BURNESIDE Amateur Theatrical Society returns to the Bryce stage this week with another dramatic production - the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

With shows still to come tonight (Friday) and Saturday (June 4, both 7.30pm), BATS latest production provides another superb platform for its talented and ambitious ensemble of actors.

The latest incarnation of Robert Louis Stevenson's 19th Century double act, innovative BATS director Gordon Lawson says David Edgar’s take on the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde couldn't be more relevant to the state of the nation today: "In 1886, the year Stevenson wrote Jekyll and Hyde, he was reflecting as much on the late Victorian fear of what could now be termed 'the underclass,' and what they called 'the remnants,' as much as the almost schizophrenic nature of the Victorian 'gentleman' - the public face and the private desires. One sector of society was populated by people who were genuinely becoming more civilised, more sophisticated and less animal, while there was this remnant of otherness, in London's east end in particular."

The scene is set in a foggy London where an act of casual violence is witnessed by an ambivalent narrator and then moves back in time to discover how this event was triggered. The play explores the struggle between the outwardly moral Doctor Jekyll and his inner demon, given life in the animalistic, Edward Hyde.

As well as direct Gordon takes centre stage as Doctor Jekyll with the extreme opposite Edward Hyde played by Adam Carruthers.

Simon Yaxley returns to BATS playing the part of Poole, Louise Bell is Katherine Urquart and Martin Cash takes the role of Utterson.

Endfield is played by Zaeed Mohammed, Annie by Clare Walker, John Dodds is in the role of Lanyon, Rita Brown plays the Maid, and Ron Milnes is in the guise of Sir Danvers Carew.

Tickets are available on 07792-777213.