When the Stratford Festival announced its 2023 program, the inclusion of Frankenstein Revived among King Lear, Rent and Richard II made no impression at all. Frankenstein has been around for more than two centuries and he never died as a subject for films, plays, TV series and adaptations. There is always room for another revival of one of the best known and most influential books. But what kind of revival are we talking about?
In early August, we got a press release from the Stratford Festival informing us about the upcoming opening of Frankenstein Revived and calling it an “exuberant and passion-filled theatrical movement-based piece [that] brings thrill and terror to the stage through a powerful fusion of theatre and dance.” Sounds good but then comes the punchline: “without any text whatsoever.” Theatre without any text whatsoever is not uncommon. Mime, ballet, signed productions are all done without any text but Frankenstein? Morris Panych is a playwright and director and he works without a text? Put your seat upright, fasten your seatbelt and pay attention.
Frankenstein Revived initially struck me as something between a silent movie or a mime accompanied by some dramatic music by David Coulter. But the movements of the players and the appearance of serious dance routines made it clear that this is no mime. It tells the story of Frankenstein through its author, Mary Shelley (Laura Condlin) and it has a lot of movement by Movement Choreographer Gorling and dances by Dance Choreographer Stephen Cota. It is a stunning production.
Mary Shelley, dressed in a beautiful gown, is on stage most of the time writing or holding a book and we see the play through her eyes as she imagines it and writes it. We see Dr. Vincent Frankenstein (Charlie Gallant), a scientist, doing experiments with electricity, and studying human anatomy and putting body parts together. He is assembling the body of a human with whatever parts that he can get. He gives electrical shocks to the body that he assembles and it comes to life.
Marcus Nance as The Creature in Frankenstein Revived.
Stratford Festival 2023. Photo by Cylla Von Tiedemann.
The Creature (that is what it is called in the program but he or it has many other names in the novel from monster to fiend) is ugly, gangly and menacing. No, this is not square-headed Boris Karloff in the old movies or Fred Gwynne of The Munsters. But its appearance is deceiving because the Creature is ignored and mistreated by all. Initially it wears only a loin cloth but later appears fully dressed and at some point, wears a top hat. Dr. Frankenstein and his colleagues celebrate the achievement with champagne but the mistreated creature becomes a murderous menace. It kills a child. Dr. Frankenstein gets married and is on his honeymoon and he leaves his bride in a bedroom. The Creature enters and kills her. The Creature and the story are about the search for love and Panych treats it as such.
A play without any text makes it difficult to comment on individual performances. It is almost like trying to comment on individual dancers of the corps de ballet. But there are standouts. Marcus Nance as the Creature gives an outstanding performance even without words as a being in search of some affection who is violently rebuffed in every attempt. He looks hideous but his need for human contact is moving and becomes the dominant feature of the play. He becomes murderous when he cannot find any.
Charlie Gallant as Doctor Victor Frankenstein, the ambitious and ruthless scientist who wants to create life starts as sympathetic but but turns obsessed with killing his creation at the cost of everything else.
The play has more than twenty roles, most of the players are listed as Element and many taking several parts. Except for the major characters, I could not distinguish most of the rest. For example, Jason Sermonia is listed as playing Element, Sailor, Student, Townsperson, Guest, Soldier and Pallbearer. I did not recognize him in any of those roles. But their names are not important in the choreographed telling of the story.
The shape of the play, from its control by Mary Shelley to the music composition, movement and dance choreography, set design (Ken MacDonald), costume design (Dana Osborne), lighting design (Kimberly Purtell) and sound design (Jake Rodriguez) results in an unexpected theatrical marvel. The major credit must go to Morris Panych, the adapter, for his imaginative sans text creation and the ending that is all his own which I will not disclose.
Coulter’s music was sometimes repetitive, but always dramatic and changed pace as suited the scene. The costumes by Costume Designer Dana Osborne were high Victorian with all black and top hats for the professors. But the projected scenes of the changing moon and the electrical shocks while trying to give life to the corpse were utterly dramatic.
The production gained from being a
surprising, fresh and unexpected retelling of the familiar story with sheer
theatricality and stunning sets.
_________________
Frankenstein Revived by Morris Panych
based on Frankenstein by Mary Shelley with music by David Coulter had
its world premiere on August 24, 2023, and continues until October 28, 2023, at
the Avon Theatre, Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestval.ca
James Karas is the Senior Editor - Culture of The Greek Press.
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