Jekyll & Hyde the classic tale from one of Scotland’s best-loved storytellers is brilliantly interpreted for the stage by Mull Theatre, one of Scotland’s busiest and most acclaimed theatre companies, in association with the Scottish Touring Theatres Consortium, an innovative and successful theatre marketing and development group with a fine track record in supporting quality, accessible theatre. The play will be on tour from 16 September to 27 November 2004.

The STTC has been awarded Scottish Arts Council funding for a pilot scheme, in which the Consortium commission and produce new drama to take to touring venues across the country. Cumbernauld Theatre was selected to produce the first play on their behalf, and the resulting show, Salt o' the Earth, by Little John Nee, completed a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe, followed by a five week tour of Scotland. This production of Jekyll & Hyde marks the first commissioning of a company outside the Consortium to produce work specifically for its members.  Mull Theatre has a strong association of working with members of the STTC and has performed in their theatres over many years. This production provides an excellent opportunity for both organisations to work together to create a tour which will cover virtually the whole of Scotland.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s 19th-century drug-induced split personality classic is brought up to date in Mull Theatre’s exuberant theatrical style. Both an engaging tale of horror and a deeply audacious account of the human psyche, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde explores scientific ethics and the limits of knowledge. A chilling horror story with all the best ingredients - dark nights, fog, and a murderer walking the streets...

This adaptation is true to the story, complete with Gothic themes and settings. The location is not specific, but suggests both the atmosphere of fog-bound London in the times of Jack the Ripper as well as the old and new towns of Edinburgh.

Alasdair McCrone and Robert Paterson also adapted RL Stevenson’s Kidnapped in 2003, and this acclaimed production proved so successful that it has been twice revived in 2004, with a week at The Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, a week at Eden Court, Inverness, and two weeks at Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum…

The Consortium is a collective of middle–scale venues and promoters throughout Scotland which aims to “make popular theatre challenging and challenging theatre popular”. The group is managed by six core venues who work together to programme and commission work that their audiences will enjoy and be challenged by.

Consortium Chair Simon Sharkey says, “The Consortium has been going for some time, breaking new ground, and has already worked with Mull Theatre in reaching audiences on tour, which has led to this, our first co-production, and heralds a bright new future for us both in reaching out to a wide range of audiences with plays we both feel passionate about.”

Mull’s Artistic Director Alasdair McCrone agrees, and is delighted that the tour of Jekyll & Hyde will engage with such a wide range of audiences.  “It’s great to work so closely with the Consortium knowing that all the theatres have such a strong belief in the material and have ownership of the production. This tour will make a tremendous impact over a considerable period and will reach almost every corner of the country.”

As director and co-adaptor of the script, McCrone respects the strong Scots literary tradition. He feels that is it important to adapt literary classics for the stage to re-introduce them to a new audience. He says, “Working on Jekyll & Hyde has been a very different challenge from Kidnapped, which was a pretty straight adaptation of the linear plot of the novel. There have been more than 80 film versions of Jekyll & Hyde, not to mention numerous stage adaptations - a sure sign of the global appeal of this famous story, but also an indication that there are many ways of approaching the text: none of them definitive.

“Most adaptors have taken extreme liberties with Stevenson’s plot because the original serialised novella tells the story through letters, reports and reminiscences of several characters, eventually shocking readers with the truth of Jekyll’s dual identity. Modern audiences already know all that, and a simple retelling of the story wouldn’t have much artistic ambition and would struggle to scare 21st-century audiences the way the novella did its Victorian readers.

“Our version attempts to probe beyond the veneer of civilised society, through the hypocrisy and guilt of the main characters. This should be an entertaining and theatrically ambitious production which, we hope, will still have the ability to shock.”

 TOUR DETAILS - JEKYLL & HYDE TOUR AUTUMN 2004 

• 16-18 September   Cumbernauld Theatre
• 20 September   Motherwell Civic Theatre
• 21-22 September   Byre Theatre, St Andrews
• 24-25 September   Howden Park, Livingston
• 27-29 September   Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline
• 30 September-2 October   Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh
• 4 October   Peterhead Theatre
• 5 October   Inverurie Town Hall
• 6 October   Macduff Arts Centre
• 7 October   Elgin Town Hall
• 8 October   Stonehaven Town Hall
• 9 October   Aberdeen Arts Centre
• 12-13 October   Palace Theatre, Kilmarnock
• 14-15 October   Paisley Art Centre
• 16 October   Arts Guild Theatre, Greenock
• 20 October   Falkirk Town Hall
• 21 October   Ryan Centre, Stranraer
• 23 October   Barrfield Theatre, Vikingar, Largs
• 25 October to 6 November Highland tour
• 10-13 November   Dundee Rep
• 15-27 November   Highland tour
  

For further information contact Sheena Miller at Mull Theatre on 01688 302828, email marketing@mulltheatre.com