BRATTLEBORO — Fear and humor are frequently seen as two sides of the same coin. Some people chuckle to mask their nerves. Others even howl in the face of danger.
The split personality of the lead character in “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” seems to be a perfect vehicle to illustrate this polarity. But despite more than 30 adaptations, director Josh Moyse says he has yet to find one that adequately captures it.
“All of them have been too faithful and not faithful enough at the same time,” Moyse says of the 1886 Robert Louis Stevenson novella that has been produced more times than either Mary Shelly's “Frankenstein” or Bram Stoker's “Dracula.”
So Moyse created his own version, and it's coming to Brattleboro's Hooker-Dunham Theater and Gallery in time to provide Halloween thrills. Showings start at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 24-25, and the following Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 30 and 31 and Nov. 1.
Moyse's cast is comprised of Jon Mack, Jennifer Moyse, Colin Grube, Skyler Heathwaite and John Ogorzalek, with Alistair Follansbee as the stage manager. Together, the cast and crew seek out comical moments in the grim, and sometimes grisly, tale of Jon Utterson, an English attorney drawn into a mystery of how the hideous Edward Hyde came to be named sole beneficiary to the estate of Dr. Henry Jekyll, an esteemed London gentleman and longtime friend of Utterson.
“Our hope is that this devised production will strike closer to the heart of the original source material than previous incarnations,” says Moyse. “We highlight the humor so we can set folks up for the inevitable scare. It is, after all, almost Halloween.”