Leeds Playhouse – until 24 February 2024
Reviewed by Sal E Marino
5*****
Frankenstein, inspired by Mary Shelly’s novel (that she wrote at the age of 18!), was brought to life again by the ground-breaking and innovative Imitating the Dog with Leeds Playhouse in a new and totally unique production of this spellbinding classic. Every adaptation I’ve seen previously by Imitating the Dog has been mind-blowing and mind-bending and once again with Frankenstein, I was delighted to enter a world of contrasts that the directors and creatives weaved together perfectly.
Gothic themes entwined in 21st century technology might not seem apt at first but when we think of the age in which Shelley was living in, that of a scientific revolution, it made an ideal partnership. The modern-day story that was interweaved so brilliantly with the 1818 narrative had a natural common bond – that of life. The nameless couple we meet in their grey apartment, just as a storm has erupted, are in a quandary about a new life they have created and if they should proceed to bring ‘it’ who later becomes referred to as ‘her’ into the dystopian world they reside in. Is it responsible? Are they capable or good enough of being parents? Parallel to this, Dr Victor Frankenstein is also caught in a storm aboard a ship and about to face the life he created and then rejected as soon as ‘it’ was birthed.
Our couple convey their feelings with not just words but through intense sequences of movement that dramatically display their internal struggles with themselves and each other. Their bodies show us anger, despair, desperation, love and passion in a way that hits the mark more powerfully than words; it was exceptional. The same performers play the parts of Victor Frankenstein, the ship’s captain and the ‘monster’ with equally compelling vigour. I really felt Victor’s remorse and his creation’s heart-breaking pain as he had come to realise what he was soulless and so will never be able to experience love like a human – who is always surrounded by the love of source (although we forget) and will return to it after death. The monster has been created by ‘a man’ and is made up of fragments of ‘borrowed’ body parts so how can he truly find himself and the key to his eternal soul-self? He can’t and he knows it.
The couple become distracted by a homeless man who like the monster is presented to us as angry and the couple ponder as to why. What made him like that? Did his family not love him? Their kind and loving human instinct kicks in and they want to help him despite having no apparent connection to him but of course they do – he’s human and innately we know we are all connected through the sacred tree of life that we all come from. They feel ‘something’ for him and in doing so, start to connect with the unborn child they have created – a precious life.
The creative team really have surpassed themselves with this production. It was like the energy that fuelled Victor’s experiment, electrifying with so many different effects. You felt like you could be in modern-day Frankenstein’s lab in parts as many things were fusing, exploding and manifesting on screens with a pizzazz of light and red liquid. It was mesmerising.
This production of Frankenstein is daring, dazzling and deep. It’s wise to know a little about the original story first if you don’t already – just a quick google of the basic outline – and then be prepared to be enthralled.