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whatkatiereadnext 's review for:
Frankenstein, Based on the Novel by Mary Shelley
by Nick Dear
4.5 /5
“I should be Adam. God was proud of Adam. But Satan's the one I sympathise with. For I was cast out, like Satan, though I did no wrong. And when I see others content, I feel the bile rise in my throat, and it tastes like Satan's bile.”
- Nick Dear, Frankenstein, Scene Twenty-Four.
Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein is one of my favourite novels and one of the very first books that I fell in love with, so it has a very special place in my heart.
I saw the play twice through the National Theatre Live programme and absolutely adored it! Reading the play allowed me to re-live this brilliant production.
Nick Dear’s adaptation of Frankenstein is a much more streamlined and faster paced version of the original story. The play doesn’t have the Chinese Box narrative structure of the original and many characters have been condensed, changed or written out completely. The plot of this adaptation is slightly different to the original, with more of a focus on the Creature and the complicated relationship between Victor and his creation.
Despite this, the romanticism and essence of the original text hasn’t been lost. Dear has also perfectly captured the many themes and ideas of the original text and explores them beautifully.
Dear really seems to understand Victor and the Creature, and provides so much insight and depth to both of their characters, perhaps more than in the original novel. The dialogue is fantastic, powerful and thought provoking, particularly the dialogue between Victor and the Creature. Scene Twenty-Four is particularly wonderful.
"Victor: I have come to kill you!
Creature: To kill me? Why then did you create me?
Victor: To prove that I could!
Creature: So you make sport with my life?" - Frankenstein, Scene Twenty-Four
"Victor: There is no dialogue with killers!
Creature: Yet you’d kill me if you could! Why, you have just tried! So why is your killing justified, and mine is not?
Victor: I won’t argue with you! My God, I’m halfway up a mountain, debating with a – a –
Creature: A living creature!” - Frankenstein, Scene Twenty-Four
The early scenes of the play are almost completely free of dialogue but the stage directions are wonderful, the first scene in particular is beautifully written.
"The creature lunges at Victor, as if to embrace him, or maybe to strangle him - who knows?" - Frankenstein, Scene Three
"A heartbreaking moment in which it becomes clear that the creature may be more capable of love than Victor is" - Frankenstein, Scene Twenty-Eight
As much as I enjoyed this play, the secondary characters, such as Elizabeth and Monsieur Frankenstein came across as two-dimensional and flat, and seemed more like plot devises than characters.
Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful, moving play and I hope to re-read and re-watch it in the future. For those who feel intimidated by the language of the original novel, Nick Dear’s play is a great introduction to Frankenstein and gothic literature.
“I should be Adam. God was proud of Adam. But Satan's the one I sympathise with. For I was cast out, like Satan, though I did no wrong. And when I see others content, I feel the bile rise in my throat, and it tastes like Satan's bile.”
- Nick Dear, Frankenstein, Scene Twenty-Four.
Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein is one of my favourite novels and one of the very first books that I fell in love with, so it has a very special place in my heart.
I saw the play twice through the National Theatre Live programme and absolutely adored it! Reading the play allowed me to re-live this brilliant production.
Nick Dear’s adaptation of Frankenstein is a much more streamlined and faster paced version of the original story. The play doesn’t have the Chinese Box narrative structure of the original and many characters have been condensed, changed or written out completely. The plot of this adaptation is slightly different to the original, with more of a focus on the Creature and the complicated relationship between Victor and his creation.
Despite this, the romanticism and essence of the original text hasn’t been lost. Dear has also perfectly captured the many themes and ideas of the original text and explores them beautifully.
Dear really seems to understand Victor and the Creature, and provides so much insight and depth to both of their characters, perhaps more than in the original novel. The dialogue is fantastic, powerful and thought provoking, particularly the dialogue between Victor and the Creature. Scene Twenty-Four is particularly wonderful.
"Victor: I have come to kill you!
Creature: To kill me? Why then did you create me?
Victor: To prove that I could!
Creature: So you make sport with my life?" - Frankenstein, Scene Twenty-Four
"Victor: There is no dialogue with killers!
Creature: Yet you’d kill me if you could! Why, you have just tried! So why is your killing justified, and mine is not?
Victor: I won’t argue with you! My God, I’m halfway up a mountain, debating with a – a –
Creature: A living creature!” - Frankenstein, Scene Twenty-Four
The early scenes of the play are almost completely free of dialogue but the stage directions are wonderful, the first scene in particular is beautifully written.
"The creature lunges at Victor, as if to embrace him, or maybe to strangle him - who knows?" - Frankenstein, Scene Three
"A heartbreaking moment in which it becomes clear that the creature may be more capable of love than Victor is" - Frankenstein, Scene Twenty-Eight
As much as I enjoyed this play, the secondary characters, such as Elizabeth and Monsieur Frankenstein came across as two-dimensional and flat, and seemed more like plot devises than characters.
Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful, moving play and I hope to re-read and re-watch it in the future. For those who feel intimidated by the language of the original novel, Nick Dear’s play is a great introduction to Frankenstein and gothic literature.