Jekyll and Hyde at the Lyceum Edinburgh

The award-winning Gary McNair has already proved himself to be an exciting and innovative playwright with The National Theatre of Scotland's Dear Billy.

Forbes Masson, meanwhile, is a heavyweight in the world of theatre. An associate of the RSC, his West End performances are numerous, as are his appearances on television, and his collaboration with another Scottish luminary Alan Cumming goes back to their student days.

So it is no wonder that this production is special. And not only for audiences.

The last time Masson appeared on the Lyceum stage was in The Breathing House in 2003 – the first play McNair ever saw at that theatre. Now McNair is making his Lyceum debut as a writer. And I'm sure it won't be his last.

In this Reading Rep Theatre production, he has stripped back Robert Louis Stevenson's Gothic tale to just 70 minutes, with Masson (looking a little like RLS with his moustache and beard) the only performer on a stage which is empty save for a chair, a microphone…and a 'grotesque' door.

Grotesque is a word used often in the early parts of this play. And Richard Howell's impeccable lighting and McNair's talent for storytelling, coupled with Masson's masterful performance, not only conjure up the horrors of a man with a split personality but also makes us aware of what could lie below the surface in so many lives.

It's an unsettling, riveting production, though with a welcome sprinkling of humour. As Gabriel Utterson, Jekyll's lawyer, Masson recounts the story of his friend's alter-ego, playing each character along the way. with subtlety and skill. Under Michael Fentiman's well-paced direction, it's a tour de force, and brought to mind John Cairney, another Scottish actor whose solo performances are the stuff of legend.

Image: Mihaela Bodlovic

Jekyll and Hyde is at the Lyceum Edinburgh until January 27.

Box Office: 0131 248 4848

lyceum.org.uk