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Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
A new version, from award-winning poet Glyn Maxwell, of Robert Louis Stevenson's Gothic masterpiece. A decent man finds himself stalked and confronted by his own evil alter-ego.
80 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 5, 2019
About the author
Glyn Maxwell
52 books46 followersGlyn Maxwell is a poet and playwright. He has also written novels, opera libretti, screenplay and criticism.
His nine volumes of poetry include The Breakage, Hide Now, and Pluto, all of which were shortlisted for either the Forward or T. S. Eliot Prizes, and The Nerve, which won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. He was one of the original ‘New Generation Poets’ in 1993, along with Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy and Don Paterson. His poetry has been published in the USA since 2000. His Selected Poems, One Thousand Nights and Counting, was published on both sides of the Atlantic in 2011. He has a long association with Derek Walcott, who taught him in Boston in the late 1980s, and whose Selected Poems he edited in 2014.
On Poetry, a guidebook for the general reader, was published by Oberon in their Masters Series in 2012. It was described by Hugo Williams in The Spectator as ‘a modern classic’ and by Adam Newey in The Guardian as ‘the best book about poetry I’ve ever read.’
Fifteen of Maxwell’s plays have been staged in London and New York, including Liberty at Shakespeare’s Globe, The Lifeblood at Riverside Studios, and The Only Girl in the World at the Arcola, as well as work at the Almeida, Theatre 503, Oxford Playhouse, the Hen and Chickens, and RADA. He has written extensively for the Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre in Chester.
His opera libretti include The Firework Maker’s Daughter (composer David Bruce) which was shortlisted for ‘Best New Opera’ at the Oliviers in 2014, Seven Angels (Luke Bedford) inspired by Paradise Lost, and The Lion’s Face (Elena Langer), a study of dementia. All of these were staged at the Royal Opera House and toured the UK.
He is currently working on a screen adaptation of Henry James’s The Beast in the Jungle for the Dutch director Clara Van Gool.
His nine volumes of poetry include The Breakage, Hide Now, and Pluto, all of which were shortlisted for either the Forward or T. S. Eliot Prizes, and The Nerve, which won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. He was one of the original ‘New Generation Poets’ in 1993, along with Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy and Don Paterson. His poetry has been published in the USA since 2000. His Selected Poems, One Thousand Nights and Counting, was published on both sides of the Atlantic in 2011. He has a long association with Derek Walcott, who taught him in Boston in the late 1980s, and whose Selected Poems he edited in 2014.
On Poetry, a guidebook for the general reader, was published by Oberon in their Masters Series in 2012. It was described by Hugo Williams in The Spectator as ‘a modern classic’ and by Adam Newey in The Guardian as ‘the best book about poetry I’ve ever read.’
Fifteen of Maxwell’s plays have been staged in London and New York, including Liberty at Shakespeare’s Globe, The Lifeblood at Riverside Studios, and The Only Girl in the World at the Arcola, as well as work at the Almeida, Theatre 503, Oxford Playhouse, the Hen and Chickens, and RADA. He has written extensively for the Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre in Chester.
His opera libretti include The Firework Maker’s Daughter (composer David Bruce) which was shortlisted for ‘Best New Opera’ at the Oliviers in 2014, Seven Angels (Luke Bedford) inspired by Paradise Lost, and The Lion’s Face (Elena Langer), a study of dementia. All of these were staged at the Royal Opera House and toured the UK.
He is currently working on a screen adaptation of Henry James’s The Beast in the Jungle for the Dutch director Clara Van Gool.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 28, 2022
I've been reading a lot of dramatic Jekyll and Hyde adaptations lately, and I've gotten the sense that as long as there's one character named Jekyll who uses a potion to divide out an evil half named Hyde, that's really all one needs to call something a version of Stevenson's novel. Many of the adaptations have virtually nothing else in common with the novel--including this play.
The majority of this play is a conflict between Lady Gabriel Utterson and her niece Rose Palfrey. Gabriel had been Jekyll's supporter and research assistant--though as a woman she couldn't become a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences--but then she broke with him when his ideas got too bizarre. But now, when Jekyll seems to be in a crisis and is sending letters begging for her help, Gabriel's headstrong and independent niece Rose has come to London. Rose wanders by herself, pursues her scientific interests, and basically refuses to heed Gabriel's warnings. This thematically parallels Jekyll's pursuit of knowledge at any price, even when it poses a danger to himself and others. Gabriel also tries to talk him out of the experiment that divides him--and there are actually two separate actors who play Jekyll and Hyde, which is quite unusual for stage versions. The actual plot of the play is somewhat difficult to follow, especially in the written version (it might be clearer on stage), but basically, Rose ends up helping Jekyll perfect his formula when she accidentally breathes on a vial. However, this discovery is made just as the mob is closing in to lynch Jekyll/Hyde for the murder of Sir Danvers Carew. At Rose's insistence, Jekyll and Hyde embrace, signifying their acceptance of one another as a unified self.
https://youtu.be/1n81YaxBDio
The majority of this play is a conflict between Lady Gabriel Utterson and her niece Rose Palfrey. Gabriel had been Jekyll's supporter and research assistant--though as a woman she couldn't become a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences--but then she broke with him when his ideas got too bizarre. But now, when Jekyll seems to be in a crisis and is sending letters begging for her help, Gabriel's headstrong and independent niece Rose has come to London. Rose wanders by herself, pursues her scientific interests, and basically refuses to heed Gabriel's warnings. This thematically parallels Jekyll's pursuit of knowledge at any price, even when it poses a danger to himself and others. Gabriel also tries to talk him out of the experiment that divides him--and there are actually two separate actors who play Jekyll and Hyde, which is quite unusual for stage versions. The actual plot of the play is somewhat difficult to follow, especially in the written version (it might be clearer on stage), but basically, Rose ends up helping Jekyll perfect his formula when she accidentally breathes on a vial. However, this discovery is made just as the mob is closing in to lynch Jekyll/Hyde for the murder of Sir Danvers Carew. At Rose's insistence, Jekyll and Hyde embrace, signifying their acceptance of one another as a unified self.
https://youtu.be/1n81YaxBDio
Displaying 1 of 1 review