Acie Cargill

Dr. Jekll and Mr. Hyde - A Modernized Play Acie Cargill

Near the end of the 19th century, Robert Lewis Stevenson wrote an unusual and fantastic story about a Doctor Jekyll who experimented with trying to find a chemical basis for good and evil. He tried the chemical on himself and temporarily became the evil Mr. Hyde. In this updated version, Dr. Jekyll is a molecular scientist looking for the genes that could make a person evil. Those genes were part of the early evolution of mankind and were eventually disabled by being wrapped in DNA. Dr. Jekyll is looking for the ancient genes for violence and a way to unwrap the gene and make it viable. The other characters include Dr. Jekyll's girlfriend, Elizabeth, his pal Robert Louis Stevenson, and of course, the evil Edward Hyde. This is a short play, but preserves the main plot components.