For two centuries Frankenstein has beguiled readers, viewers and audiences.
Rona Munro in her adaptation has put Mary Shelley (Eilidh Loan) centre stage as a politically engaged 18-year-old woman. The alchemy of Victor Frankenstein creating his monster and Shelly forming her character creates potent alchemy on the stage.
The element of the strange and uncanny begins with the story coming to Shelley in a what she described as “a waking dream” and it’s the drama of capturing this nightmarish vision on the page that gives this production life.
There is jump out of your seat moments amid ferocious storms and the scene where two members of a naval vessel spotted a strange giant man in the distance it creates a particularly eerie atmosphere.
Michael Moreland takes on the role of the monster but nothing is unsettling about a man of wild appearance with long hair in a leather coat. At the centre of it all was Shelley’s desire to unnerve the audience. We are encouraged to think about men in power who act without responsibility and the societal monsters they are creating.
Especially those, like Frankenstein’s monster, who feel isolated and rejected by life. Without giving nurture and care to the things we create there will be a heavy price to pay.
Frankenstein is at The King’s.
