Malvern Theatres – until 18 January 2020
Reviewed by Vanessa Gibson
4****
With Mary Shelley (Eilidh Loan) at the centre of this production, the audience see’s the story of Frankenstein evolve within the mind of a young woman. The audience see Mary bring to life her own nightmare, a creature whom it is said ‘will never be a man’. We flit between Mary visibly working out her story, the next twist, the next murder and Frankenstein (Ben Castle Gibb) a man obsessed with creating life, then facing the consequences of doing so and rejecting his own creation. The story and characters progress and develop in front of the audiences eyes making compelling viewing.
Characterisation within this production is strong with Eilidh Loan portraying Shelley as a passionate, compelling, quick thinking and humorous woman, whom the audience is drawn to. At times Loan addresses the audience directly with well-timed quips and asides giving rise to some laughter from the small audience. This depiction is counterbalanced by Ben Castle Gibb who shows Frankenstein as a man increasingly tortured by his creation, desperately trying to protect those he loves and undo his own mistake in creating and rejecting the monster- his performance is full of the emotion and passion one would expect of a man in this position. The monster is truly a monster, brought to life by Michael Moreland who gives a strikingly powerful performance of a creature in torment and seeking both love and fearful revenge. He is at times both something to pity and fear.
This is a gothic production with swirling mist, an atmospheric set (Becky Minto) and lighting (Grant Anderson) drawing the audience into a world of shadows and swirling emotions. A small cast work hard to bring this story to life, the only minor issue being sound quality which at times made hearing all the dialogue difficult, hence the four star rating