrested.
After reading the novella, Mansfield was intrigued by the opportunity to play a dual role. He secured the right to adapt the story for the stage in the United States and the United Kingdom, and asked Sullivan to write the adaptation. The play debuted in Boston in May 1887, and a revised version opened on Broadway in September of that year. Critics acclaimed Mansfield's performance as the dual character. The play was popular in New York and on tour, and Mansfield was invited to bring it to London. It opened there in August 1888, just before the first Jack the Ripper murders. Some press reports compared the murderer to the Jekyll–Hyde character, and Mansfield was suggested as a possible suspect. Despite significant press coverage, the London production was a financial failure. Mansfield's company continued to perform the play on tours of the U.S. until shortly before his death in 1907.
In writing the stage adaptation, Sullivan made several changes to the story; these included creating a fiancée for Jekyll and a stronger moral contrast between Jekyll and Hyde. The changes have been adopted by many subsequent adaptations, including several film versions of the story which were derived from the play. The films included a 1912 adaptation directed by Lucius Henderson, a 1920 adaptation directed by John S. Robertson, and a 1931 adaptation directed by Rouben Mamoulian, which earned Fredric March an Academy Award for Best Actor. A 1941 adaptation, directed by Victor Fleming, was a remake of the 1931 film.
Plot.
In the first act, a group of friends (including Sir Danvers Carew's daughter Agnes, attorney Gabriel Utterson, and Dr. and Mrs. Lanyon) has met up at Sir Danvers' home. Dr. Lanyon brings word that Agnes' fiancé, Dr. Henry Jekyll, will be late to the gathering. He then repeats a second-hand story about a man named Hyde, who injured a child in a collision on the street. The story upsets Utterson because Jekyll recently made a new will that gives his estate to a mysterious friend named Edward Hyde. Jekyll arrives; Utterson confronts him about the will, but Jekyll refuses to consider changing it.
Jekyll tells Agnes that they should end their engagement because of sins he has committed, but will not explain. Agnes refuses to accept this, and tells Jekyll she loves him. He relents, saying that she will help him control himself, and leaves. Sir Danvers joins his daughter, and they talk about their time in Mangalore, India. When Hyde suddenly enters, Sir Danvers tells Agnes to leave the room. The men argue, and Hyde strangles Sir Danvers.
In the second act, Hyde fears that he will be arrested for the murder. He gives his landlady, Rebecca, money to tell visitors that he is not home. Inspector Newcome from Scotland Yard offers Rebecca more money to turn Hyde in, which she promises to do. Hyde flees to Jekyll's laboratory, where Utterson is waiting to confront the doctor about his will; he insults Utterson and leaves. Rebecca, who has followed Hyde, arrives and tells Utterson that Hyde murdered Sir Danvers. In the play's original version, the act ends with Jekyll returning to his laboratory. In later versions (revised after its premiere), the second act contains an additional scene in which Jekyll returns home; his friends think he is protecting Hyde. Agnes, who saw Hyde before her father was murdered, wants Jekyll to accompany her to provide the police with a description, and is distraught when he refuses.
In the third act, Jekyll's servant, Poole, gives Dr. Lanyon a powder and liquid with instructions from Jekyll to give them to a person who will request them. While he waits, Lanyon speaks with Newcome, Rebecca, Agnes and Mrs. Lanyon. After the others leave, Hyde arrives for the powder and liquid. After arguing with Lanyon, he mixes them into a potion and drinks it; he immediately transforms into Jekyll.
In the final act, Jekyll has begun to change into Hyde without using the potion. Although he still needs it to change back, he has exhausted his supply. Dr. Lanyon tries to help Jekyll re-create the formula, but they are unable to find an ingredient. Jekyll asks Lanyon to bring Agnes to him, but Jekyll turns into Hyde before Lanyon returns. Utterson and Newcome arrive to arrest Hyde; knowing he can no longer transform back into Jekyll, Hyde commits suicide by taking poison.
Cast and characters.
The play was produced at the Boston Museum, Broadway's Madison Square Theatre and the Lyceum Theatre in London's West End with the following casts:
History.
Background and writing.
The Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson wrote "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" in 1885 when he was living in Bournemouth, on England's south coast. In January 1886 the novella was published in the United Kingdom by Longmans, Green &amp; Co. and by Charles Scribner's Sons in the United States, where it was frequently pirated because of the lack of copyright protection in the U.S. for works originally published in the UK. In early 1887, actor Richard Mansfield read Stevenson's novella and immediately got the idea to adapt it for the stage. Mansfield was looking for material that would help him achieve a reputation as a serious actor in the U.S., where he lived, and in England, where he had spent most of his childhood. He had played dual roles as a father and son in a New York production of the operetta "Rip Van Winkle", and saw another acting opportunity in playing Jekyll and Hyde. He thought the role was a theatrical novelty that would showcase his talents in a favorable way.
Although U.S. copyright law would have allowed him to produce an unauthorized adaptation, Mansfield secured the American and British stage rights. Performing in Boston, he asked a local friend, Thomas Russell Sullivan, to write a script. Sullivan had previously only written in his spare time while working as a clerk for Lee, Higginson &amp; Co., a Boston investment bank. Although he doubted that the novella would make a good play, he agreed to help Mansfield with the project, and they worked quickly to complete the adaptation before other, unauthorized versions could be staged.
First American productions.
After just two weeks of rehearsals, the play opened at the Boston Museum on May 9, 1887, as the first American adaptation of Stevenson's novella. On May 14, it closed for rewrites. The updated version opened at the Madison Square Theatre on Broadway on September 12. A. M. Palmer produced and Richard Marston designed the sets for the production. Sullivan invited Stevenson, who had moved to the U.S. that summer; Stevenson was ill, but his wife and mother attended and congratulated Sullivan on the play. The Madison Square production closed on October 1, when Mansfield took his company on a nationwide tour. The tour began at the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia and visited over a dozen cities, including several returns to Boston and New York. It ended at the Madison Square Theatre, where "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" was performed for a final season matinee on June 29, 1888.
In March 1888, while Mansfield's company was touring, Daniel E. Bandmann staged a competing production with the same name at Niblo's Garden. Bandmann's opening night (March 12) coincided with the Great Blizzard of 1888, and only five theatergoers braved the storm. One of the attendees was Sullivan, who was checking his competition. Bandmann's production inspired a letter from Stevenson to the New York "Sun" saying that only the Mansfield version was authorized and paying him royalties.
1888 London production.
The English actor Henry Irving saw Mansfield's performance in New York and invited him to bring the play to London, where Irving managed the Lyceum Theatre in the West End. Although the play was scheduled to premiere in September 1888, Mansfield discovered that Bandmann planned to open his competing version in August, and he rushed to recall his company from vacation.
Mansfield also worked with Irving and Stevenson's publisher, Longmans, to block Bandmann's production and those of other competitors. In the UK, unlike the U.S., the novella had copyright protection. Longmans brought legal actions against the unauthorized versions; its efforts blocked a William Howell Poole production from opening at the Theatre Royal in Croydon on July 26. That day, Fred Wright's Company B presented one performance of its adaptation at the Park Theatre in Merthyr Tydfil before it was also closed. Bandmann had the Opera Comique theater reserved from August 6, but hoped to open his production earlier. Irving blocked this by reserving the theater for Mansfield's rehearsals, and Mansfield's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" opened at the Lyceum on August 4. Bandmann went ahead with his August 6 opening, but after two performances the production was shut down because of legal action by Longmans.
Although Irving attended some of Mansfield's rehearsals, he did not remain in London for the opening. Mansfield worked with Irving's stage manager, H. J. Lovejoy, and "acting manager" Bram Stoker (who would later write the horror novel "Dracula") to stage the production. He was dissatisfied with Lovejoy's stagehands and complained to a friend, the drama critic William Winter, that they were "slow" and "argumentative". Since the Lyceum crew had staged many productions and had a good reputation, Winter thought it more likely that they disliked Mansfield. Regardless of the crew's motives, Mansfield became antagonistic towards Irving during his time there.
The Lyceum production of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" was scheduled to close on September 29, after which Mansfield intended to stage other plays. Initially, he followed this plan, introducing productions of "Lesbia" and "A Parisian Romance" at the beginning of October. However, Mansfield soon reintroduced "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" to his schedule and added performances between October 10 and October 20.
Association with Whitechapel murders.
On August 7, 1888, three days after the Lyceum opening of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", Martha Tabram was discovered stabbed to death in London's Whitechapel neighborhood. On August 31 Mary Ann Nichols was found, murdered and mutilated, in the same neighborhood. Press coverage linking these and other Whitechapel murders of women created a furor in London. The public and police suspected that some or all of the murders were committed by one person, who became known as Jack the Ripper. Some press reports compared the unidentified killer with the Jekyll and Hyde characters, suggesting that the Ripper led a respectable life during the day and became a murderer at night. On October 5, the City of London Police received a letter suggesting that Mansfield should be considered a suspect. The letter writer, who had seen him perform as Jekyll and Hyde, thought that Mansfield could easily disguise himself and commit the murders undetected.
Mansfield attempted to defuse public concern by staging the London opening of the comedy "Prince Karl" as a charity performance, despite Stoker's warning that critics would view it as an attempt to obtain favorable publicity for the production. Although some press reports suggested that Mansfield stopped performing "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" in London because of the murders, financial reasons are more likely. Despite widespread publicity due to the murders and Mansfield's disputes with Bandmann, attendance was mediocre, and the production was losing money. On December 1, Mansfield's tenancy at the Lyceum ended. He left London, taking his company on a tour of England. In December they performed "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and other plays in Liverpool and Derby, then continued to other cities and performed other plays.
After 1888.
When Mansfield left the UK in June 1889, he was deeply in debt because of production losses there. His debts included £2,675 owed to Irving, which Mansfield did not want to pay because he