Jekyll & Hyde: On Stage At COS
by Terrance Mc Arthur
In 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a short novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, about a man who was beside himself, couldn’t get along with himself, was chemically split into two personalities: a good doctor, and a murderous, licentious monster. It was inspired by the 1700s figure William Brodie: cabinetmaker and city councilman by day, burglar and gang leader by night. According to legend, Stevenson wrote it in less than a week, burned the manuscript, then reconstructed it over the next two months. Jekyll and Hyde have become society’s shorthand for a person with two conflicting sides to his character.
