Nick Dear's Frankenstein



The Creature and Victor Frankenstein
Photo Credit: Alstair Muir

Miranda, Richard and I went to the National Theatre's Frankenstein in our local theatre tonight.

A preliminary half hour documentary of how the play was produced preceded the performance.

I read a newspaper review of the play that reminded the audience that they should remember to breathe during the scene changes, a line that came back to me as I was holding my breath during part of the play. 

There were allusions to Milton's Paradise Lost, Blake, Shakespeare and Wordsworth's "Nightengale".  Whomever thought that having it quoted with such halting speech could be so breath-takingly beautiful. 

On the way home we tried to describe to one another our favorite parts: the scene with the blind professor seemed to be a play all by itself, Richard described again the scene where the creature discovers the smell and taste of grass, Miranda commented on the difficulty of keeping the tears from falling down her cheeks, I can still see the creature's footwork that made such a difference to the movement of his body.

Keep the good review's coming, Rebecca.  I might have missed this one without your alert to me that it was one not to be missed.  You, on the other hand, must not have noticed the warning: suitable for 15+ as you decided to take Alex and Duncan along. 

For the others, when asked his favorite part of the performance, Duncan replied, "The treats."

Alex was nervous about the exposure of a female breast in a creature that Victor Frankenstein was creating, and whispered to his mom, "They aren't supposed to show that.  I am sure they are not supposed to show that, no really, I am right, they are not to show that", to which Rebecca replied, "You may be right Alex, but this is coming from London and they might not know that."

Ben Brantley for The New York Times says it all.


Arta