Frankenstein

This post is slightly overdue as I actually saw the production two weeks ago now, but due to my crazy social life (ha-ha I spend my life revising) I haven't found an opportunity to blog about it yet. I saw Frankenstein at the National Theatre; it was directed by Danny Boyle. The two leads were played by Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee-Miller, they alternate between playing The Creature and Frankenstein. I had Cumberbatch as our Creature and Lee-Miller as Frankenstein.

                 

Frankenstein is of course based on Mary Shelley's novel first published in 1818. It is the pioneer ghost story about a scientist who goes further than any man has ever gone in the field of galvanising and chemistry and manages to create human life. Once he has brought his creation to life, Victor Frankenstein is repulsed at what he has done and flees. Later, the Monster then kills Frankenstein's younger brother. Filled with rage and grief, Frankenstein retreats to the mountains where the Monster finds him. There he demands that a female mate be made for him, because it was not fair that he was the only one of his kind. He claims that during their time apart he has learnt what it is to be human, what it is to feel compassion, and that he has developed intellectual understanding. Frankenstein reluctantly obliges but is plagued with the notion that two of his creations could wreak havoc on the world and so destroys the female mate in front of the Monster. In revenge the Monster then murders Frankenstein's wife Elizabeth on their wedding night. The novel concludes with Frankenstein’s death and the Monster's vow that he will destroy himself so that no one else will ever know that he existed.

I have read the novel twice now and each time I fail to feel the 'necessary' levels of compassion for the Monster. I thought it impossible that he had learnt what it truly means to be human, and to have human emotions but the play changed that.  I have always admired Danny Boyle as a director, from his earlier work in films such as Trainspotting (starring Johnny Lee-Miller,) to his most recent work such as Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours. However, I sometimes felt like he couldn't bring to life on screen every emotional dimension that he intended for his characters - enter Frankenstein.  I felt more compassion for the Creature than I ever had before, I understood his confusion at the way strangers treated him when they saw what he looked like and I realised why being rejected by his creator would have such a deeply lasting effect on him. Never clearer than in the scene after the Creature has just raped and murdered Elizabeth, he stands before Frankenstein and shouts "I am a man." This scene probably had the most lasting effect on me, it made me question how we define ourselves as human, and what it means to have human experiences.

The play was staged in the Olivier Theatre at the National and I assume it had an incredibly large budget if the set was anything to go by.  It was visually spectacular, even before you consider the acting. When we took our seats before the play began, the Creature was already hung on a rack of some sort on a rotating stage. The lighting was extraordinary and perfectly coordinated to the mood of each scene. I know I am using a lot of hyperbolic adjectives but I feel that is the only way to express to you how in awe I was at the whole production. From watching Cumberbatch as the Creature writhe naked across the stage in the opening scene to the closing scene of Frankenstein desperately pulling himself across the Arctic, each scene was executed with precision and beauty and I can only hope that it is restaged at the earliest convenience as I am desperate to see it again.


By Talia