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• Jekyll and Hyde

  15 minutes

  Jekyll and HydeBy Robert Louis StevensonAdapted by Neil BartlettDirected by Sonya CameronPresented by Elmwood PlayersAuditions will be held on Saturday 12th July from 10:30am to 3.00pm, and Sunday 13th July from 1pm - 3pm, at the Elmwood Auditorium, 31 Aikman's Road.Onstage during the Sep/Oct school holidays 2025. All performances are 7.30pm (no matinees)• Thursday 25th - Saturday 27th September• Wednesday 1st - Saturday 4th OctoberAll cast members will be required for technical rehearsals all day on Sunday 21st September.Rehearsal dates and times will be determined according to availability of the cast, but will be sometime on Sunday, and at least two nights during the week, increasing to three nights a week as required. Everyone will be required for most if not all rehearsals.SynopsisIt is 1886. A female doctor opens the show by recalling that when she was a newly qualified member of staff in a London hospital she found herself presented with an horrendous case of assault on a teenage girl. In trying to establish the identity of the girl’s assailant, she finds herself drawn into a dark story of violence and privilege. Joined by male members of upper society, she helps track the culprit down – and finds him lurking right in the heart of the same conservative Establishment that runs the hospital where she had just started working, Dr Jekyll. Despite his intelligence, wealth and personal charm, Jekyll’s experiments appear to be getting out of control.CharactersDr Stevenson (late 20s/early 30s)Stevenson is a newly qualified doctor, recently admitted to a previously all-male profession. She’s fairly young, and tough – but it is also really important that she’s inexperienced. Every man she meets is her superior, and every doctor she meets could get her sacked. At key moments, she is dangerously attracted to the glamorous and controversial Dr Jekyll. She is intimidated by him – and also finally pushed beyond her fears into anger and action. Named for Robert Louis Stevenson.The Girl (character is in their mid to late teens, minimum actual age of actor is 16 years)Mr Hyde’s first victim in the novel is a young working-class girl who appears on page 3, and then promptly disappears on the same page. She is now given a voice and the violence against her the real starting point of the story. Finding out who assaulted this girl – and by implication wanting to identify the culprit in order to prevent further attacks – is really what drives Dr Stevenson and the Matron on their search for the truth.The Hospital Matron (40+)The Matron works in the hospital where Dr Stevenson has just been posted – but is much more experienced. In a practical sense, she runs the ward, and therefore the stage. She would definitely never have worked with a female doctor before. Professionally, she is as solid as a rock; stern, efficient and robust. The Matron doubles as Mrs Poole in the story. In this embodiment, she shows borderline-unpleasant relish for its bloodiest moment of physical horror. Mr Enfield (40s/50s)A pompous, middle-aged “man about town”, but with a few dodgy habits beneath his bluster. For instance, what exactly was he doing on the street where he first meets Mr Hyde at 3am?Mr Utterson (40s/50s)A very senior and well-connected lawyer. He was at school and college with Jekyll and is now his solicitor. He presents himself as leading a life (as he sees it) of iron-willed self-control and propriety. But he lies, often – or at least prevaricates – and deliberately withholds information both from the police and the audience. Crucially, he refuses to believe anything truly dodgy about his old school friend until it is way too late.Dr Lanyon (40s/50s)An older, conservative doctor. He was also at school with Jekyll, but a few years above him, as he presents as distinctively old-school. He too suspects the worst – and again, does nothing about it until it’s too late. His refusal to kill Hyde when he has the chance is paradoxically admirable.Inspector Newcome (35+)Newcome’s work as a detective is crucially hampered by the simple fact that he completely fails to imagine that the criminal might be from the same class as his informants, and so just assumes that he is looking for a random psychopath.Mr Guest (20s)A clerk in Dr Utterson’s legal chambers. He seems to love the gruesomeness of murder and crime – and completely fails to see anything dodgy in that fascination, or in the innuendo-laden “banter” he makes of it.Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde (35-50)Jekyll is in his prime: respected, cultivated, extremely wealthy – and single. He has a Wildean command of language, and also that characteristic combination of silky-smooth intellectual superiority with profound guilt and secrecy. The thing about Mr Hyde that everyone agrees on in the novel is that he is indefinably odd. Everyone says he appears to be inconsequential, slightly built and young – but they insist that there is something about him that is both curiously upsetting and profoundly chilling. However, no one is able to say exactly what it is about him that produces this effect. Eventually, of course, we see something that is more or less a psychopathic ape – a scuttling, gibbering little monster – a non-human – but that is at the very end of the story, not at its beginning. So, how does the actor who plays Dr Jekyll also play Mr Hyde? Well, first they have to accept – and relish – that they must literally have two bodies in order to play the two roles. They’ll need to change their voice (its class, its rhythm, its breathiness); their posture and their relation to space – and especially to change the rhythm of Jekyll’s walk into the alarming little pit-a-pat that Stevenson so brilliantly specifies for Hyde. Further information on the characters and the play will be sent when you make your appointment.AuditionsPlease arrive 10 mins prior to your audition. If on the day you are unable to make your audition, as a courtesy please text Sonya on 022 632 8975.Please prepare a monologue, approx. two minutes, that suits the character(s) you are going for. This will be followed by a cold read of pages of the script, which will be available in the foyer immediately prior to your audition. Each audition will be up to 15 minutes.Venue: Elmwood Auditorium, Aikmans Rd, Merivale

  Jekyll and Hyde

  By Robert Louis Stevenson

  Adapted by Neil Bartlett

  
  

  Directed by Sonya Cameron

  Presented by Elmwood Players

  
  

  Auditions will be held on Saturday 12th July from 10:30am to 3.00pm, and Sunday 13th July from 1pm - 3pm, at the Elmwood Auditorium, 31 Aikman's Road.

  
  

  Onstage during the Sep/Oct school holidays 2025. All performances are 7.30pm (no matinees)

  • Thursday 25th - Saturday 27th September

  • Wednesday 1st - Saturday 4th October

  
  

  All cast members will be required for technical rehearsals all day on Sunday 21st September.

  
  

  Rehearsal dates and times will be determined according to availability of the cast, but will be sometime on Sunday, and at least two nights during the week, increasing to three nights a week as required.

  
  

  Everyone will be required for most if not all rehearsals.

  
  

  
  

  Synopsis

  It is 1886. A female doctor opens the show by recalling that when she was a newly qualified member of staff in a London hospital she found herself presented with an horrendous case of assault on a teenage girl. In trying to establish the identity of the girl’s assailant, she finds herself drawn into a dark story of violence and privilege. Joined by male members of upper society, she helps track the culprit down – and finds him lurking right in the heart of the same conservative Establishment that runs the hospital where she had just started working, Dr Jekyll. Despite his intelligence, wealth and personal charm, Jekyll’s experiments appear to be getting out of control.

  
  

  Characters

  Dr Stevenson (late 20s/early 30s)

  Stevenson is a newly qualified doctor, recently admitted to a previously all-male profession. She’s fairly young, and tough – but it is also really important that she’s inexperienced. Every man she meets is her superior, and every doctor she meets could get her sacked. At key moments, she is dangerously attracted to the glamorous and controversial Dr Jekyll. She is intimidated by him – and also finally pushed beyond her fears into anger and action. Named for Robert Louis Stevenson.

  
  

  The Girl (character is in their mid to late teens, minimum actual age of actor is 16 years)

  Mr Hyde’s first victim in the novel is a young working-class girl who appears on page 3, and then promptly disappears on the same page. She is now given a voice and the violence against her the real starting point of the story. Finding out who assaulted this girl – and by implication wanting to identify the culprit in order to prevent further attacks – is really what drives Dr Stevenson and the Matron on their search for the truth.

  
  

  The Hospital Matron (40+)

  The Matron works in the hospital where Dr Stevenson has just been posted – but is much more experienced. In a practical sense, she runs the ward, and therefore the stage. She would definitely never have worked with a female doctor before. Professionally, she is as solid as a rock; stern, efficient and robust. The Matron doubles as Mrs Poole in the story. In this embodiment, she shows borderline-unpleasant relish for its bloodiest moment of physical horror.

  
  

  Mr Enfield (40s/50s)

  A pompous, middle-aged “man about town”, but with a few dodgy habits beneath his bluster. For instance, what exactly was he doing on the street where he first meets Mr Hyde at 3am?

  
  

  Mr Utterson (40s/50s)

  A very senior and well-connected lawyer. He was at school and college with Jekyll and is now his solicitor. He presents himself as leading a life (as he sees it) of iron-willed self-control and propriety. But he lies, often – or at least prevaricates – and deliberately withholds information both from the police and the audience. Crucially, he refuses to believe anything truly dodgy about his old school friend until it is way too late.

  
  

  Dr Lanyon (40s/50s)

  An older, conservative doctor. He was also at school with Jekyll, but a few years above him, as he presents as distinctively old-school. He too suspects the worst – and again, does nothing about it until it’s too late. His refusal to kill Hyde when he has the chance is paradoxically admirable.

  
  

  Inspector Newcome (35+)

  Newcome’s work as a detective is crucially hampered by the simple fact that he completely fails to imagine that the criminal might be from the same class as his informants, and so just assumes that he is looking for a random psychopath.

  
  

  Mr Guest (20s)

  A clerk in Dr Utterson’s legal chambers. He seems to love the gruesomeness of murder and crime – and completely fails to see anything dodgy in that fascination, or in the innuendo-laden “banter” he makes of it.

  
  

  Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde (35-50)

  Jekyll is in his prime: respected, cultivated, extremely wealthy – and single. He has a Wildean command of language, and also that characteristic combination of silky-smooth intellectual superiority with profound guilt and secrecy. The thing about Mr Hyde that everyone agrees on in the novel is that he is indefinably odd. Everyone says he appears to be inconsequential, slightly built and young – but they insist that there is something about him that is both curiously upsetting and profoundly chilling. However, no one is able to say exactly what it is about him that produces this effect. Eventually, of course, we see something that is more or less a psychopathic ape – a scuttling, gibbering little monster – a non-human – but that is at the very end of the story, not at its beginning. So, how does the actor who plays Dr Jekyll also play Mr Hyde? Well, first they have to accept – and relish – that they must literally have two bodies in order to play the two roles. They’ll need to change their voice (its class, its rhythm, its breathiness); their posture and their relation to space – and especially to change the rhythm of Jekyll’s walk into the alarming little pit-a-pat that Stevenson so brilliantly specifies for Hyde.

  
  

  Further information on the characters and the play will be sent when you make your appointment.

  
  

  Auditions

  
  

  Please arrive 10 mins prior to your audition. If on the day you are unable to make your audition, as a courtesy please text Sonya on 022 632 8975.

  
  

  Please prepare a monologue, approx. two minutes, that suits the character(s) you are going for. This will be followed by a cold read of pages of the script, which will be available in the foyer immediately prior to your audition. Each audition will be up to 15 minutes.

  
  

  Venue: Elmwood Auditorium, Aikmans Rd, Merivale