The Space – until 10th March. Reviewed by Claire Roderick
4****
Burn Bright Theatre’s reimagining of Frankenstein sees Victor Frankenstein dying in infancy while his cousin Elizabeth is taken in by the Frankensteins and experiments with the power of life after their tragic deaths. 200 years after Mary Shelley’s novel was published, and with the centenary of women’s suffrage being celebrated, this feminist version is a refreshing and illuminating take on the classic story.
Performed in the round, with the cast prowling and emerging from all corners of the atmospheric performing space, lit beautifully by Andy Straw, director Katherine Timms uses the talented ensemble (Sarah Lawrie, Charlotte Peak and Carlton Venn) as dynamic narrators and chorus, with their ghostly whispering heightening the eerie tension. The laboratory scenes are particularly memorable, with the Latin phrases repeated by Elizabeth adding a mystical element to the creation of life. Writer Isabel Dixon makes Elizabeth a believable visionary, with Danielle Winter giving a haunted and passionate interpretation of the character. Having a female creature adds a whole new dimension to the creature’s responses to the world around her, with the destructive rage tempered by a tender regret and need to be loved. Instead of a companion, the creature demands that Frankenstein create a child for her to nurture, and Elizabeth Schenk’s skittish, visceral performance soars to a whole new level as she displays the grief of the bereft creature at its loss.
Shelley’s novel is well served in this fantastic adaptation, with no tricksy additions, simply the feminine versions of the main protagonists. The poor creature becomes even more pitiable in this version, and her gleeful violence more shocking.
Burn Bright’s Frankenstein is a must-see for Shelley fans and newcomers to the story – a dynamic, haunting production that will linger long in the memory.