By Emily R. Zarevich, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
What if there is a darkness in all of us that could be brought out by scientific manipulation? Can it be controlled? Can it be subdued? Or does it have the power to seize control over the narrative of our lives, like demons possessing our bodies?
Friday, October 30, 2026, was the opening night of Village Theatre Waterdown’s production of a tale that, for generations, has had people question the validity of their inner selves. Jeffrey Hatcher’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, directed by Nicholas Banks, opened to a full house of theatregoers seeking a macabre Gothic experience to whet their appetites for Halloween. And they got it.
Hatcher’s version of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson saga is told in the style of a dramatized documentary. It’s designed to appeal especially to the true crime crowd, who want all the details, all the psychology, and all the realism. An ensemble cast switches roles as participants, witnesses, and victims in a legendary crime spree.
A murderer and fiend named Mr. Hyde is terrorizing Victorian London. This dangerous man is mysterious, eccentric, erratic, and hard to catch. He has a very suspicious connection to the well-respected man of medicine and science, Dr. Henry Jekyll. The outlandish truth is that these two are one and the same, split in half but bound indefinitely by an addiction to a powerful potion that awakens slumbering evil desires in whoever ingests it.
Adam Fleming plays Dr. Jekyll. The performance he gives is that of a tortured man, slipping slowly into insanity as his hidden personalities (and there are several) infest his mind and body like venomous spiders. The play takes a unique approach to the character of Hyde. Fleming plays Jekyll alone, while Hyde’s character is divided into four taunting entities played by Bianca Cabai, Jerrold Karch, Mike Tadic, and Muneer Malik-Noor. Dr. Jekyll and the Mr. Hydes constantly teeter on the edge of becoming one whole, blended person, but they never quite do so. However, Jekyll is outnumbered by his Hydes, and his chances of overcoming them are slim.
Malik-Noor in particular plays a standout Hyde. Sinister, arrogant, and overconfident in his looming presence, this Hyde is convinced he will win the battle of wills with Dr. Jekyll. This Hyde also seeks out companionship away from Dr. Jekyll’s lonely, celibate lifestyle and pursues a romantic relationship with hotel chambermaid Elizabeth Jelkes (Tina Aurora). The couple’s scenes together, pivoting between tenderness and fiery passion, hint that Mr. Hyde may have more of Dr. Jekyll’s humanity in him than he’s willing to let on.
The play’s docu-drama style can be confusing at times, leading audiences in two different possible directions as to the production’s central purpose. Is it meant to be a story about crime coming to justice, or a more sympathetic tale about the vulnerability of the mentally disturbed? Banks’s symbolically sparse set design pulls the audience both ways. On one side of the stage, there is a simple standing door representing the fragile barrier standing between Dr. Jekyll and his harmful alter egos. Sprawled on the crates and on the wall facing the audience are the names of various real-life murder victims. The narrative plays tug-of-war with the audience’s emotions. You will feel strongly for these unfortunate victims of extreme violence. You will also feel strongly for the tragedy of Dr. Jekyll and his Hydes.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is, at its core, a disturbing and disconcerting play, making it a successful execution of Stevenson’s original vision. Stevenson wanted his readers to confront uncomfortable truths about the everyday horrors of emotional repression, the duality of our social and private lives, and the threatening effects of addiction on one’s psyche when left unchecked. Village Theatre Waterdown revises the story with potent modern twists that communicate one of our time period’s deepest fears and insecurities: who is the real version of a person? Their public persona, or the second, third, or even the fourth person lingering inside?
Tickets to all remaining performances of Village Theatre Waterdown’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde can be bought on the Burlington Performing Arts Centre’s website here.
