Swaths of blood-red brocade hang from ceiling to floor, framing the intimate black-box stage space where the alternative Theatre Du Jour will retell Robert Lewis Stevenson’s archetypal tale of a man of terrifying duplicity — the good, upstanding Dr. Jekyll, who becomes, by turns, the depraved M r. Hyde. The oft-adapted 1886 novella (it’s even a Broadway musical) has been interpreted innumerable ways, including as a metaphor for the psychology of ostensibly decent dudes who turn out to be secret psychopaths. More generally, Stevenson’s Jekyll-and-Hyde dichotomy has become the go-to pop-culture trope for explaining why men suddenly seem to change personalities — a not uncommon occurrence, to hear many women tell. Adapted by Theatre Du Jour co-founder B. Stanley, the compelling script stays close to Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and because it consists mainly of engrossing narrative monologues delivered directly to the audience, it plays rather like readers’ theater, except off-book and with blocking, light cues, sound effects, and sartorially elegant costumes. The effect, even if one already knows the chilling story, is absorbing in a way that, curiously, prompts contemporary contemplation about the state our country is in. Chuck Young (as Mr. Utterson) and Jerry Herbilla (as Mr. Hyde) in ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.’ Publicity photo courtesy of Theatre Du Jour. That interpretive leap appears to have been intended. Stanley, who also directed and designed the production, shares in a program note that he was drawn to The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde because it seemed to him to explain why, in our polarized nation, “so many people seem to follow blindly, and with complete denial, a political program that most citizens find an affront to their rights and sense of civility. Reading Stevenson’s novella gave me a glimpse as to how that might happen. That there is a fundamental craving somewhere in each of us to cross the line and not only commit heinous acts but to find pleasure by doing so. Or to allow such acts by someone else and take pleasure vicariously.” Given that more Americans describe the morality and ethics of other Americans as bad (53%) than as good (47%), according to recent Pew research, one might reasonably conclude that Stanley’s reading is on point — and that the United States is in the throes of a Jekyll-and-Hyde disjunction: America the beautiful and bountiful versus America the beligerant and bellicose. Hearing the actors’ recitation in the production now on stage at the DC Arts Center makes Stevenson’s story come alive vividly in one’s mind’s eye. Stevenson’s language when spoken aloud is richly imagistic and theatrical and leaves one rapt. In the beginning, Mr. Utterson, a dapper lawyer (Chuck Young), together with his debonair cousin Mr. Enfield (Terence Samuel), draws us into his investigation of the uncanny connection between his friend and client, the respected Dr. Jekyll, and a horrific incident in which an unidentified man stomped on a girl child in the street and left her screaming and a subsequent incident in which an unidentified man caned a colleague to death. In a solo scene, an intense Dr. Jekyll (Jerry Herbilla), seated at a desk, anxiously writes out, as if in a letter, an expository monologue in which he describes his two separate lives, one of which is capable of exactly such monstrous deeds: “Many men would have bragged about the sins I was guilty of; but I regarded and hid them with a deep sense of shame…. I was profoundly a double-dealer.” We, the audience, now know what Dr. Jekyll knows and are primed to follow the other characters — longtime physician friend Dr. Lanyon (Kim Curtis) and Jekyll’s loyal maid Mrs. Poole (Annetta Dexter Sawyer) — as they discover and face the fact that the good doctor and the evil Mr. Hyde are one and the same. They are shocked, shaken, and stupefied. “How is it possible,” sums up Mr. Utterson, “that someone so good could also possess a nature so wholly evil?” And that haunting question takes on greater and greater resonance the more one reflects on the fraught moment we’re in as a nation. Dr. Jekyll could not continue compartmentalizing his discrepant identities; he tried but failed; the evil one took over. The damningly ominous metaphor looms large. TOP: Terence Samuel (as Mr. Enfield) and Chuck Young (as Mr. Utterson) in ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.’ Publicity photo courtesy of Theatre Du Jour. ABOVE: The Theatre Du Jour set. DCTA photo. Theatre Du Jour, which has been mounting an experimental work approximately annually since the 1980s, here serves the storytelling well with a particularly effective sound design by Rob Gould and Brian Zellmer (featuring low drones and rumbles, horse clopping, an eerie burble) together with dramatic interscene lighting by Alex Anthes Rojas. In earnest performances by the cast, the grim text is conveyed clearly and convincingly. Although on opening night they seemed somewhat hesitant and unsure, inserting unnecessary interstitial pauses, their pace is likely to improve as the run progresses. Fundamentally, their commitment to telling this alarmingly thought-provoking and eye-opening story is what matters and what most comes through. Running Time: Approximately 85 minutes, no intermission. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde plays through April 26, 2026 (Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 7:30 pm), presented by Theatre Du Jour performing at the DC Arts Center (DCAC), 2438 18th Street, Washington, DC. Purchase tickets ($39.19) online. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. HydeBy Robert Louis StevensonAdapted, Directed, and Designed by B. Stanley Sound Design by Rob Gould Brian ZellmerLighting Design by Alex Anthes RojasTechnicians: Alex Anthes Rojas Lillian Mokie CASTMr. Utterson: Chuck YoungDr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde: Jerry HerbillaMrs. Poole: Annetta Dexter SawyerMr. Enfield: Terence SamuelDr. Lanyon: Kim Curtis The post Theatre Du Jour sees ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ as the character of our country appeared first on DC Theater Arts. ...read more read less