Last week, The Boy™ and I saw National Theatre Live's broadcast of Frankenstein.
It was wonderful. We both enjoyed it tremendously.
**** Break here for possible spoilers ****
The scenic designer in me totally geeked out over the entire production. The set was gorgeous. The use of a revolve, lift and trucks was just amazing. Though it is hard to get a sense of the size of the theatre itself on the movie screen, the 3/4 thrust stage gives a sense of intimacy (as 3/4 thrusts are wont to do.)
Evidently, tickets to this particular show are selling like hotcakes. A good portion, I'm sure, has to do with the brilliance of the script (which I'll get to in a moment,) but some of it is due to the cast reversal. Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch alternate the roles of Dr Frankenstein and the Creature. The production we saw starred Miller as Frankenstein and Cumberbatch as the Creature.
Cumberbatch's Creature was absolutely fantastic. Having only seen him in more clinical, detached roles (i.e. Sherlock,) I was surprised to find him endearing and dynamic. Unlike any other version of the Creature I've seen before. The physicality he put into the role told a story his words didn't need to. He did, in fact, speak (unlike traditional versions of the Creatrue,) and his speech and development thereof was inspired. We see the Creature born and develop - both physically and mentally - onstage before us
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Having never seen Miller in anything before, I had no preconceived notions of his ability as an actor. I found his Frankenstein also unlike Frankensteins of the past. He is cocky, self-assured, a little bit crazy and ultimately very flawed. He approaches his experiment with a single-mindedness only seen in the utter genius and the mentally ill and we watch him walk the fine line between the two. The intensity of the Creature (or perhaps the fact that we don't see much of Frankenstein until the second part of the play) overshadows the doctor. Not that Miller's performance is in any way forgettable, quite the contrary, but one cannot help but watch the Creature the entire time they're on stage together. The few scenes Frankenstein has alone, or with other actors, shows him to be chilling and a bit mad.
The most important thing this production brings to the artistic world, I think, is the story itself. Never before have we had a theatrical or cinematic version so true to Mary Shelley's original story. Writer Nick Dear tells the tale with the Creature's voice, beginning with the birth of the Creature. We spend the first ten or so minutes of the play watching this newly born being discover how to move, how to talk, how to understand his surroundings. It's a bit like watching an infant in fast forward. We watch him grow and learn and begin to understand the world. We are joyous when he finds a friend; our heart breaks with his when he faces prejudice. He sees the world as a child would - a child with a fully developed brain, able to make the connections and conclusions an adult would.
As the play progresses, the Creature discovers the nature of good and evil, and attempts to discover that nature within himself. Faced with nothing but rejection and abuse, he turns vindictive and revengeful.
We see ourselves in the Creature, demanding answers and explanations from a deity unable or unwilling to answer. While Frankenstein's creature has a more direct route to his creator, he begs the same question in the face of adversity that much of the human race has for many thousands of years: why hast thou forsaken me?
In the end, we see Frankenstein and his Creature choose a horrifyingly tragic existence. They cannot go on with, yet cannot exist without, each other.
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