On Theater:

When Robert Louis Stevenson penned his novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” in the 19th century, he hardly could have realized the staying power of his split- personality protagonist.

The experimenting physician and his evil alter ego have been a part of the entertainment world’s horror genre for the last three centuries. Both Spencer Tracy and Fredric March showed their monstrous side in movie versions, and there even was a musical adaptation.

Golden West College has seized yet another incarnation, Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” for an eerie rendition in its newly renovated Mainstage Theater. Only this time around, there are four Hydes, all bent on murderous rampage when the good doctor visits his dark side.

Director Tom Amen has fashioned a grimly fascinating production in which Jekyll is tormented by the various forms of his more evil nature. The four actors playing Hyde also appear as other characters in the play — and, in one memorable scene, appear together and transform simultaneously into the murderous monster.

Sean Coutu enacts the “good” half of the tandem as a dedicated physician bent on debunking a fellow medico (Christian Navarro, also one of the Hydes) during a flinty faceoff early in the play. Navarro later feels the wrath of another Hyde, Lawrence Hemingway, in a chillingly visceral portrait of unbridled evil.

The doctor’s female servant, played by Nakisa Aschtiani, also assumes the Hyde characterization, as does Jekyll’s attorney friend, enacted by David Steen. The transformations aren’t done with smoke and mirrors — one actor simply appears as another fades away.

As the love interest of both Jekyll and Hyde, pursued by one while pursuing the other, Amber Luallen delivers a splendid performance of throat-catching confusion. Alec Malczynski and Megan Berndt complete the company in multiple roles.

Wally Huntoon’s all-white setting (highlighted by Hyde’s blood-red front door) offers a suitably ominous backdrop reminiscent of Dickens or “Sweeney Todd.” Susan Thomas Babb’s Victorian-era costumes are most effective.

Hatcher’s concept of Stevenson’s plot may clash with your preconceptions of this story, but it’s a valid interpretation of the theory that there’s a little bad in the best of us, and vice versa.

If You Go

What: “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”

Where: Golden West College Mainstage Theater

When: Closing performances at 7:30 tonight, Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday

Cost: $10 to $12

Call: (714) 895-8150

TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.