Central Works Extends ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON: JEKYLL AND HYDE

Central Works 2016 Season production of Gary Grave's Robert Louis Stevenson: Jekyll and Hyde has extended for 4 more performances on June 16, 17, 18 at 8pm and June 19 at 5pm. Originally scheduled to run through June 12 the show now closes June 19 at 5 pm. Some performances of Robert Louis Stevenson: Jekyll and Hyde are at capacity or near sold out with limited availability on others, a wait list is available. For Information and reservations: 510.558.1381 or http://centralworks.org

Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson is known worldwide for his Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and the novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. In this production, Stevenson awakens from a fever dream that unleashes a dreadful tale from the deep unconscious recesses of his mind. Robert Louis Stevenson: Jekyll and Hyde is a Central Works Method play based on Stevenson's classic tale of good and evil. Following the Central Works productions Dracula Inquest (2014) and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper (2015), Robert Louis Stevenson: Jekyll and Hyde completes a Gothic trilogy created by the company, guided by the Graves/Zvaifler team.

"There's a story that Stevenson wrote 'Jekyll and Hyde' in a sort of mad fever dream in just three days," says playwright, Gary Graves. "The first person he read the story to was his wife, Fanny Osbourne Stevenson. But Fanny criticized the draft. Allegedly, she accused him of 'missing the point of the allegory.' Stevenson flew into a rage and the two of them had an 'almighty row' about it that concluded with Stevenson heaving the manuscript into the fireplace where it burned to ashes. The story we know is the second draft, the revised version. I was fascinated with questions about what might have been in the first draft, and what the big fight might have been about. What exactly is 'the allegory' in Jekyll and Hyde?"