FRANKENSTEIN
by T.E. Klunzinger
This production, at MSU’s Pasant Theatre through next Sunday, is not what you might think it is: there is nothing of Boris Karloff or Peter Boyle, nothing of lightning bolts or villagers with torches. And the Creature is female.
This new adaptation by Quinn Mattfeld of the classic novel is only about a year old, having been commissioned for 2018 by the Southwest Shakespeare Company in Phoenix, which might account for the liberal dusting of Shakespeare throughout the play (I read the 200-year-old original some 60 years ago so certain details escape me).
This is a gorgeously dark production designed by Michael Gault which must be seen to be savored, for the heavy old Germanic underpinnings as well as for the marvelously murky 19th-Century faux-candle lighting effects by Rachel Lauren. The period costumes by Ketura Le’Audrey complement the action.
That said, the script is surprisingly talky as was the original book, so perhaps the Hollywood treatment can sometimes help a story be more audience-friendly. And here Victor Frankenstein is neither the bland Colin Clive nor the goofy Gene Wilder, but a manic, frantic fellow who starts out distraught and stays there. Good as he is, Cameron Michael Chase has precious little room for invention in the role.
On the other hand, Abbie Cathcart is fabulously feral as the Creature who comes to consciousness with no name, no history and no friends, who ultimately decides to kill all of Victor’s friends so he will be as lonely as she is. While one might think a just-created Creature wouldn’t necessarily be violent, this one’s first experience is to be battered around so that violence infuses almost everything else she does.
This script can also be read, somewhat unexpectedly, as another riff on man’s inhumanity to man, even though stretches of dialogue can be a tad overwrought in high Victorian style. Consistent with that are a couple of graphic neck-breakings for which you should be prepared.
Just in time for Halloween, director Ryan Welsh has admirably assembled this re-imagining of the iconic tale which is easy to enjoy if occasionally intense. But I should point out a couple of things which may not be immediately clear: while lightning is mentioned, the Creature seems actually to be animated by alchemy; and because Victor drops out of the University of Ingolstadt to return home to Geneva without getting a degree, you can’t call him Doctor.
Tuesday, October 15, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, October 16, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.
**Thursday, October 17, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, October 18, 2019 at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 19, 2019 at 2:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 19, 2019 at 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 20, 2019 at 2:00 p.m.
** Post-Show Discussion on Thursday, October 17
Tickets are available from the Wharton Center Box Office, 1.800.WHARTON, whartoncenter.com