Frankenstein Reviews

Frankenstein, a play based on the story by Mary Shelly, is about a scientist called Dr Frankenstein who plays god by creating life out of dead body parts and electricity from lightening. It tells the story that what may have been Dr Frankenstein’s great achievement actually will be his greatest downfall.

The interesting thing about the National Theatre production of Frankenstein is that the lead characters are alternately played by two lead actors. On the night I watched the play Benedict Cumberbatch played the role of the Monster. After watching the play, I feel the name ‘Monster’ is unfair because the Monster was one of the kindest and most thoughtful characters in the play. The real monster is Dr Frankenstein. Throughout the play Dr Frankenstein showed he only cared about scientific progress and his own development and not what he had created and what that meant. The Monster is abandoned and unloved until he meets the blind old man, who treats him with respect and teaches him.

One significant aspect of the play is that everyone who saw the Monster showed fear or disgust and was nasty to him. However, the blind man couldn’t see how the Monster looked physically and treated him as a normal man.

One of the most powerful things to see in the stage play was when the Monster came to life in the first 15 minutes. It was amazing to watch the actors portray how the Monster was coming to life and learning to use his body. This was done without any speech and just by the actors using their own physicality. I also watched the first 15 minutes of the play on the 2 nd day, where Jonny Lee Miller was the Monster. His portrayal showed the Monster to have more childlike movements and innocence.

Benedict Cumberbatch was more aggressive like he was fighting with his body and struggling to get used to how it worked. Both showed through their bodies and acting how confused and frightened the Monster was of their new life and the world.

I was impressed with the staging of the production. It was often simply set up but very effective. I especially liked the lights above the stage, which at times look like lightening. I also like the steam train. It was interesting how so few cast members could portray busy industrial times.

Overall, I believe this is a brilliant adaptation of a classic story. It teaches many lessons including; we should not judge people based on their appearance, it is wrong for man to meddle with creation and God’s power and despite the good intentions of the blind man it was the badness in the world that corrupted and destroyed both the Monster and Frankenstein.