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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1887 play)

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.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Playbill for 1888 London production
Written byThomas Russell Sullivan
Based onStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
by Robert Louis Stevenson
CharactersHenry Jekyll, Edward Hyde
Date premieredMay 9, 1887 (1887-05-09)
Place premieredBoston Museum
Original languageEnglish
SettingLondon

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

 
The story was adapted from a novella by Robert Louis Stevenson.

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[1] 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:[2]

 
Richard Mansfield commissioned and starred in the adaptation.
Casts of the major productions
Character Boston cast Broadway cast West End cast
Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde Richard Mansfield Richard Mansfield Richard Mansfield
General Sir Danvers Carew Boyd Putnam H. B. Bradley Mr. Holland
Dr. Lanyon Alfred Hudson Daniel H. Harkins Daniel H. Harkins
Gabriel Utterson Frazier Coulter John T. Sullivan John T. Sullivan
Poole James Burrows Harry Gwynette J. C. Burrows
Inspector Newcome Arthur Falkland C. E. Eldridge W. H. Compton
Jarvis J. K. Applebee, Jr. Thomas Goodwin F. Vivian
Mrs. Lanyon Kate Ryan Katherine Rogers Mrs. Daniel H. Harkins
Agnes Carew Isabelle Evesson Beatrice Cameron Beatrice Cameron
Rebecca Moore Emma V. Sheridan Helen Glidden Emma V. Sheridan

History

Background and writing

 
Thomas Russell Sullivan wrote the play in 1887.

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.[3] In January 1886 the novella was published in the United Kingdom by Longmans, Green & Co. and by Charles Scribner's Sons in the United States,[4] where it was frequently pirated because of the lack of copyright protection in the U.S. for works originally published in the UK.[5] 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,[6] and saw another acting opportunity in playing Jekyll and Hyde.[7] He thought the role was a theatrical novelty that would showcase his talents in a favorable way.[8]

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.[9] Sullivan had previously only written in his spare time while working as a clerk for Lee, Higginson & Co., a Boston investment bank.[10] 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.[9]

First American productions

 
The play premiered at the Boston Museum on May 9, 1887.

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.[11][a] On May 14, it closed for rewrites.[14] The updated version, produced by A. M. Palmer, opened at the Madison Square Theatre on Broadway on September 12 of that year. 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.[15][16] The Madison Square production closed on October 1, when Mansfield took his company on a nationwide tour.[17] The tour began at the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia[18] and visited over a dozen cities, including several returns to Boston and New York.[19] It ended at the Madison Square Theatre, where Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was performed for a final season matinee on June 29, 1888.[20]

In March 1888, while Mansfield's company was touring, Daniel E. Bandmann staged a competing production with the same name at Niblo's Garden.[21] Bandmann's opening night (March 12) coincided with the Great Blizzard of 1888, and only five theatergoers braved the storm.[22] One of the attendees was Sullivan, who was checking his competition.[15][16] 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.[23]

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.[24]

 
Penny Illustrated Paper illustration of scenes from the Lyceum production

Mansfield also worked with Irving and Stevenson's publisher, Longmans, to block Bandmann's production and those of other competitors.[24] 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.[25] Bandmann had the Opera Comique theater reserved from August 6, but hoped to open his production earlier.[26] 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.[24] Bandmann went ahead with his August 6 opening, but after two performances the production was shut down because of legal action by Longmans.[27]

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.[28] He was dissatisfied with Lovejoy's stagehands and complained to a friend, the drama critic William Winter, that they were "slow" and "argumentative".[29] Since the Lyceum crew had staged many productions and had a good reputation, Winter thought it more likely that they disliked Mansfield.[28][30] Regardless of the crew's motives, Mansfield became antagonistic towards Irving during his time there.[31][32]

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.[33]

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.[34][35] 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.[36]

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.[37] 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.[38] Despite widespread publicity due to the murders and Mansfield's disputes with Bandmann, attendance was mediocre, and the production was losing money.[39] 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.[40][41]

After 1888

When Mansfield left the UK in June 1889, he was deeply in debt because of production losses there.[42] His debts included £2,675 owed to Irving, which Mansfield did not want to pay because he felt that Irving had not supported him adequately at the Lyceum. Irving sued, winning the UK performance rights to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,[43] and Mansfield never performed in England again.[44]

In the U.S., the play became part of the repertory of Mansfield's company and was repeatedly performed during the 1890s and early 1900s. Mansfield continued in the title role, and Beatrice Cameron continued to play Jekyll's fiancée; the actors married in 1892.[45] In later years he staged the play less often, after becoming fearful that something would go wrong during the transformation scenes.[46] Mansfield's company last performed the play at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York on March 21, 1907. He fell ill soon afterward, and died on August 30 of that year.[47]

The play was closely associated with Mansfield's performance; a 1916 retrospective on adaptations of Stevenson's works indicated that Sullivan's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was no longer performed after Mansfield's death.[48] Although Irving obtained the UK performance rights, he never staged the play. His son, Harry Brodribb Irving, produced a new adaptation by J. Comyns Carr in 1910.[49] By that time, more than a dozen other stage adaptations had appeared;[50][51] the most significant was an 1897 adaptation by Luella Forepaugh and George F. Fish, made available in 1904 for stock theater performances as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Or a Mis-Spent Life.[52][53]

Dramatic analysis

Jekyll-Hyde transformation

 
Mansfield's dual performance, captured in a double exposure by the photographer Henry Van der Weyde

Although Mansfield's transformations between Jekyll and Hyde included lighting changes and makeup designed to appear different under colored filters, it was mainly accomplished by the actor's facial contortions and changes in posture and movement.[54][55] As Hyde, Mansfield was hunched over with a grimacing face and claw-like hands; he spoke with a guttural voice and walked differently than he did as Jekyll.[56][57] The effect was so dramatic that audiences and journalists speculated about how it was achieved. Theories included claims that Mansfield had an inflatable rubber prosthetic, that he applied chemicals, and that he had a mask hidden in a wig, which he pulled down to complete the change.[58][59] Mansfield denied such theories, emphasizing that he did not use any "mechanical claptrap" in his performance.[60]

In contrast to the novella, in which the physical transformation of Jekyll into Hyde is revealed near the end, most dramatic adaptations show it early in the play, because the audience is familiar with the story. As one of its first adapters, Sullivan worked in an environment where the transformation would still shock the audience, and he held the reveal until the third act.[61]

Changes from the novella

 
Beatrice Cameron played Agnes Carew, a character created for the play as Jekyll's romantic interest.

There were several differences between Sullivan's adaptation and Stevenson's novella. Stevenson used multiple narrators and a circular narrative (allowing material presented at the end to explain material presented at the beginning), but Sullivan wrote a linear narrative in chronological order.[62] This linear approach and the onstage action conveyed a stronger impression of realism, eliminating uncertainties in Stevenson's narrative.[63] Although making the story more straightforward and less ambiguous was not necessary for a theatrical adaptation, Sullivan's approach was typical of the era's stage melodramas and made the material more acceptable to audiences.[64] The stage presentation's realism also allowed Sullivan to drop the novella's scientific aspects. Although Stevenson used science to make the Jekyll-Hyde transformation plausible to readers, Sullivan could rely on the onstage transformations.[63] In the novella, the transformation is only presented via the account of Lanyon, never as direct narration to the reader.[65]

The playwright strengthened the contrast between Jekyll and Hyde compared to Stevenson's original; Sullivan's Hyde was more explicitly evil, and his Jekyll more conventional. In Stevenson's novella Jekyll is socially isolated and neurotic, and his motives for experimenting with the potion are ambiguous.[66] Sullivan's adaptation changed these elements of the character. His Jekyll is socially active and mentally healthy, and his motives for creating the potion are benign;[67] Sullivan's Jekyll tells Lanyon that his discovery will "benefit the world".[68] Later adaptations made further changes, representing Jekyll as noble, religious or involved in charitable work.[69] Mansfield's portrayal of Jekyll is less stereotypically good than later versions, and he thought that making the characterizations too simplistic would hurt the play's dramatic quality.[70]

Sullivan's version added women to the story; there were no significant female characters in Stevenson's original. The presence of women (especially Jekyll's fiancée, Agnes Carew) placed Jekyll in traditional social relationships, which made him seem more normal by contemporaneous standards.[62][71] Hyde behaved lecherously towards Agnes and cruelly towards his landlady, and his behavior towards women in this and later adaptations led to new interpretations of the character. In Stevenson's novella and Sullivan's play, Hyde is said to have committed unspecified crimes. Interpreters began to identify the crimes as sexual, positing sexual repression as a factor in Hyde's characterization.[72] However, Stevenson denied that this was his understanding of the character in his original story;[73] he said Hyde's immoralities were "cruelty and malice, and selfishness and cowardice", not sexual.[74]

In some interpretations of the novella, the male characters represent patriarchal society, with Hyde signifying its moral corruption. Other interpretations suggest that the lack of female companionship for the male characters indicates their latent homosexuality and that Hyde is engaged in homosexual activity. These interpretations are harder to apply to the play because of Sullivan's addition of female characters and heterosexual relationships.[75][76]

Mansfield and his American theatre company pronounced Jekyll with a short e (/ɛ/) instead of the long e (//) pronunciation Stevenson intended. The short e pronunciation is now used in most adaptations.[77]

Reception

Reviewing the play's initial production at the Boston Museum, The Boston Post "warmly congratulated" Sullivan on his script and said that it overcame the difficulties of turning Stevenson's story into a drama with only a few flaws. Mansfield's performance was praised for drawing a clear distinction between Jekyll and Hyde, although the reviewer found his portrayal of Hyde better crafted than his portrayal of Jekyll. Audience reaction was enthusiastic, with long applause and several curtain calls for Mansfield.[57] According to The Cambridge Tribune, the audience reaction affirmed "that the play and its production were a work of genius".[78]

The Broadway production also received positive reviews.[7][79] When it opened at the Madison Square Theatre, a New York Times reviewer complimented Mansfield for his acting and for overcoming the difficulty of presenting the story's allegorical material onstage.[80] According to a New-York Daily Tribune reviewer, Mansfield gave excellent performances as Jekyll and Hyde despite a few technical production flaws.[81] A Life review praised Sullivan's adaptation, particularly his addition of a love interest for Jekyll, and complimented the performances of Mansfield, Cameron and Harkins.[82]

The Lyceum production received mixed reviews, complimenting Mansfield's performance but criticizing the play as a whole.[39] A Sunday Times reviewer appreciated Mansfield's performance as Hyde and in the transformation scenes, but not as Jekyll, and called the overall play "dismal and wearisome in the extreme".[83] According to a Daily Telegraph review, Stevenson's story was unsuitable for drama and Sullivan had not adapted it well, but the performances of Mansfield and his company were praiseworthy.[84] A review in The Saturday Review criticized Sullivan's adaptation, saying that it presented only one aspect of the Jekyll character from Stevenson's story. The reviewer complimented Mansfield's acting, especially in the transformation scenes, but said that his performance could not salvage the play.[85] A review in The Theatre said that the play itself was not good, but it was an effective showcase for Mansfield's performance.[86]

Sharon Aronofsky Weltman summarizes the reception for Mansfield's performance as being mostly critical of his presentation of Jekyll, but universally positive about his performance as Hyde and his handling of the transformation between the two personas.[87]

Legacy

 
A 1920 film adaptation starring John Barrymore was derived from the play.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was a milestone in the careers of Sullivan and Mansfield. Sullivan left his banking job to become a full-time writer. He wrote three more plays (none successful), several novels, and a two-volume collection of short stories, many of which have Gothic elements. Sullivan attempted one more stage collaboration with Mansfield, a drama about the Roman emperor Nero, but they became estranged after its failure.[88] For the actor, playing Jekyll and Hyde helped establish his reputation for dramatic roles; he had been known primarily for comedies. Mansfield continued to struggle financially (in part because of his elaborate, expensive productions)[89] before he achieved financial stability in the mid-1890s with a string of successful tours and new productions.[90]

Influence on later adaptations

As the most successful early adaptation of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Sullivan's play influenced subsequent versions. Later adaptations followed his simplification of the narrative, addition of women characters (especially a romance for Jekyll) and highlighting of the moral contrast between Jekyll and Hyde. Most versions retain the practice of having one actor play Jekyll and Hyde, with the transformation seen by the audience.[62][91] Several early film versions relied more on Sullivan's play than Stevenson's novella.[92][93][b]

The Thanhouser Company produced a 1912 film version, directed by Lucius Henderson and starring James Cruze. The one-reel film, based on Sullivan's play,[95] may be an exception to the custom of one actor playing Jekyll and Hyde. Although Cruze was credited with a dual role, Harry Benham (who played the father of Jekyll's fiancée), said in 1963 that he had played Hyde in some scenes.[94][96][97]

In 1920, Famous Players-Lasky produced a feature-length version directed by John S. Robertson.[c] John Barrymore starred as Jekyll and Hyde, with Martha Mansfield as his fiancée. Clara Beranger's script followed Sullivan's play in having Jekyll engaged to Sir Carew's daughter, but also added a relationship between Hyde and an Italian dancer (played by Nita Naldi).[95] The addition of a female companion for Hyde became a feature of many later adaptations.[99][100] Weltman says the design for Hyde's residence in the movie may have been influenced by Mansfield's set decoration choices, based on descriptions given in contemporary reviews of the play.[101]

The first sound film based on Sullivan's play was a 1931 version, produced and directed by Rouben Mamoulian and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film's writers, Samuel Hoffenstein and Percy Heath, followed much of Sullivan's storyline.[102] Their screenplay adds a female companion for Hyde similar to Robertson's 1920 version,[103] but Hyde murders her, a plot point that Weltman believes was influenced by the real-world association of the play with Jack the Ripper.[104] Hoffenstein and Heath were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and the cinematographer Karl Struss was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Fredric March won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jekyll and Hyde.[105]

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released a 1941 film which was a remake of Mamoulian's 1931 film. Victor Fleming directed, and Spencer Tracy starred.[106] This version was nominated for three Academy Awards: Joseph Ruttenberg for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White; Harold F. Kress for Best Film Editing, and Franz Waxman for Best Score of a Dramatic Picture.[107]

According to the film historian Denis Meikle, Robertson, Mamoulian, and Fleming's films followed a pattern set by Sullivan's play: making Hyde's evil sexual and the Jekyll-Hyde transformation central to the performance. Meikle views this as a deterioration of Stevenson's original narrative initiated by Sullivan.[108] The literary scholar Edwin M. Eigner says of the play and movies based on it that "each [adaptation] did its bit to coarsen Stevenson's ideas".[77] Weltman says the play's association with Jack the Ripper also affected many adaptions, such as the 1990 Broadway musical Jekyll & Hyde and the 1971 film Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde.[109] However, many later adaptations diverged from the model established by Sullivan and the early films; some returned to Stevenson's novella, and others spun new variations from aspects of earlier versions.[110][111][112]

Notes

  1. ^ A parody of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde called The Strange Case of a Hyde and Seekyll was staged in London at Toole's Theatre on May 18, 1886.[12][13]
  2. ^ Other early film adaptations did not draw from Sullivan's version. These included a 1908 film of a theatrical performance, which was an abbreviation of the 1897 play by Forepaugh and Fish.[94]
  3. ^ A second Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde movie, written and directed by J. Charles Haydon, was also released in 1920. The Haydon film is not based on Sullivan's play and is very loosely adapted from Stevenson's novella.[98]

References

  1. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 12518.
  2. ^ Winter 1910b, pp. 262–264.
  3. ^ Cooper 1948, p. 48.
  4. ^ Geduld 1983, p. 185.
  5. ^ Cooper 1948, p. 56.
  6. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 500.
  7. ^ a b Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 561.
  8. ^ Blum 2014, pp. 106–107.
  9. ^ a b Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 565–576.
  10. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 783–786.
  11. ^ Rose 1996, p. 51.
  12. ^ Geduld 1983, pp. 193, 215.
  13. ^ Weltman 2020, p. 257 n9.
  14. ^ Winter 1910b, p. 262.
  15. ^ a b Sullivan 1917, p. 242.
  16. ^ a b Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 5322.
  17. ^ "The Theatres: Gossip of the Week". New-York Daily Tribune. October 2, 1887. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Winter 1910b, p. 263.
  19. ^ Wilstach 1908, p. 153.
  20. ^ "Theatrical Gossip". The New York Times. June 29, 1888. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ Winter 1910b, p. 264.
  22. ^ Ellis 2005, p. 402.
  23. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 6005.
  24. ^ a b c Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 611–634.
  25. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 111.
  26. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 5904.
  27. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 6124.
  28. ^ a b Steinmeyer 2013, p. 141.
  29. ^ Winter 1910a, p. 96.
  30. ^ Winter 1910a, p. 95.
  31. ^ Steinmeyer 2013, p. 150.
  32. ^ Winter 1910a, p. 91.
  33. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 195–231.
  34. ^ Curtis 2001, p. 78.
  35. ^ Weltman 2020, p. 191.
  36. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 9039.
  37. ^ Steinmeyer 2013, p. 148.
  38. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 1163.
  39. ^ a b Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 635
  40. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 249–254.
  41. ^ Winter 1910b, pp. 265–266.
  42. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 648.
  43. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 9294.
  44. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 254.
  45. ^ Winter 1910a, pp. 154–155.
  46. ^ Wilstach 1908, pp. 426–427.
  47. ^ Winter 1910b, pp. 297–298.
  48. ^ Hamilton 1916, p. 531.
  49. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 9305–9330.
  50. ^ Geduld 1983, pp. 215–216.
  51. ^ Miller 2005, pp. 44–47.
  52. ^ Miller 2005, p. 29.
  53. ^ Rose 1996, p. 37.
  54. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, 592.
  55. ^ "The Stage: Gossip about Plays and Actors". The New-York Daily Tribune. Vol. 47, no. 15, 015. December 25, 1887. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  56. ^ Wilstach 1908, pp. 144–148.
  57. ^ a b "The Theatres: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". The Boston Post. Vol. 112, no. 111. May 10, 1887. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  58. ^ Rose 1996, p. 49.
  59. ^ "Mr. Mansfield's Art". The New York Times. Vol. 27, no. 11, 331. December 25, 1887. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  60. ^ Blum 2014, p. 109.
  61. ^ Rose 1996, pp. 50–51.
  62. ^ a b c Twitchell 1985, pp. 241–242.
  63. ^ a b Rose 1996, pp. 45–49.
  64. ^ Rose 1996, pp. 30–31.
  65. ^ Weltman 2020, p. 194.
  66. ^ Rose 1996, pp. 51–52, 54–56.
  67. ^ Rose 1996, p. 35.
  68. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 2704.
  69. ^ Rose 1996, pp. 57–58.
  70. ^ Rose 1996, pp. 52–53.
  71. ^ Rose 1996, pp. 38–39.
  72. ^ Linehan 2003, pp. 86–87.
  73. ^ Linehan 2003, pp. 91–92.
  74. ^ November 1887 letter from Stevenson to John Paul Bocock, quoted in Goh 1999, p. 164.
  75. ^ Miller 2005, p. 26.
  76. ^ Linehan 2003, pp. 89–90.
  77. ^ a b Eigner 2015, p. 148.
  78. ^ "Dust". The Cambridge Tribune. Vol. 10, no. 10. May 14, 1887. p. 2.
  79. ^ Winter 1910a, p. 68.
  80. ^ "Amusements: Mr. Mansfield". The New York Times. Vol. 36, no. 11, 243. September 13, 1887. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  81. ^ "The Drama-Music: Richard Mansfield as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". New-York Daily Tribune. Vol. 47, no. 14, 912. September 13, 1887. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  82. ^ "Drama". Life. Vol. 10, no. 247. September 22, 1887. p. 164.
  83. ^ Review in The Sunday Times, August 5, 1888, reprinted in Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 5553–5581
  84. ^ Review in The Daily Telegraph, August 6, 1888, reprinted in Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 5582–5687
  85. ^ "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". The Saturday Review. Vol. 66, no. 1711. August 11, 1888. p. 173.
  86. ^ Review in The Theatre, September 1, 1888, reprinted in Geduld 1983, pp. 166–167
  87. ^ Weltman 2020, p. 190.
  88. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 785–808.
  89. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 690.
  90. ^ Danahay & Chisholm 2011, loc 700–740.
  91. ^ Miller 2005, p. 38.
  92. ^ Miller 2005, p. 192.
  93. ^ Weber 2015, pp. 216–217.
  94. ^ a b Nollen 1994, p. 168.
  95. ^ a b Wright 1986, p. 44.
  96. ^ King 1997, p. 9.
  97. ^ "Out of Hyding: The Dr. Jekyll of 1912!". Famous Monsters of Filmland. Vol. 5, no. 4. October 1963. p. 75.
  98. ^ Nollen 1994, pp. 174–178.
  99. ^ Twitchell 1985, pp. 246–247.
  100. ^ Semenza & Hasenfratz 2015, p. 104.
  101. ^ Weltman 2020, p. 258 n23.
  102. ^ Meehan 2010, p. 37.
  103. ^ Twitchell 1985, pp. 247–248.
  104. ^ Weltman 2020, pp. 195–198.
  105. ^ "The 5th Academy Awards | 1933". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  106. ^ Meehan 2010, p. 127.
  107. ^ "The 14th Academy Awards | 1942". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. from the original on October 11, 2014. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  108. ^ Meikle 2009, pp. 87–88.
  109. ^ Weltman 2020, pp. 185, 195, 257 n18.
  110. ^ Miller 2005, pp. 35–43.
  111. ^ Twitchell 1985, pp. 252–253.
  112. ^ Weber 2015, p. 15.

Works cited

  • Blum, Justin A. (November 2014). "The Lyceum Theatre and its Double: Richard Mansfield's Visit to the Greenwich Meridian of Late-Victorian Theatre". Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film. 41 (2): 102–121. doi:10.7227/NCTF.41.2.6.
  • Cooper, Lettice (1948). Robert Louis Stevenson. Denver: Alan Swallow. OCLC 798717.
  • Curtis, L. Perry, Jr. (2001). Jack the Ripper and the London Press. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-08872-8.
  • Danahay, Martin A. & Chisholm, Alex (2011) [2004]. Jekyll and Hyde Dramatized (Kindle ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-1870-1.
  • Eigner, Edwin M. (2015) [1966]. Robert Louis Stevenson and the Romantic Tradition. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-62360-3.
  • Ellis, Edward Robb (2005) [1966]. The Epic of New York City: A Narrative History. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-7867-1436-0.
  • Geduld, Harry M., ed. (1983). The Definitive Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Companion. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-9469-7.
  • Goh, Robbie B. H. (Spring 1999). "Textual Hyde and Seek: 'Gentility,' Narrative Play and Proscription in Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde". Journal of Narrative Theory. 29 (2): 158–183. doi:10.1353/jnt.2011.0003.
  • Hamilton, Clayton (January 1916). "Stevenson on the Stage". The Bookman. 42 (5): 526–532.
  • King, Charles (1997). "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: A Filmography". Journal of Popular Film & Television. 25 (1): 9–20. doi:10.1080/01956059709602745.
  • Linehan, Katherine Bailey (2003). "'Closer Than a Wife': The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll's Significant Other". In Jones, Jr., William B. (ed.). Robert Louis Stevenson Reconsidered: New Critical Perspectives. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-1399-7.
  • Meehan, Paul (2010). Horror Noir: Where Cinema's Dark Sisters Meet. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-4597-4.
  • Meikle, Denis (2009). A History of Horrors: The Rise and Fall of the House of Hammer. Jefferson, North Carolina: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-6353-8.
  • Miller, Renata Kobetts (2005). Recent Reinterpretations of Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Why and How This Novel Continues to Affect Us. Lewiston, New York: The Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 0-7734-5991-X.
  • Nollen, Scott Allen (1994). Robert Louis Stevenson: Life, Literature and the Silver Screen. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 0-89950-788-3.
  • Rose, Brian A. (1996). Jekyll and Hyde Adapted: Dramatizations of Cultural Anxiety. Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-29721-5.
  • Semenza, Greg M. Colón & Hasenfratz, Bob (2015). The History of British Literature on Film, 1895–2015. New York: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-62356-043-0.
  • Steinmeyer, Jim (2013). Who Was Dracula?: Bram Stoker's Trail of Blood. New York: Penguin. ISBN 978-1-101-60277-5.
  • Sullivan, Thomas Russell (August 1917). "Robert Louis Stevenson at Saranac". Scribner's Magazine. 62 (2): 242–246.
  • Twitchell, James B. (1985). Dreadful Pleasures: An Anatomy of Modern Horror. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-503566-6.
  • Weber, Johannes (2015). "Like Some Damned Juggernaut": The Proto-filmic Monstrosity of Late Victorian Literary Figures. Bamberg, Germany: University of Bamberg Press. ISBN 978-3-86309-348-8.
  • Weltman, Sharon Aronofsky (2020). Victorians on Broadway: Literature, Adaptation, and the Modern American Musical. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0-8139-4433-3.
  • Wilstach, Paul (1908). Richard Mansfield: The Man and the Actor. New York: Scribner's Sons. OCLC 2761680.
  • Winter, William (1910a). The Life and Art of Richard Mansfield: Volume One. New York: Moffat, Yard and Company. OCLC 1513656.
  • Winter, William (1910b). The Life and Art of Richard Mansfield: Volume Two. New York: Moffat, Yard and Company. OCLC 1513656.
  • Wright, Gene (1986). Horrorshows: The A-to-Z of Horror in Film, TV, Radio & Theater. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 0-8160-1014-5.

External links

jekyll, hyde, 1887, play, this, article, about, 1887, stage, adaptation, other, uses, jekyll, hyde, disambiguation, jekyll, hyde, four, play, written, thomas, russell, sullivan, collaboration, with, actor, richard, mansfield, adaptation, strange, case, jekyll,. This article is about the 1887 stage adaptation For other uses see Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde disambiguation 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 fiancee 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 Dr Jekyll and Mr HydePlaybill for 1888 London productionWritten byThomas Russell SullivanBased onStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hydeby Robert Louis StevensonCharactersHenry Jekyll Edward HydeDate premieredMay 9 1887 1887 05 09 Place premieredBoston MuseumOriginal languageEnglishSettingLondonAfter 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 fiancee 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 Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast and characters 3 History 3 1 Background and writing 3 2 First American productions 3 3 1888 London production 3 4 Association with Whitechapel murders 3 5 After 1888 4 Dramatic analysis 4 1 Jekyll Hyde transformation 4 2 Changes from the novella 5 Reception 6 Legacy 6 1 Influence on later adaptations 7 Notes 8 References 8 1 Works cited 9 External linksPlot Edit The story was adapted from a novella by Robert Louis Stevenson 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 fiance 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 1 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 EditThe 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 2 Richard Mansfield commissioned and starred in the adaptation Casts of the major productions Character Boston cast Broadway cast West End castDr Jekyll Mr Hyde Richard Mansfield Richard Mansfield Richard MansfieldGeneral Sir Danvers Carew Boyd Putnam H B Bradley Mr HollandDr Lanyon Alfred Hudson Daniel H Harkins Daniel H HarkinsGabriel Utterson Frazier Coulter John T Sullivan John T SullivanPoole James Burrows Harry Gwynette J C BurrowsInspector Newcome Arthur Falkland C E Eldridge W H ComptonJarvis J K Applebee Jr Thomas Goodwin F VivianMrs Lanyon Kate Ryan Katherine Rogers Mrs Daniel H HarkinsAgnes Carew Isabelle Evesson Beatrice Cameron Beatrice CameronRebecca Moore Emma V Sheridan Helen Glidden Emma V SheridanHistory EditBackground and writing Edit Thomas Russell Sullivan wrote the play in 1887 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 3 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 4 where it was frequently pirated because of the lack of copyright protection in the U S for works originally published in the UK 5 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 6 and saw another acting opportunity in playing Jekyll and Hyde 7 He thought the role was a theatrical novelty that would showcase his talents in a favorable way 8 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 9 Sullivan had previously only written in his spare time while working as a clerk for Lee Higginson amp Co a Boston investment bank 10 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 9 First American productions Edit The play premiered at the Boston Museum on May 9 1887 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 11 a On May 14 it closed for rewrites 14 The updated version produced by A M Palmer opened at the Madison Square Theatre on Broadway on September 12 of that year 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 15 16 The Madison Square production closed on October 1 when Mansfield took his company on a nationwide tour 17 The tour began at the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia 18 and visited over a dozen cities including several returns to Boston and New York 19 It ended at the Madison Square Theatre where Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was performed for a final season matinee on June 29 1888 20 In March 1888 while Mansfield s company was touring Daniel E Bandmann staged a competing production with the same name at Niblo s Garden 21 Bandmann s opening night March 12 coincided with the Great Blizzard of 1888 and only five theatergoers braved the storm 22 One of the attendees was Sullivan who was checking his competition 15 16 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 23 1888 London production Edit 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 24 Penny Illustrated Paper illustration of scenes from the Lyceum production Mansfield also worked with Irving and Stevenson s publisher Longmans to block Bandmann s production and those of other competitors 24 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 25 Bandmann had the Opera Comique theater reserved from August 6 but hoped to open his production earlier 26 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 24 Bandmann went ahead with his August 6 opening but after two performances the production was shut down because of legal action by Longmans 27 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 28 He was dissatisfied with Lovejoy s stagehands and complained to a friend the drama critic William Winter that they were slow and argumentative 29 Since the Lyceum crew had staged many productions and had a good reputation Winter thought it more likely that they disliked Mansfield 28 30 Regardless of the crew s motives Mansfield became antagonistic towards Irving during his time there 31 32 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 33 Association with Whitechapel murders Edit 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 34 35 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 36 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 37 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 38 Despite widespread publicity due to the murders and Mansfield s disputes with Bandmann attendance was mediocre and the production was losing money 39 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 40 41 After 1888 Edit When Mansfield left the UK in June 1889 he was deeply in debt because of production losses there 42 His debts included 2 675 owed to Irving which Mansfield did not want to pay because he felt that Irving had not supported him adequately at the Lyceum Irving sued winning the UK performance rights to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde 43 and Mansfield never performed in England again 44 In the U S the play became part of the repertory of Mansfield s company and was repeatedly performed during the 1890s and early 1900s Mansfield continued in the title role and Beatrice Cameron continued to play Jekyll s fiancee the actors married in 1892 45 In later years he staged the play less often after becoming fearful that something would go wrong during the transformation scenes 46 Mansfield s company last performed the play at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York on March 21 1907 He fell ill soon afterward and died on August 30 of that year 47 The play was closely associated with Mansfield s performance a 1916 retrospective on adaptations of Stevenson s works indicated that Sullivan s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was no longer performed after Mansfield s death 48 Although Irving obtained the UK performance rights he never staged the play His son Harry Brodribb Irving produced a new adaptation by J Comyns Carr in 1910 49 By that time more than a dozen other stage adaptations had appeared 50 51 the most significant was an 1897 adaptation by Luella Forepaugh and George F Fish made available in 1904 for stock theater performances as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Or a Mis Spent Life 52 53 Dramatic analysis EditJekyll Hyde transformation Edit Mansfield s dual performance captured in a double exposure by the photographer Henry Van der Weyde Although Mansfield s transformations between Jekyll and Hyde included lighting changes and makeup designed to appear different under colored filters it was mainly accomplished by the actor s facial contortions and changes in posture and movement 54 55 As Hyde Mansfield was hunched over with a grimacing face and claw like hands he spoke with a guttural voice and walked differently than he did as Jekyll 56 57 The effect was so dramatic that audiences and journalists speculated about how it was achieved Theories included claims that Mansfield had an inflatable rubber prosthetic that he applied chemicals and that he had a mask hidden in a wig which he pulled down to complete the change 58 59 Mansfield denied such theories emphasizing that he did not use any mechanical claptrap in his performance 60 In contrast to the novella in which the physical transformation of Jekyll into Hyde is revealed near the end most dramatic adaptations show it early in the play because the audience is familiar with the story As one of its first adapters Sullivan worked in an environment where the transformation would still shock the audience and he held the reveal until the third act 61 Changes from the novella Edit Beatrice Cameron played Agnes Carew a character created for the play as Jekyll s romantic interest There were several differences between Sullivan s adaptation and Stevenson s novella Stevenson used multiple narrators and a circular narrative allowing material presented at the end to explain material presented at the beginning but Sullivan wrote a linear narrative in chronological order 62 This linear approach and the onstage action conveyed a stronger impression of realism eliminating uncertainties in Stevenson s narrative 63 Although making the story more straightforward and less ambiguous was not necessary for a theatrical adaptation Sullivan s approach was typical of the era s stage melodramas and made the material more acceptable to audiences 64 The stage presentation s realism also allowed Sullivan to drop the novella s scientific aspects Although Stevenson used science to make the Jekyll Hyde transformation plausible to readers Sullivan could rely on the onstage transformations 63 In the novella the transformation is only presented via the account of Lanyon never as direct narration to the reader 65 The playwright strengthened the contrast between Jekyll and Hyde compared to Stevenson s original Sullivan s Hyde was more explicitly evil and his Jekyll more conventional In Stevenson s novella Jekyll is socially isolated and neurotic and his motives for experimenting with the potion are ambiguous 66 Sullivan s adaptation changed these elements of the character His Jekyll is socially active and mentally healthy and his motives for creating the potion are benign 67 Sullivan s Jekyll tells Lanyon that his discovery will benefit the world 68 Later adaptations made further changes representing Jekyll as noble religious or involved in charitable work 69 Mansfield s portrayal of Jekyll is less stereotypically good than later versions and he thought that making the characterizations too simplistic would hurt the play s dramatic quality 70 Sullivan s version added women to the story there were no significant female characters in Stevenson s original The presence of women especially Jekyll s fiancee Agnes Carew placed Jekyll in traditional social relationships which made him seem more normal by contemporaneous standards 62 71 Hyde behaved lecherously towards Agnes and cruelly towards his landlady and his behavior towards women in this and later adaptations led to new interpretations of the character In Stevenson s novella and Sullivan s play Hyde is said to have committed unspecified crimes Interpreters began to identify the crimes as sexual positing sexual repression as a factor in Hyde s characterization 72 However Stevenson denied that this was his understanding of the character in his original story 73 he said Hyde s immoralities were cruelty and malice and selfishness and cowardice not sexual 74 In some interpretations of the novella the male characters represent patriarchal society with Hyde signifying its moral corruption Other interpretations suggest that the lack of female companionship for the male characters indicates their latent homosexuality and that Hyde is engaged in homosexual activity These interpretations are harder to apply to the play because of Sullivan s addition of female characters and heterosexual relationships 75 76 Mansfield and his American theatre company pronounced Jekyll with a short e ɛ instead of the long e iː pronunciation Stevenson intended The short e pronunciation is now used in most adaptations 77 Reception EditReviewing the play s initial production at the Boston Museum The Boston Post warmly congratulated Sullivan on his script and said that it overcame the difficulties of turning Stevenson s story into a drama with only a few flaws Mansfield s performance was praised for drawing a clear distinction between Jekyll and Hyde although the reviewer found his portrayal of Hyde better crafted than his portrayal of Jekyll Audience reaction was enthusiastic with long applause and several curtain calls for Mansfield 57 According to The Cambridge Tribune the audience reaction affirmed that the play and its production were a work of genius 78 The Broadway production also received positive reviews 7 79 When it opened at the Madison Square Theatre a New York Times reviewer complimented Mansfield for his acting and for overcoming the difficulty of presenting the story s allegorical material onstage 80 According to a New York Daily Tribune reviewer Mansfield gave excellent performances as Jekyll and Hyde despite a few technical production flaws 81 A Life review praised Sullivan s adaptation particularly his addition of a love interest for Jekyll and complimented the performances of Mansfield Cameron and Harkins 82 The Lyceum production received mixed reviews complimenting Mansfield s performance but criticizing the play as a whole 39 A Sunday Times reviewer appreciated Mansfield s performance as Hyde and in the transformation scenes but not as Jekyll and called the overall play dismal and wearisome in the extreme 83 According to a Daily Telegraph review Stevenson s story was unsuitable for drama and Sullivan had not adapted it well but the performances of Mansfield and his company were praiseworthy 84 A review in The Saturday Review criticized Sullivan s adaptation saying that it presented only one aspect of the Jekyll character from Stevenson s story The reviewer complimented Mansfield s acting especially in the transformation scenes but said that his performance could not salvage the play 85 A review in The Theatre said that the play itself was not good but it was an effective showcase for Mansfield s performance 86 Sharon Aronofsky Weltman summarizes the reception for Mansfield s performance as being mostly critical of his presentation of Jekyll but universally positive about his performance as Hyde and his handling of the transformation between the two personas 87 Legacy Edit A 1920 film adaptation starring John Barrymore was derived from the play Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was a milestone in the careers of Sullivan and Mansfield Sullivan left his banking job to become a full time writer He wrote three more plays none successful several novels and a two volume collection of short stories many of which have Gothic elements Sullivan attempted one more stage collaboration with Mansfield a drama about the Roman emperor Nero but they became estranged after its failure 88 For the actor playing Jekyll and Hyde helped establish his reputation for dramatic roles he had been known primarily for comedies Mansfield continued to struggle financially in part because of his elaborate expensive productions 89 before he achieved financial stability in the mid 1890s with a string of successful tours and new productions 90 Influence on later adaptations Edit As the most successful early adaptation of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Sullivan s play influenced subsequent versions Later adaptations followed his simplification of the narrative addition of women characters especially a romance for Jekyll and highlighting of the moral contrast between Jekyll and Hyde Most versions retain the practice of having one actor play Jekyll and Hyde with the transformation seen by the audience 62 91 Several early film versions relied more on Sullivan s play than Stevenson s novella 92 93 b The Thanhouser Company produced a 1912 film version directed by Lucius Henderson and starring James Cruze The one reel film based on Sullivan s play 95 may be an exception to the custom of one actor playing Jekyll and Hyde Although Cruze was credited with a dual role Harry Benham who played the father of Jekyll s fiancee said in 1963 that he had played Hyde in some scenes 94 96 97 In 1920 Famous Players Lasky produced a feature length version directed by John S Robertson c John Barrymore starred as Jekyll and Hyde with Martha Mansfield as his fiancee Clara Beranger s script followed Sullivan s play in having Jekyll engaged to Sir Carew s daughter but also added a relationship between Hyde and an Italian dancer played by Nita Naldi 95 The addition of a female companion for Hyde became a feature of many later adaptations 99 100 Weltman says the design for Hyde s residence in the movie may have been influenced by Mansfield s set decoration choices based on descriptions given in contemporary reviews of the play 101 The first sound film based on Sullivan s play was a 1931 version produced and directed by Rouben Mamoulian and distributed by Paramount Pictures The film s writers Samuel Hoffenstein and Percy Heath followed much of Sullivan s storyline 102 Their screenplay adds a female companion for Hyde similar to Robertson s 1920 version 103 but Hyde murders her a plot point that Weltman believes was influenced by the real world association of the play with Jack the Ripper 104 Hoffenstein and Heath were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and the cinematographer Karl Struss was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography Fredric March won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jekyll and Hyde 105 Metro Goldwyn Mayer released a 1941 film which was a remake of Mamoulian s 1931 film Victor Fleming directed and Spencer Tracy starred 106 This version was nominated for three Academy Awards Joseph Ruttenberg for Best Cinematography Black and White Harold F Kress for Best Film Editing and Franz Waxman for Best Score of a Dramatic Picture 107 According to the film historian Denis Meikle Robertson Mamoulian and Fleming s films followed a pattern set by Sullivan s play making Hyde s evil sexual and the Jekyll Hyde transformation central to the performance Meikle views this as a deterioration of Stevenson s original narrative initiated by Sullivan 108 The literary scholar Edwin M Eigner says of the play and movies based on it that each adaptation did its bit to coarsen Stevenson s ideas 77 Weltman says the play s association with Jack the Ripper also affected many adaptions such as the 1990 Broadway musical Jekyll amp Hyde and the 1971 film Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde 109 However many later adaptations diverged from the model established by Sullivan and the early films some returned to Stevenson s novella and others spun new variations from aspects of earlier versions 110 111 112 Notes Edit A parody of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde called The Strange Case of a Hyde and Seekyll was staged in London at Toole s Theatre on May 18 1886 12 13 Other early film adaptations did not draw from Sullivan s version These included a 1908 film of a theatrical performance which was an abbreviation of the 1897 play by Forepaugh and Fish 94 A second Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde movie written and directed by J Charles Haydon was also released in 1920 The Haydon film is not based on Sullivan s play and is very loosely adapted from Stevenson s novella 98 References Edit Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 12518 Winter 1910b pp 262 264 Cooper 1948 p 48 Geduld 1983 p 185 Cooper 1948 p 56 Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 500 a b Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 561 Blum 2014 pp 106 107 a b Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 565 576 Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 783 786 Rose 1996 p 51 Geduld 1983 pp 193 215 Weltman 2020 p 257 n9 Winter 1910b p 262 a b Sullivan 1917 p 242 a b Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 5322 The Theatres Gossip of the Week New York Daily Tribune October 2 1887 p 12 via Newspapers com Winter 1910b p 263 Wilstach 1908 p 153 Theatrical Gossip The New York Times June 29 1888 p 2 via Newspapers com Winter 1910b p 264 Ellis 2005 p 402 Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 6005 a b c Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 611 634 Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 111 Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 5904 Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 6124 a b Steinmeyer 2013 p 141 Winter 1910a p 96 Winter 1910a p 95 Steinmeyer 2013 p 150 Winter 1910a p 91 Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 195 231 Curtis 2001 p 78 Weltman 2020 p 191 Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 9039 Steinmeyer 2013 p 148 Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 1163 a b Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 635 Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 249 254 Winter 1910b pp 265 266 Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 648 Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 9294 Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 254 Winter 1910a pp 154 155 Wilstach 1908 pp 426 427 Winter 1910b pp 297 298 Hamilton 1916 p 531 Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 9305 9330 Geduld 1983 pp 215 216 Miller 2005 pp 44 47 Miller 2005 p 29 Rose 1996 p 37 Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 592 The Stage Gossip about Plays and Actors The New York Daily Tribune Vol 47 no 15 015 December 25 1887 p 12 via Newspapers com Wilstach 1908 pp 144 148 a b The Theatres Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The Boston Post Vol 112 no 111 May 10 1887 p 4 via Newspapers com Rose 1996 p 49 Mr Mansfield s Art The New York Times Vol 27 no 11 331 December 25 1887 p 9 via Newspapers com Blum 2014 p 109 Rose 1996 pp 50 51 a b c Twitchell 1985 pp 241 242 a b Rose 1996 pp 45 49 Rose 1996 pp 30 31 Weltman 2020 p 194 Rose 1996 pp 51 52 54 56 Rose 1996 p 35 Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 2704 Rose 1996 pp 57 58 Rose 1996 pp 52 53 Rose 1996 pp 38 39 Linehan 2003 pp 86 87 Linehan 2003 pp 91 92 November 1887 letter from Stevenson to John Paul Bocock quoted in Goh 1999 p 164 Miller 2005 p 26 Linehan 2003 pp 89 90 a b Eigner 2015 p 148 Dust The Cambridge Tribune Vol 10 no 10 May 14 1887 p 2 Winter 1910a p 68 Amusements Mr Mansfield The New York Times Vol 36 no 11 243 September 13 1887 p 4 via Newspapers com The Drama Music Richard Mansfield as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde New York Daily Tribune Vol 47 no 14 912 September 13 1887 p 4 via Newspapers com Drama Life Vol 10 no 247 September 22 1887 p 164 Review in The Sunday Times August 5 1888 reprinted in Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 5553 5581 Review in The Daily Telegraph August 6 1888 reprinted in Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 5582 5687 Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde The Saturday Review Vol 66 no 1711 August 11 1888 p 173 Review in The Theatre September 1 1888 reprinted in Geduld 1983 pp 166 167 Weltman 2020 p 190 Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 785 808 Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 690 Danahay amp Chisholm 2011 loc 700 740 Miller 2005 p 38 Miller 2005 p 192 Weber 2015 pp 216 217 a b Nollen 1994 p 168 a b Wright 1986 p 44 King 1997 p 9 Out of Hyding The Dr Jekyll of 1912 Famous Monsters of Filmland Vol 5 no 4 October 1963 p 75 Nollen 1994 pp 174 178 Twitchell 1985 pp 246 247 Semenza amp Hasenfratz 2015 p 104 Weltman 2020 p 258 n23 Meehan 2010 p 37 Twitchell 1985 pp 247 248 Weltman 2020 pp 195 198 The 5th Academy Awards 1933 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Retrieved January 29 2017 Meehan 2010 p 127 The 14th Academy Awards 1942 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Archived from the original on October 11 2014 Retrieved January 29 2017 Meikle 2009 pp 87 88 Weltman 2020 pp 185 195 257 n18 Miller 2005 pp 35 43 Twitchell 1985 pp 252 253 Weber 2015 p 15 Works cited Edit Blum Justin A November 2014 The Lyceum Theatre and its Double Richard Mansfield s Visit to the Greenwich Meridian of Late Victorian Theatre Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film 41 2 102 121 doi 10 7227 NCTF 41 2 6 Cooper Lettice 1948 Robert Louis Stevenson Denver Alan Swallow OCLC 798717 Curtis L Perry Jr 2001 Jack the Ripper and the London Press New Haven Connecticut Yale University Press ISBN 0 300 08872 8 Danahay Martin A amp Chisholm Alex 2011 2004 Jekyll and Hyde Dramatized Kindle ed Jefferson North Carolina McFarland ISBN 978 0 7864 1870 1 Eigner Edwin M 2015 1966 Robert Louis Stevenson and the Romantic Tradition Princeton New Jersey Princeton University Press ISBN 978 0 691 62360 3 Ellis Edward Robb 2005 1966 The Epic of New York City A Narrative History New York Basic Books ISBN 978 0 7867 1436 0 Geduld Harry M ed 1983 The Definitive Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Companion New York Garland ISBN 0 8240 9469 7 Goh Robbie B H Spring 1999 Textual Hyde and Seek Gentility Narrative Play and Proscription in Stevenson s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Journal of Narrative Theory 29 2 158 183 doi 10 1353 jnt 2011 0003 Hamilton Clayton January 1916 Stevenson on the Stage The Bookman 42 5 526 532 King Charles 1997 Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde A Filmography Journal of Popular Film amp Television 25 1 9 20 doi 10 1080 01956059709602745 Linehan Katherine Bailey 2003 Closer Than a Wife The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll s Significant Other In Jones Jr William B ed Robert Louis Stevenson Reconsidered New Critical Perspectives Jefferson North Carolina McFarland ISBN 978 0 7864 1399 7 Meehan Paul 2010 Horror Noir Where Cinema s Dark Sisters Meet Jefferson North Carolina McFarland ISBN 978 0 7864 4597 4 Meikle Denis 2009 A History of Horrors The Rise and Fall of the House of Hammer Jefferson North Carolina Scarecrow Press ISBN 978 0 8108 6353 8 Miller Renata Kobetts 2005 Recent Reinterpretations of Stevenson sDr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Why and How This Novel Continues to Affect Us Lewiston New York The Edwin Mellen Press ISBN 0 7734 5991 X Nollen Scott Allen 1994 Robert Louis Stevenson Life Literature and the Silver Screen Jefferson North Carolina McFarland ISBN 0 89950 788 3 Rose Brian A 1996 Jekyll and Hyde Adapted Dramatizations of Cultural Anxiety Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies Westport Connecticut Greenwood Press ISBN 0 313 29721 5 Semenza Greg M Colon amp Hasenfratz Bob 2015 The History of British Literature on Film 1895 2015 New York Bloomsbury Academic ISBN 978 1 62356 043 0 Steinmeyer Jim 2013 Who Was Dracula Bram Stoker s Trail of Blood New York Penguin ISBN 978 1 101 60277 5 Sullivan Thomas Russell August 1917 Robert Louis Stevenson at Saranac Scribner s Magazine 62 2 242 246 Twitchell James B 1985 Dreadful Pleasures An Anatomy of Modern Horror New York Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 503566 6 Weber Johannes 2015 Like Some Damned Juggernaut The Proto filmic Monstrosity of Late Victorian Literary Figures Bamberg Germany University of Bamberg Press ISBN 978 3 86309 348 8 Weltman Sharon Aronofsky 2020 Victorians on Broadway Literature Adaptation and the Modern American Musical Charlottesville University of Virginia Press ISBN 978 0 8139 4433 3 Wilstach Paul 1908 Richard Mansfield The Man and the Actor New York Scribner s Sons OCLC 2761680 Winter William 1910a The Life and Art of Richard Mansfield Volume One New York Moffat Yard and Company OCLC 1513656 Winter William 1910b The Life and Art of Richard Mansfield Volume Two New York Moffat Yard and Company OCLC 1513656 Wright Gene 1986 Horrorshows The A to Z of Horror in Film TV Radio amp Theater New York Facts on File ISBN 0 8160 1014 5 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde play Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde at the Internet Broadway Database Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde 1887 play amp oldid 1131382848, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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