User blog:Sunshineandravioli/Stuff Sunshine Likes, Issue IV

Review of: Frankenstein

Media: Play

Directed by: Danny Boyle

Adapted by: Nick Dear

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Jonny Lee Miller

Run: February 22, 2011 – May 2, 2011 (Premiered on February 5, 2011)

Welcome, all, to this very special fourth edition of “Stuff Sunshine Likes”! Today, not only am I (for once) not reviewing a video game, but I’m also reviewing a piece much darker, more twisted, and more unusual than what most would consider standard Sunshine fare. This piece is a play put on during early 2011 by the Royal National Theater in London, a piece adapted from a tale many of us have come to know very well… and yet very different than what the modern everyman has come to associate with it. The play is Frankenstein, and in spite of the title, I can assure you there’s not an eight-foot tall green man or windmill or pitchfork-and-torch-wielding mob anywhere in sight. No, this adaptation sticks more closely to its source material, the 1818 novel by Mary Shelley, which from what I read was revolutionarily twisted for its time and still significantly creepy today. The play strikes a similar tone – revolutionary, slightly twisted, and yet also sad, thoughtful and, in a strange way, endearing. Ultimately, it’s a captivating work that, even if you wanted to, you’ll never quite be able to shake from your mind.

Now how exactly do I know all this…? No, sadly, I didn’t hop on a plane to London to see the play. (Oh, how I wish I could have – I’ll bet it was incredible to see live!) Instead, I was lucky enough to find a theater showing a recording of one of the shows, part of the National Theater Live program. The show was so incredible, I felt I just had to review it – keep in mind that there may be SPOILERS following, though I’ve done my best to avoid them. Also let it be noted that this production is definitely not a “for all ages” production; those who are particularly young, squeamish or easily frightened might want to skip past this review.

The first thing that ought to be mentioned about Frankenstein is its unique casting. To help illustrate the relationship and parallels between the play’s two main characters, the scientist Victor Frankenstein and his creation, known only as the Creature, Frankenstein utilizes a not-quite-double-casting casting method. And by that, I mean that the main actors, Benedict Cumberbatch (probably best known here for his starring role in BBC series Sherlock – which I plan to review one of these days – and for his upcoming role as the villain in the new Star Trek movie) and Jonny Lee Miller (probably best known here for being Angelina Jolie’s ex-husband, and for roles in Dexter, the new Dark Shadows film, and an upcoming role in CBS’ Holmes adaptation Elementary), each play both parts.

Confused yet? I don’t blame you. What I mean is that each night the play went up, the two actors swapped roles – the first night, Cumberbatch would play the Creature and Miller would play Victor Frankenstein; the next night, Miller would be the Creature and Cumberbatch would be Victor Frankenstein. This meant that each time, the show was played just a little bit differently as each actor performed a different interpretation of their role, something especially evident in each one’s portrayal of the Creature. A short feature prior to the showing of the filmed production (which gave some background on the development of the play and showed footage from rehearsals, a nice little bonus for those who had to settle for seeing the show at the cinema) particularly explains that Miller based much of his acting of the Creature off of his two-year-old, stumbling and crawling and gazing at the world with a childlike innocence, while Cumberbatch’s Creature was based off of victims of strokes and other medical trauma, stiffly and desperately trying to regain mobility and freedom since lost. This unusual new casting decision (which has since been referred to as being “Cumberbatch’d” by fans, something I’m sure comes to the dismay of Miller) works immensely effectively, especially with such good actors in the roles; they make both roles their own, and fit them so well that whichever version you see, you can’t imagine the roles swapped. I personally saw the version with Miller as the Creature and Cumberbatch as Victor Frankenstein (as will be reflected in the rest of the review), but after the show I spoke with someone I know who saw the opposite version, and each of us stated something along the lines of “Miller/Cumberbatch did so well as the Creature/Frankenstein that I can’t imagine them playing Frankenstein/the Creature!”

On the topic of the Creature, let me discuss his appearance, and by extension that of some of the other characters. If you’re at all even faintly familiar with Frankenstein (which I should hope most people are), you would know that in all adaptations of the tale, the Creature (and for the sake of all the nerds out there, I will point out here that the Creature is not Frankenstein; Frankenstein is the last name of the scientist who creates the Creature) is considered a grotesque being that the general population is absolutely terrified of. Well, here, even I have to admit that the Creature is truly grotesque, in the best of ways considering it’s intended to be as such. In an incredible and, I can only imagine, tedious makeup job, the Creature is a horrendous mish-mash of human patchwork, all stitches and scars and horrendous red lines where, evidently, once-separate body parts were joined together. It’s terrifying, even more so when one considers the deeper implications, which helps strike a similar mood for the production as a whole. The rest of the characters, stitch-free (with one notable exception, whose identity you might be able to guess when I get into the plot outline later), appear to be from the same 1800’s time period of the novel from which this play is adapted, as based on their costumes and the distinct Steampunk style (glee!) that permeates their surroundings. Victorian dress and sensibilities are everywhere, another choice that helps to set the mood for the play.

Now then, what’s this about Steampunk? Well, maybe I’m reading too much into this, but based on the fact that a steam-powered engine rumbles onto the stage about ten minutes into the play, uproarious miners aboard wearing brass goggles on their coal-streaked faces as they shout the praises of industry, I’d say there’s a distinct Steampunk style to this production. It makes itself clear in this scene, in Victor Frankenstein’s lab, in the colors and lighting chosen for the production, and much more. And if you ask me, it’s a good choice – not just because I love Steampunk style, but because of the themes that Steampunk carries; the ideas of anti-establishment, of human potential, of advancement and science and whimsy and rising in a dull, broken world. The way these connotations of the Steampunk style mesh with the themes of the play – like clockwork, if you will – make the sometimes subtle, other times obvious (*cough-steam engine-cough*) incorporations of the style an excellent aesthetic choice.

Now as I begin to talk about the play itself, let’s also talk more about Frankenstein’s style – in particular, in the form of its incredible set. Now at first, looking at a shot of the set before they started the show, I didn’t think it was anything remarkable. Just a round, sepia-grey wood floor, connected to a raised aisle going down between two sides of the audience, the walls around the stage a simple, plain black. But then the show begins… and we realize a massive collection of hundreds of light bulbs, glowing the deep yellow-orange of fading cinders, is hanging from the ceiling in a way that I suppose could lead it to be called a chandelier, though somehow the word doesn’t seem to fit the image as well as it should. Center stage, backlit with the same dimmed light, is a sphere of cloth, stitched together in a haphazard, makeshift way – a crude artificial womb, within which the backlighting allows us to see the silhouette of a man. A heartbeat, loud and thundering, thuds steadily throughout the room – then the crash of a lightning strike, the hundreds of lights above flash blindingly bright, and the figure writhes within the “womb”. This repeats several times before finally, hands pull apart the poorly-stitched cloth, and, tumbling out to land face-down, limp, on the floor, is the Creature. This is the play’s first haunting scene, the birth of this unnatural being, and though it goes on a bit long after this point – think approximately five full minutes of the Creature shouting and cowering in fear at more “lightning”, writhing around on the floor, learning to crawl and stand and eventually toddle around in a disturbingly childlike way whilst making loud, senseless vocalizations – it’s more than an effective way to start the show.

The set only becomes more impressive from this point on. Shortly after this scene we have the arrival of the steam engine mentioned earlier, rumbling onstage with a battalion of miners and enormous clouds of fog and steam, leaving train tracks in its wake – quite a surprise considering just a few minutes earlier, all we saw was a simple round stage. But it’s after this point that the show reveals its genius in set design – shunned by the townsfolk, the Creature wanders into the woods, stumbling towards a projection on the black wall that perfectly resembles sunrise coming through the trees, and then later the Creature lies down among the morning dew in the grass… grass that has “grown” in what was previously the spaces between the train tracks left behind in the earlier scene. It took me a minute to register that this is what had happened (my first thought was “huh, the grass is shaped like little separate squares…”, which of course was because of the square-shaped gaps in the train tracks), but once it hit me, I was absolutely struck by the genius of the set designers – and it only got better. Further set mechanizations go from the boldly dangerous (real water dripping down from the ceiling as “rain”, real fire being emitted from what looks like an oversized Bunsen burner embedded in the floor) to the delightfully deceptive (wooden panels descend from the ceiling to lie onstage and, with the aid of fog and lighting, make the stage appear to be a dock over a lake in one scene, while in other scenes projections on the black walls serve to make the space seem larger than it is) to the absolutely insanely ingenious (one “house” is descended from the ceiling on cables, with not just furniture and props but one of the actors inside, while in another scene a panel in the center of the stage retracts and, rotating, another even more massive, completely furnished house actually lifts out of the floor). It’s crazy, it’s impossible, and it’s wonderful… and it makes me happy to know that the play’s director, Danny Boyle, is in charge of the London summer Olympics this year. (Who knows what he’ll lift out of the floor there!!*) Wonderfully complimenting the set and play alike are the beautiful, subtle lighting changes that help give the play its somber, occasionally twisted mood, and an absolutely incredible, haunting soundtrack by frequent Boyle collaborator Underworld (who has the music available on their website – I’m not sure whether or not it’s free, though).

Now, back to the play itself. I’m sure most of you, like myself before seeing the production, know the story of Frankenstein mostly from a certain black-and-white horror movie. Well, unfortunately/fortunately (depending on your opinion on said film), this adaptation – sticking much more closely to the source material – is quite a bit different. No, there’s no Igor, no burning windmill, no “It’s alive!!”, no eight-foot-tall green man, and the “bride” does not have to wait until the sequel to get some spotlight of her own. To summarize this version with as few spoilers as possible… Victor Frankenstein creates the Creature, is horrified, tells it not to come near him, chucks a cloak at it and flees. The Creature wanders about, shunned and beaten by villagers, before retreating into the forest. He eventually meets an old blind man who, unable to see him and thus unafraid, teaches him to read, write and speak. The Creature discovers Frankenstein’s journal in the pocket of his cloak, and, driven by a new desire to integrate into society and be loved, seeks out the scientist. When he and Frankenstein next encounter each other, Frankenstein is stunned by the Creature’s grace and intellect, but insists he must be destroyed. The Creature offers to disappear to the jungles of South America forever, leaving society free of his presence, if Frankenstein will create him a female like him first. Driven by the challenge of creating a second Creature that is “perfect”, Frankenstein agrees. As you might suspect, things go downhill (and spoiler-y) from there.

As I mentioned earlier, the version of Frankenstein I was able to see had Jonny Lee Miller playing the Creature and Benedict Cumberbatch playing Victor Frankenstein. Going into the show, I already knew I could have confidence in Cumberbatch’s acting ability – I adore him in Sherlock – but I was more unfamiliar with Miller’s work. Thankfully, he did not disappoint, an especially good thing considering we spend more time watching him as the Creature than any other character (even Cumberbatch’s Frankenstein only makes a brief appearance during the opening scene, then isn’t seen again until nearly halfway through the show). Miller’s Creature truly does begin the show at “birth” and progress from there; in the opening scene he is a baby, slowly learning to pick himself up and move about on his own, and as he moves through the village and forest he progresses towards childhood, learning about the world that exists beyond his birthplace and the people that exist beyond his “father”. As he meets and learns from the old blind man, he progresses from childhood into adolescence and young adulthood, now a learned man and less helplessly innocent, but still idealistic and hopeful. By the time the play ends, however, he has become, by his own admission, “a man”; he has seen that the world is not always just, he has seen that good does not always win, he has seen that often success in this twisted “real world” is the result of cheats, lies and betrayal. He becomes, in many ways, truly human – and none of them in ways that should make him, or us, feel that this is an improvement upon his former, innocent self. But this beginning, and this arc, endears him to us and makes us want to follow his story. Seeing him starting off in this childlike state, we form a connection that is almost parental in nature, feeling pride as he learns to read and speak as if watching one of our own grow – and it is this connection that makes it so tragic when he ultimately does become corrupted, that makes us remember his former self and wish he could have remained this way, as if we could have done something to prevent it.

Cumberbatch’s Victor Frankenstein, conversely, is not an endearing character, nor is he meant to be. (…which leads me to continue to wonder how I can adore Cumberbatch so much when 90% of the characters he plays are utterly unlikable people.) More often than not, Frankenstein’s state acts as a direct opposite to his creation’s – when the Creature is innocently optimistic, Frankenstein is dark and jaded; when the Creature is bold, Frankenstein is afraid; when the Creature is desperate, Frankenstein takes control; when one of them loves, the other hates. Throughout the entire play they remain trapped in this dance, twisted mirror images of each other and yet impossibly different. But the real point, the real issue, the real ironic joke of the whole situation is that, in spite of everything, ultimately the Creature is the more human of the two. It’s a fact that Frankenstein realizes and tries desperately to deny. After all, he can’t be the one who’s less human; he’s supposed to be the creator, the superior, the “good guy”, the one in control – he can’t be less capable of humanity than this thing, can he? And yet he is, withdrawing from society and failing to understand how love works while the Creature yearns to fit in with humanity and loves with all his makeshift heart. Benedict’s acting makes it clear that this concept horrifies Victor – and it’s his desperate, violent denial that spurs on much of the conflict of the play; that keeps man and beast from coexisting peacefully; that drives the Creature to lose his last grip on his innocence and idealism, finally becoming a man as he so dreamed – a man capable of cheating, lying, and destroying in his quest to prove himself superior, in ironic and horrible emulation of the man he hates most, his very creator. It is this denial of the fact that the man and his creation are clear mirrors of each other that drives this play on into conflict and catastrophe, with much of the tragedy that occurs avertable if one or both were only able to say, “Well, maybe we’re not all that different after all”. A social commentary? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, this underlying theme, running parallel with the Creature’s tragic growth from innocent child to bitter man, helps Frankenstein pack a powerful emotional punch that enraptures the viewer from beginning to end.

Is there anything the play has going against it? Well… aside from the aforementioned “birth” scene going on perhaps a bit too long, the one thing I can find to complain about is the very end of the play, which I felt came a tiny bit too abruptly and got just a bit too sappy for my tastes (especially in comparison to the rest of the play). But that’s a minor quibble compared to the genius of the rest. Frankenstein is haunting, moving, and heartbreaking as a play, and to anyone even remotely familiar with theater, its lighting, music, and set design are absolutely awe-inspiring. I don’t know when one would have an opportunity to see the show again – I heard there may be more screenings of the filmed performance, though I don’t have any specifics – but if any of this sounds interesting to you and you get the opportunity to see Frankenstein, I would highly suggest you take it. No matter what, I can assure you it’ll be an experience you’ll never forget.

Thanks again for taking the time to read another issue of “Stuff Sunshine Likes” – hope you enjoyed seeing me review something a little different this time! And if you didn’t, have no fear; next week I’ll be back yet again with a somewhat more expected issue, a review of the DS game Professor Layton and the Curious Village.

Until then!

''* Author's note: This review was written before the opening ceremony for the London olympics. I was indeed very pleased with Boyle's work there.''

Overall Score: 9/10

The Good Points, in Sum: Ingenious set design and lighting, masterful acting, a fitting and haunting soundtrack, excellent character development, revolutionary role-swap casting, faithfulness to the source material, “Steampunk” theme at points

The Bad Points, in Sum: Certain scenes (namely the opening “birth” scene) go on a bit too long, somewhat abrupt/sappy ending, darker elements can be off-putting to more squeamish individuals

Recommended for: Benedict Cumberbatch fans, Jonny Lee Miller fans, Danny Boyle fans, anyone who loves theater, horror aficionados, anyone who loves a good story, lovers of visual spectacle, fans of character development, fans of the original novel, the great many people who get immensely frustrated when people use “Frankenstein” to refer to the monster, anyone looking for something a bit different

Consider Before Viewing...: This play is definitely an R-rated work, or at the very least an extremely edgy PG-13. The appearance of the Creature alone is enough to startle the young or squeamish, and there’s also several deaths (not excessively graphic, thankfully, but still), a rape scene, and nudity/near nudity (the Creature is “born” wearing only a loincloth, and writhes around in a way that shows off an awful lot of butt; also, in one sequence the female Creature appears topless. Furthermore, I heard word that in some performances, the Creature was completely nude, though I doubt this version was the one recorded and shown in cinemas). If you’re under thirteen, I’d definitely advise you to wait a few years before you think about seeing Frankenstein, and even then, I’d recommend you consider before attending, or at the very least go with an adult.