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Regional Reviews: Other Regions Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Also see Gil's reviews of Troilus and Cressida, See How They Run, She Loves Me, Something Rotten!, Hamlet and Harmony
The play begins on a stormy evening in Switzerland in 1816 when Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and her friends, including her stepsister and Lord Byron, are telling ghost stories, with a bet for who can tell the best one. At first, Mary's companion, Percy Bysshe Shelley (they would marry later that year), doesn't think Mary has the ability to craft a good ghost story, yet her tale of the brilliant but obsessive young scientist Victor Frankenstein, who creates a being from assembled body parts, proves to be a heartbreaking story of obsession, creation, and a creature in search of acceptance. Catlin's play is a fairly faithful adaptation of Shelley's novel and is quite good, especially in how it blends together theatricality, literature, history, and philosophical questions. It's also a beautifully structured play within a play. When Mary begins to tell her story, Mary's friends, at first, simply play-act the parts of various characters in Mary's tale. But Catlin also weave events from Mary's life, including the death of her mother and her and Percy's children, by pulling them into the narrative as Mary's friends and the stage transform into a seamless mixture of the characters and events in Mary's novel and the people in her life. The real and fictitious stories morph back and forth throughout. In this regard, Catlin masterfully shows how situations and personal experiences are sometimes echoed in a writer's work. Catlin also peppers the piece with many well-written pieces of dialogue and does a wonderful job depicting how, perhaps, Victor was not the hero but the villain of the story, and the actual monster of the piece. The cast are wonderful, especially Emily Fury Daly and Jacob Dresch, who play Mary and Percy as well as the novel's characters Victor and Elizabeth Lavenza, respectively. Their accent work is polished and the nuances and layers they bring to the roles they depict are superb. Travis Ascione paints a stirring portrait of the Creature that depicts layers of vulnerability, while Regan Sims and Sean Dale play an assortment of supporting roles with expertise. Risa Brainin's direction derives distinct and rich portrayals from the entire cast and her staging makes great use of the entire auditorium, including the stairs in the seating sections and the entryways, to give an immersive feeling to the production. Rather than relying on elaborate special effects, the evocative music and sound design by Melanie Chen Cole, Claire Chrzan's sensational lighting, the inventive and effective set by Jason Simms, Devon Painter's period costumes, and the performances of a gifted cast, interweave to create a memorable theatrical experience. Like the famous novel, David Catlin's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein allows the audience to see how characters often exist in shades of grey, neither hero nor villain, which allows us to sympathize with them while understanding the potentially tragic choices they've made. While those who are only familiar with the film adaptations, or who are expecting a more thrilling horror tale with a lot of shock effects, may be disappointed or surprised with the more introspective interpretation on hand, Catlin's play and Utah Shakespeare Festival's production honor the legacy and enduring power of Shelley's work while also reminding audiences that true monsters aren't often born of science but from the failure to take responsibility for one's actions; as Mary states toward the end, "are there not monsters in all of us?" Mary Shelley's Frankenstein runs through October 3, 2026, at Utah Shakespeare Festival, with performances at the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts on the campus of Southern Utah University, 195 W Center St, Cedar City UT. For tickets and information, please visit www.bard.org or call 800-752-9849. Director: Risa Brainin Cast: |
