Frankenstein (Stageplay), A Review

This is his story.

It is only recently that I have began to really love going to the theatre- check out my recent reviews of Wicked, The Mousetrap and The Girl on the Train– but it is an exprience I have come to enjoy and already I’ve booked several more shows for the coming year. Regarding Frankenstein I think I remember reading the book back in high school but apart from that I’m not that familar with the story. Still, I was excited to see Frankenstein quite literally brought to life on stage and how the stage play adaptation would change or adapt the story.

The story of Frankenstein is brought to life on the stage, telling of Victor Frankenstein and how his fascination with science drove him to create life. Victor’s drive isolated him from his family and any form of a social life, and it is this unstoppable drive that causes Victor to create what he later realises is a monster.

All the while the story is going on, author of Frankenstein Mary Shelley narrates from the stage in such an ingenius way– with the narration and fourth wall breaking very reminiscent of ASOUE, Queens of Mystery or even Vanity Fair. As the only character on stage at all times, Shelley narrates and writes her own story as it is happening– going through the writing process as we see it.

As the creator Shelley hilariously stops the other characters in their tracks to change her mind on where the story is going or even just to talk to the audience. Shelley’s narration includes but is not limited to freezing the characters to talk, forcibly pushing them off the stage or moving them to where she wants them to go or even taking props from them mid scene and swapping them out. This type of narration was very clever and I loved this new concept of narration. Shelley earned lots of laughs and was definitely the best aspect of the play.

Frankenstein was a truly impressive stage play that just completely sucked me in. The stage set was gorgeous and the lighting and sound effects just made everything that little bit more creepy and chilling. Watching, I could really feel the atmosphere that Shelley created- even when she created it on the spot- and the whole play was just very tonally chilling.

The play just had so much going on and between Shelley’s narration as well as the actual story it was sometimes hard to know where to look. The actual set up had two levels and the characters all leapt between the levels and the story was very much a moving story. There was just so much going on and nothing ever stayed still for too long.

Overall the Frankenstein stage play was such a wonder to watch. I went in with very little knowledge on the story but Shelley’s genius narration and the chilling atmosphere gad me hooked straight away. I loved it.