Frankenstein
Something different and great at the Shakespeare Theatre Company.
The Shakespeare Theatre Company is hosting the world premiere production of Frankenstein, adapted and directed by Emily Burns, from the novel by Mary Shelley. We are told in advance that “Burns has reimagined Mary Shelley’s gothic science fiction masterpiece as a chilling exploration of the horror within humanity and what it means to create a new life. This visceral and provocative production reveals the inner lives of Elizabeth and Victor Frankenstein in bold new ways. Burns’s Frankenstein rides the edge of cinematic thriller and intense drama, redefining the legend we know, the name we fear, and the monstrous act at the heart of the story.”
In many ways it is all that. Let me begin by saying the acting is brilliant. Nick Westrate as Victor Frankenstein commands the stage. His scope of emoting makes him riveting to watch. Matching him with her acting ability and beauty, as his wife Elizabeth Frankenstein, is Rebecca S’manga Frank. Their casting is perfect.
What I found interesting in chatting with audience members during the intermission is how many of them thought like I did. After the first act, we were trying to figure out where this production was going. One thing we all agreed on was the brilliance of the cast, but were left a little up in the air of where this reimagined story would end. It may have been because Victor would not admit, and in fact denied, he had created a monster. We wondered if he was the monster. Elizabeth couldn’t get him to talk about what he had been doing during their six-year separation.
The play begins with Victor and Elizabeth back together again and it is the day before their planned wedding. Victor has been away for six years and Elizabeth wants to know what he was actually doing. They had gotten engaged just before he left. They argue over that and at the same time we find out that Victor’s younger brother, William, has disappeared. They don’t know where he has gone until his nanny, Justine, played by the talented Anna Takayo, comes screaming into the room, saying he is dead. She then takes responsibility for his death.
The play moves back and forth between the past and the present, giving us a little more information on the Frankenstein family. A younger Elizabeth appears onstage during the scenes from the past. The young girl will be played on alternating nights by Mila Weir and Monroe E. Barnes. It is only at the very end of the second act that we get to meet the monster that Victor created, played by Lucas Iverson. It is when Victor comes clean as to what he actually did during his six years away. We are still left to wonder who is the real monster, but everyone feels good about how there is some ending to the play that left me, and everyone I overheard as they were walking out of the theater, saying, “We will tell all our friends to come see this wonderful production.”
There is a wonderful off-stage voice as the production goes back and forth from past to present, whose spoken words are written across the top of the proscenium stage, as they are spoken. It is done very effectively. This all being by part of a great creative team led by the very talented Scenic Designer, Andrew Boyce. Other talented members of the creative team include Costume Designer, Kaye Voyce; Lighting Designer, Neil Austin; and Sound and Composition Designer, André Pluess.
Frankenstein will be at the STC’s Klein Theatre through June 29, 2025. Tickets will sell fast, so go online today to order yours.
