A Sentence of Sorts

The Pseudoscientists, Act I, Scene 7: A Very Old Friend

(Now that the initial excitement of the night is over, Hyde has the time to process the reappearance of an old friend, long thought dead. He relates the beginning of a strange story to Rachel as they wait for the commotion outside to calm down. Also we set up the existence of Jekyll’s old, abandoned lab for later on.)

The noise from disturbed neighbors gradually grows as the man on horseback seeks out the Creature. He makes quite a mess of the street, and the creatures yelp and howl, but his victim is already safe inside with Hyde and Rachel. 

The room they are in is in total darkness. Rachel lights a small candle and they pause for a moment, waiting for the noise outside to die down a little. The candle illuminates hints of whimsical flying machines and bottles brimming with strange and glistening liquid of every shape and sort: it is half curiosity cabinet and half mad scientist’s lab. Hyde seems vaguely unsettled by their surroundings, so Rachel offers an explanation. “I found this entrance back when Dr. Jekyll used to do experiments in here, before he got quite so busy and popular. It’s his old laboratory." 

"I know that!” snaps Hyde.

“You do?” This puzzles Rachel–she’s never seen him come through here before. Realizing his mistake, Hyde refuses to discuss the laboratory any further, dismissing it as “some stupid old relic”.

Rachel turns her attention back to the Creature. “So, who’s this, then?”  Clearly Hyde recognizes the monster and went out of his way to help him. He must be someone important.

Hyde scoffs: “I attacked a man and burned down a building. Any helping was merely collateral.”

But he concedes that, yes, this creature, and the man in his arms, is important. “THAT old rag is Dr. Victor Frankenstein, and THAT is the monster he brought to life using electrical fluids. And … cross-stitching, apparently, though he never mentioned that part to me.”

“To you?”

“To Jekyll. (covering:) Never met him myself, of course, but he is a bit famous, isn’t he? The original mad scientist! Honestly, miss maid, what rock have you been living under? (A pause, a hint of genuine emotion:) I thought he’d died … years ago.”

“He seems dead NOW.”

(Snapping out of it:) “He does, doesn’t he? You, Creature! What’s wrong with him? Why have you brought him here?”

The creature seems to be completely mute, communicating everything through that harsh stare. It is fairly obvious, however, that Frankenstein has come for Jekyll’s medical attention. This stretches the limit of Hyde’s curiosity–he’s not SO interested in his visitor that he will actually waste his whole night HELPING him. The creature advances on him, threateningly. Hyde is more than ready to fight it, stubborn man that he is, and the two are on the the verge of breaking into violence until Rachel comes between them, reminding them of the impending threat of discovery.

In the pause that follows, Hyde notices that the commotion outside has quelled a bit. Peering outside, he determines that the man on horseback must be looking for them in a new area of the city. Deciding that he would likely return to Jekyll’s house in time, they decide to move the Creature to the nearby Society building. 

They sneak out into the alley and make their way to an empty guest room on the Society’s first floor. As Rachel begins setting up a bed for Frankenstein, Hyde goes to catch a glimpse of the street outside. The rider has not returned, but the crowd in the streets has increased, filled with people wanting to know what is going on. To his irritation, he identifies Lanyon among them and bolts back into the darkness. 

He stands fidgeting uncomfortably, feeling trapped. 

As she works, Rachel asks Hyde how Jekyll met Frankenstein. She’s figured that much out by herself–they must have SOME interesting connection, or else why would the Creature come all this way to seek out his help?

Ordinarily Hyde is no great storyteller, but presently he is enormously distracted by his anxiety. Unable to escape his fear by bounding out into the London streets, he allows himself to escape into a distant memory. 

Frankenstein’s face sparks fuzzy, impressionistic memories for Hyde. He recounts them in stilted tones, as though trying to describe a movie while watching it for the first time. And in fact, he recounts them in the third person. “There was this arctic ship, en route to the north pole. The going was slow, and the ice was freezing the water all around. Then one day this bloke shows up” (he indicates Frankenstein) “half frozen to death. Couldn’t speak, could barely move. The crew didn’t know what to do with him so they shoved him on the most expendable member of their party… .”

Rachel grins. “Dr. Jekyll?”

“The very one. Barely over eighteen at the time. He was only there as some minor research assistant, and all of a sudden he was given sole responsibility for this poor sod. No one expected he’d last more than a day or two.”

Rachel predicts: “I imagine Jekyll charmed him back into good health?”

For a moment Hyde is taken out of the story. “What? No! Do you imagine old Harry Jekyll was born a foppish society prince? He was very different back then.”

——————————————————

Indeed (returning to the memory) we do see a much different Jekyll–younger, of course, but it is his attitude which is strikingly different. He looks nervous and unsure himself, eager to please and yet with a certain fierce, youthful strength in his eyes that makes him look distinctly Hyde-ish.

He sets up camp in the room with Frankenstein, regarding the mysterious, silent man with hopeful, frail enthusiasm. “Hallo! My name is Henry Jekyll. I’m a doctor. Well, sort of. I mean, not yet. I’m going to be, once I finish my studies. What’s your name?”

Frankenstein does not even look up at him, sitting still as stone. Jekyll’s face falls.

“He was a tough egg to crack, that Frankenstein. He sat in the corner all day staring at the wall. Wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t sleep. Jekyll tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t respond, didn’t even seem to hear. Wasted a good day just talking to that unhearing man. Quite the unpleasant experience, makes you feel like your voice’s been snatched right out of your throat (Catching himself:) … so he told me.”

Hyde begins to get antsy again, peering out the window. The situation doesn’t seem to be getting any better. He begins pacing like an animal in a cage, but having nothing more productive to do, he continues his story.

“Then one day he got this idea. He’d just started messing around with his chemistry experiments then. He read about this medicine in an old alchemy book and decided to try it out himself–a bit dangerous, sure, but if the fellow was going to die anyway… .” He shrugs. “So he hands it to the man and he doesn’t drink it. He figures: Well, you can’t blame me for trying, and writes it all off as a lost cause. And then… .”

For the completion of the scene, we are completely immersed in the memory. Jekyll is lying facedown on his bed, at the opposite end of the room from Victor. Suddenly he hears a hoarse, weak voice: “This … drink … " 

Jekyll sits up immediately and is shocked to see Frankenstein drinking (very slowly.) "What?”

“This drink … where did you get it?”

“I made it,” Jekyll says cautiously. “Is there something wrong with it?”

“No. It is … good.” We see a bit more of young Jekyll’s raw emotion: his eyes light up instantly at the compliment. “But it seems familiar to me somehow, though I know I have never tasted anything like it before.”

Jekyll explains briefly the alchemy he had been studying. To his surprise, the strange man is familiar with this book–passionate, even. The man discusses alchemy with Jekyll, and slowly a little bit of light seems to return to his eyes, as though he has rediscovered something beautiful in his utterly gray world. 

At the end of this conversation, the man finally answers the question that Jekyll asked at their first meeting. “Frankenstein. My name is Victor Frankenstein.”

Jekyll smiles widely, almost unable to believe his good fortune. “I am very pleased to meet you, Mr. Frankenstein." 

We are now brought back to the present day. Hyde has a faraway look in his eyes. "It felt… .” But the intensity of emotion makes him self conscious, and when he blinks his way back to reality, he notices that a group of the Lodgers have gathered around the stairs to eavesdrop. Hyde bristles. “What is this, story time? Back to work, before I flay the skin off your lazy backs!”

He assaults their retreating forms with small projectiles while Rachel tries to get him to finish the story. “Then what happened?” she insists.

But that faraway look is gone from Hyde’s eyes, and he summarizes irritably: “Well, they became friends for a while, and with Jekyll’s medicine it looked like he was on a path to full recovery. Then one day this bastard shows up,” (he indicates the Creature) “and steals him away to who knows where. Never heard from old Frankie since. Everyone took him for dead–until today of course.”

Rachel is about to ask another question when a loud knock is heard from the Society’s front entrance. Dr. Lanyon calls out, demanding to see Mr. Hyde. He had better come out now, Lanyon insists. It is far better he deal with him, before the police get involved! 

Hyde rolls his eyes and is about to escape up to the rooftops when the commotion outside rises to a fever pitch. The man on horseback has noticed all the attention given to the Society building. He tears through the streets and crashes in through the door (not exactly endearing him to Lanyon) followed by his creatures.