A Sentence of Sorts

The Pseudoscientists, Act I, scene 4: Don’t Forget to Smile

(Summary: We now get a glimpse into Jekyll’s private life. We learn that Jekyll and Hyde are two personas sharing one body, and that they seem to get along rather well. They negotiate plans for the evening. Afterwards, Jekyll gives a tour to some well-to-do potential patrons for the Society and introduces the grand Exhibition he has planned.)

Jekyll returns to his office, alone for the first time that morning. The office is tastefully decorated, lined with carefully arranged bottles and vials, most of them for show (the transformation potion being the stand-out). A perfectly clean, rarely used chemistry set sits in a glass cabinet by the window, along with some delicate and beautiful models of ships and flying machines. A map of the world, decorated with regional supernatural creatures, is pinned to the wall behind it. His desk itself, however, is meticulously clean, save for two neat piles of paperwork and a bottle of fine wine.

There is a long cheval glass along the wall, and as he passes by it, his reflection lingers, moving independently of the real Jekyll. This reflection has a distinctly different attitude from the real version: “Prissy little brat, isn’t she? I liked her better when she was a wolf.”

Jekyll replies back casually, as if addressing an old friend. “She did provide a bit of excitement, didn’t she? But paperwork-wise I favor her present incarnation.” He pours himself a drink, quite unperturbed by the apparition.

The two Jekylls banter back and forth a little, and the reflection in the mirror begins to change: at first he is a perfect copy of Jekyll, then his eyes change from deep red to emerald green, and then little by little he adopts the form of Mr. Hyde, looking a bit out of place in Jekyll’s stuffy clothes.

The mirror Hyde laughs about Lanyon’s utter defeat that morning. Here Jekyll hesitates. He does not share Hyde’s easy confidence in this matter: “He’ll be back, you know. Robert has never failed to follow through on a threat. And before that, you had best make yourself scarce." 

Hyde picks up on his meaning and balks: Surely Jekyll is not asking him to stay in tonight? Normally Jekyll allows him to do anything he wants, and Hyde seems puzzled by the very idea that Jekyll would try to tell him what to do. Testing the waters, he tells Jekyll his plans for the evening: there is to be a great black market bazaar* traveling through Blackfriars** this week, and he was planning on attending. Maybe he would hit up a couple of bars or a nice brothel on the way, but nothing extravagant. Besides, he heard the Forty Elephants gang would be selling their latest plunderings at the bazaar! How could anyone expect him to miss something like that?

Jekyll’s eyes wander over to the model flying machine. The bazaar does sound tempting…..

He is terribly worried that Lanyon will have people on the look-out for Hyde. But he has never once denied Hyde a night out, and he is not sure how to tell him no. He beats around the bush, insisting vaguely that he needs time to get the Society building cleaned up for the inspection, that he has people he needs to meet with, that he can’t go another night without decent sleep….

But Hyde’s enthusiasm for the raid easily overpowers any of Jekyll’s objections, and like an indulgent parent of a spoiled child, Jekyll finally gives in. He tells himself that Hyde has never been caught before–what’s the harm in giving him tonight?

Then, a knock at the door: one of Jekyll’s assistants arrives to announce that he has guests, a wealthy looking couple looking to become patrons of the Society. Without missing a beat, Jekyll drains his wine glass and once again takes on the persona of the charming host, leaving no sign that he had just been talking to his doppelganger.

But through the power of Movie Magic, we see that Hyde does not simply disappear the moment that Jekyll leaves. As the good doctor tends to his guests, we see Hyde lurking unseen in reflections and shadows, revealing Jekyll’s darker inner thoughts right along side his smiling façade.

*I just made this idea up, by the way. In my mind it looks something like a traveling ComicCon for fantastical occult and science things. 

**an utterly random location, sorry

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Jekyll is giving the tour in order to promote a New Works Exhibition where the members of the Society show off their latest inventions*. Jekyll hopes that not only will the show allow the more promising scientists to receive funding and support, but that it will raise awareness of experimental science in general. He hopes that it will raise his profession up to the level of a respectable fiend of study in the eyes of mainstream society, rather than the mere curiosity it is now. That way, it will be forever out of the clutches of people like Lanyon, who are bent on ruining them.

Jekyll watches the couple closely for their reaction. It is clear that he deeply values their approval and gets enormous satisfaction from performing well for them.

The couple** seem interested and ask Jekyll: now, what of your own work will you be showing?. Jekyll insists modestly, “Oh, I wouldn’t wish to bore you with my personal work. It’s very dull and academic!” (This is followed by rather less modest commentary from Hyde.) He admits that he hasn’t really had time for new experiments since the Society began to pick up speed. 

But doesn’t he ever miss it, his old work? "Miss what? Running about at all hours of the night, scavenging for some secret ingredient or another? Who on earth would miss that?" 

And with that painfully forced and hopefully temporary transition, we can now hard cut to our next scene: …

*this scene feels really expositiony

**who are these guys? They’re from the same social sphere as Lanyon, so perhaps they should be linked to him somehow. IDK. Maybe they were from the party from last night?