H. G. Wells has written many science-fiction novels and short stories, though it seems that only his earlier works still remain in common knowledge; ‘The Time Machine’, ‘The Invisible Man’, ‘The War of the Worlds’, and of course, ‘The Island of Doctor Moreau’.
The island itself is set in the South Pacific, where the eponymous doctor ruled like a reverse-Circe, using vivisection and early plastic surgery to painfully resculpt animals into humanoid creatures. Moreau intended to make a complete transition from animal to human, though ‘the stubborn beast flesh’ seems to always relapse back to animal form and behavior. Setting himself like a god among his Beast Folk and enforcing his law with punishments of pain, the comparisons between Moreau and British Imperialists attempting to ‘civilize’ natives did not make him endearing to modern readers.
Of course, technology has improved much since the novel was originally written. Genetic engineering is used in modern adaptations. And now a freak accident has made it possible for real Beast Folk to exist in the Animalians. As such, it seemed fitting that Animalia’s first attempt at an original theatrical production is a retelling of Moreau. With an Animalian cast that reduced the need for costumes, this play was able to take this story in a new direction.
Unlike the pitiful, simpler Beast Folk in the original novel who were crudely reshaped, the Beast Folk in this place were considerably better built to partially account for the standard Animalian physique. Though cruder Beast Folk meant to be earlier attempts of Moreau wore additional costuming to make them look more like hybrids such as the Hyena-Swine and the Vixen-Bear.
The play begins with a shipwrecked Edward Prendick washing up on the island. His unconscious body is found by the Beast Folk who wonder at the new ‘god’ who has appeared and debate on what to do with him. A brutish Leopard Man advocates eating him and becoming gods themselves, but the others rebuke and remind him of the Law. Eventually, Prendick is taken to Moreau’s compound.
Prendick recovers under the care of Moreau’s loyal Ape Men, who wear concealing clothes in his presence. Eventually, Moreau himself speaks with his new guest. By adductive reasoning, Moreau identifies Prendick as a colonial soldier, previously in a currently war-torn country. Prendick confirms it and noticeably has a bitter view of men and God. Moreau promises him when his strength is recovered, he’ll show him extraordinary sights.
Not trusting Moreau and having misgivings about his ‘scientific work’, Prendick decides to see if he is truly on an island or not and explores the jungle. A brief encounter with the Leopard Man results in a chase that tends up driving Prendick to the Village of the Beast Folk. Prendick assumes they were all humans turned into beasts, but Moreau tells him it’s the other way around. Now that Moreau has perfected his technique of turning animals into men, he is now focused on creating the perfect society.
This is where things truly begin to diverge from the source material. The Beast Folk are portrayed as fully sentient beings, with some being more savage than the others. Most of the focus is on how Moreau controls his children by putting himself at the top of a pseudo-religion where the Law is his holy word. The Sayer of the Law is a llama Animalian who acts as a high priest in Moreau’s religion. Moreau’s Law is clearly more about punishing slips from civilization than showing them how to be good people.
In contrast, Moreau’s often-drunk assistant, Montgomery, is portrayed as closer to the ancient Greek idea of a god; a thoughtless, comparatively immature diving being who considers it his divine right to meddle with mortals with impunity. Quite often in his drunken state, Montgomery refers to himself as ‘the Great God Pan’ and the Vixen-Bear appears to be his favorite plaything.
While several of the Beast Folk are Moreau’s devoted followers, including the Ape Men, the Sayer of the Law, and the St. Bernard-based M’ling, there were other Beast Folk who have become more cynical about their creator. Chief among them are the Hyena-Swine, one of Moreau’s earlier experiments and considered one of his least-successful creations, and the Leopard Man who is clearly just on the edge of bestial savagery.
The true conflict of the story occurs because of Prendick’s growing attachment to Catherine, a Puma Woman who is Moreau's latest creation and considered his best success yet. She adapted best to his uplifting procedure and learned to be civilized better than any other Beast Folk. As Prendick and Catherine spend more time together, they talk more philosophically. Catherine begins wondering if a creator should be demanding too much perfection from his own creations. Prendick eventually opens up about what caused him to lose faith in men and God. He’s seen the cold intolerance the missionaries have towards the natives they’re supposed to be ‘enlightening’ and the horrors soldiers do to each other in the name of ‘nationalism’.
Moreau had originally encouraged their relationship to see if Catherine could really pass for a human wife, but he starts opposing them when he hears that Prendick is sowing seeds of discontent among his children. It comes to a head when the Leopard Man, who has also coveted Catherine, brutally attacks Prendick and Prendick is forced to kill him in self-defense. Having killed one of his children and broken his Law, not to mention causing the other Beast Folk to question it, Moreau offers to take Prendick back to civilization and get him modern medical attention if he swears to never return to the island nor speak about it. Prendick defies Moreau, refusing to let another tyrannical madman to play being god-king over the people he should be caring for as long as he is man enough to be able to stop it. And so Moreau does something he’s never done before, he uses his science to turn Prendick from a man to a Puma Man.
Unfortunately for Moreau, this would be the final catalyst for his downfall. Firstly, Montgomery confronts Moreau and says he’s finally gone too far. In the resulting argument, Moreau shot Montgomery and killed him. But now Prendick is infinitely more dangerous as a Beast Man and soon escaped from Moreau’s laboratory. He soon rounds up the rest of the Beast Folk and tells them how Moreau had been breaking his own Law. A revolution quickly ignites and most of the Beast Folk turn on those still loyal to Moreau.
With Catherine’s help, Prendick corners Moreau in his own lab. Prendick demands that Moreau changes him back, but Moreau taunts him that he has merely become the beast that he was all along. But as he is no match for Prendick’s stronger form, Moreau injects himself with an overdose of chloroform and with his last words, taunts them that he is beyond his children’s reach now and he will always have a hold over them. Other notable casualties of the conflict include the Sayer of the Law and the Vixen-Bear who wanted to avenge Montgomery’s death.
With no hope of becoming human again, Prendick settles into the role of new leader of the island, with Catherine as his mate. There is a new Law, one that shows compassion instead of punishment. Prendick knows there may come a day where man rediscovers the island. And he can only hope on that day that they will greet each other as equals.