While many actors make ends meet by waiting on tables or pouring pints, Robin Holden spends his time away from the stage working as a vet.

It’s an appropriately unusual double life for the 31-year-old who is preparing to portray Jekyll and Hyde in an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic novella, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, at The Tabard Theatre from Tuesday.

Holden, a Barnes resident, works as a locum to a number of veterinary surgeries between acting jobs. He has just finished a seven-week stint working in Potters Bar and is now fully focused on his starring role as literature’s most famous split personality – a challenge he believe all actors would relish.

“Actors love the chance to play two characters and it has been enjoyable to play the differences between Jekyll and Hyde,” Holden adds.

“Performing as Hyde is certainly a lot of the fun. He is very big and you get to go out and be loud, boorish and say unpleasant things.

“In comparison Jekyll is, of course, much more tight-lipped and we show him to be a frustrated genius.”

This version of Louis Stevenson’s story, re-titled The Scandalous Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, is being staged by The Holden Kemble Theatre Company, a group that was set up by Holden and his friend Paul Kemble in 2007.

Kemble has adapted the novella for the production which was first staged at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2008 in the spooky setting of a church at midnight.

The company warn that the show is “not suitable for children or cowards” and, by reviving it in the intimate environs of The Tabard, Holden is hopeful that the production will give the audience something to scream about.

“The story is more subtle than people give it credit for and people often associate it with Hollywood’s camp gothic versions,” he says.

“Our aim is to get back to the subtleties of the psychology in the original story. At the same time, it needs to be edgy, uneasy and shocking and there are scenes in our show that border on the horrific.

“Hyde is extremely passionate and whether he is happy or angry he takes everything to the extremes and we want the audience to be unsure what he is going to do next and how far he will go.”

The Scandalous Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Tabard Theatre, October 12 – November 6, £14 (£12 concessions), for show times and to book, visit tabardweb.co.uk