Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Hope Dickson Leach to direct stage play and feature film

Hope Dickson Leach, the BAFTA-winning writer/director of the 2016 film The Levelling (watch it HERE), is now set to direct what’s being referred to as a “hybrid adaptation” of the Robert Louis Stevenson novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This adaptation will start out as a live stage play – Variety reports that “audiences will enter a live filmset built within the atmospheric setting of Edinburgh’s historic Leith Theatre, over February 25, 26 and 27, 2022.” Following the performance on the 27th, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde will be livestreamed to select Scottish cinemas. Over the next week, the show will be screened “as live” (performed as if it were live, but broadcast after a short delay) in UK cinemas.

Can’t make it to any of those performances or showings? That’s okay, because footage captured during the performances will be edited together into a feature film that will be broadcast on Sky Arts in the fall of 2023. The film will be shot in black and white by David Liddell. Both the film and the live event will feature new electronic music by DJ and music producer Hudson Mohawke. (A big fan of Hudson Hawk?)

Written by Leach and Vlad Butucea, developed with theater dramaturg Rosie Kellagher, this version of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde moves the story from London to Victorian Edinburgh. It follows

Gabriel Utterson as he enters a world of dark duplicity to uncover the identity of the mysterious Mr. Hyde and the hold he has over Utterson’s old friend Dr Jekyll.

The project is coming to us from National Theatre of Scotland and Selkie Productions, in association with Screen Scotland and Sky Arts. It’s supported by Weston Culture Fund, Sir Ewan and Lady Brown, The Foyle Foundation, The Britford Bridge Trust, The William Syson Foundation and The Woolbeding Charity.

Leach has this to say about her approach to The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde:

What better tale to explore hybrid storytelling? Working with the National Theatre of Scotland to create this innovative piece has not only allowed me to collaborate with some of the most talented theatre and film makers in Scotland, but also to explore the narrative and formal questions that inspire me as an artist.”

This does sound like quite an interesting project. I look forward to seeing how the feature film version turns out.