About the playwright and author

About the playwright

Neil Bartlett was born in 1958. He grew up in Chichester, West Sussex, and now lives in London with his partner of thirty-two years, author and archivist James Gardiner.

He has been making rule-breaking theatre and performance since 1983. After a controversial early career he was appointed Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith in London in 1994. Since leaving the Lyric in 2005, major cultural producers he has worked for include the National Theatre, the Abbey in Dublin, Bristol Old Vic, Manchester Royal Exchange, Edinburgh International Festival, Manchester International Festival, Brighton, Aldeburgh and Holland Festivals, the Wellcome Foundation and Tate Britain. Neil is also an acclaimed author, with a whole shelf of novels, plays, adaptations and translations to his name. His most recent novel, Address Book, was published by Inkandescent in 2021 – and his very first novel, Ready to Catch Him Should He Fall (1990), has just been republished by Profile as a Serpents Tail Classic. You can find out more about Neil’s work here: www.neil-bartlett.com

About the author

Robert Louis Stevenson was a famous Victorian author, born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1850. He mainly wrote mystery and adventure stories, and his books are still read and enjoyed today. His family were religious and he was brought up as a Calvanist, though he started to reject his faith and pursued a more bohemian lifestyle as an adult. As a child Robert Louis Stevenson was sickly and frequently ill. He was described as being thin and frail, and he suffered with coughs and fevers. Treasure Island was first published as a book in 1883. It was very successful and turned Robert Louis Stevenson into a well-known writer.

Robert Louis Stevenson continued to experience health problems as an adult. He suffered with chest infections and was often so ill he couldn’t leave his bed. He frequently travelled for his health, and settled in Bournemouth for while.

In 1886 he wrote both The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Kidnapped. Much of the writing was done from his sickbed. Some scholars believe he would have been taking strong medication, such as morphine, when he wrote these works. It is thought that the story of Deacon Brodie, a Scottish cabinet maker with a double life, was partly the inspiration for Jekyll & Hyde. In December 1894, Robert Louis Stevenson died at the age of 44 years old.