A Sentence of Sorts

The Pseudoscientists, Act II, scene 4: Jekyll Tries to Cope

(Summary: Hyde encounters a new obstacle to his quest for freedom: Jekyll is no longer listening to his manipulative suggestions. Jekyll goes about his day, consciously trying to ignore Hyde while planning for the Exhibition, while Hyde attempts to formulate a new strategy.)

…..the next morning, when Jekyll is left to deal with Hyde’s abandoned night of debauchery. Jekyll has to explain away to the police why Frankenstein was found passed out in a grave, but he is not quite on top of his game–it seems he’s come down with a cold himself after being out in the rain, and he is exhausted.

The Creature is also cross with Jekyll. He may be indebted to Hyde for saving him from Moreau, but he will not tolerate him leading Frankenstein into danger anymore. He warns Jekyll that Hyde will have to face the Creature personally the next time he meddles in Frankenstein’s life. 

The only blessing of the morning is that Frankenstein is now too sick to attempt to run away again. While he lies bedridden in his attic, Jekyll escapes to his office. He reaches for a wine bottle, intent on pouring himself a generous glass of wine, but stops himself.  He hears Hyde, who is still wound up from the last night and is upset that his night out was cut short. Jekyll refuses to listen, insisting that it is far too dangerous for him to go out again, and besides, he’s sick.

Hyde protests, despite the fact that even his mirror self needs to stop for a hacking and coughing attack midway through. He tries to coax Jekyll into taking the potion again, but Jekyll will not fall again for Hyde’s powers of persuasion. His eyes do wander to the vials of the transformation potion in his cabinet, though. He stands, dizzily, and pulls out a cloth cover from one of his drawers. He walks over to the glass cabinet and covers it with the cloth, watching with some regret as the potion, the chemistry set, the model flying machines, everything disappears from sight.

In desperation, Hyde’s coaxing turns to veiled threats, and his voice echoes around the room (as Jekyll perceives it). For a moment Jekyll seems overwhelmed. Feeling the walls close in around him, he forces himself to leave his office instead.

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*Hyde does not entirely disappear once he comes into the Society’s atrium, though the fresh air does dim him considerably. For a moment, Jekyll finds Hyde’s voice distracting, but then he finds a greater distraction for himself: the lodgers are attempting to bring medicine and supplies to their adored Frankenstein, but they are having a tough time with it. The atmospheric attic bedroom that they had found so inspiring a day earlier now proves a huge inconvenience, as they must run up and down huge flights of stairs to reach him.

Jekyll tries to organize their efforts in an attempt to make their job easier, but the combination of Hyde’s influence and his cold have made Jekyll’s head a little foggy. He cannot order the mass of lodgers about as elegantly as he did at the beginning of this story. The lodgers become confused and jumbled, and Jekyll begins to fear that Hyde has unhinged him.

Rachel knows that this is very unusual behavior for Jekyll indeed. She leaves her place in line and asks what is wrong. Luckily Jekyll has an easy alibi here: He is simply tired from his illness.

Rachel asks after Hyde–she heard from the Creature that he was with Frankenstein. She is worried after him, but Jekyll advises her not to be concerned. Hyde was foolish and deserves whatever trouble he gets himself into. “I wouldn’t expect to him around here much more.” Rachel doesn’t understand why Jekyll is judging Hyde so harshly, but he is not interested in discussing the matter further.

His eyes wander to the heavy box in Rachel’s hands. Still fully convinced of her delicate nature, he asks if he might carry the box for her. Rachel hesitates, but he insists, and before long he is hauling up supplies to Frankenstein with everyone else.

The other lodgers regard Jekyll with mixed awe and suspicion. Why is their employer helping them out with such menial tasks, and when he is ill, no less? They chat with him in a friendly but stand-offish manner, as if this is all some kind of test. Still, Jekyll seems to get a small bit of relief from this simple, slow work. Hyde keeps trying to engage him, trying to woo him back to his side, but this time it falls on entirely deaf ears. 

Hyde begins to feel as though his life is slipping away from him and that nothing he could do could ever change that.

Jekyll spots the werewolf girl, who is noticeably loopy and lagging behind the others. He asks her what is wrong, and she admits that she pulled an all-nighter last night. Lanyon showed up at her studio door and was prowling around, looking for flaws in her presentation on lycanthropes. He insinuated that it was awful, and that everyone at the Exhibition would hate it, and that she would be a laughingstock of all of London. But he didn’t tell her exactly what was wrong, so she spent all night redoing the entire thing!

Jekyll is appalled by this. He tries to reassure her that everything will be fine. He says he will come and help her with her presentation if she needs it, and in the meantime he will give Lanyon a proper talking-to. He will see him soon, he is sure. There is to be a grand dinner party tonight at the house of a prominent member of London’s high society. At least, he thinks that is tonight. “There is always some party going on.”

Hyde collapses against the bannister and writhes in agony. Not a dinner party!

*in this draft, this little scene may be a double beat