Blackeyed Theatre's version of Frankenstein is dark, powerful and heartbreaking - and can be seen at Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre until Saturday
There have been more than 100 stage and film adaptations of Mary Shelley’s 1816 novel Frankenstein - The Modern Prometheus.
The most enduring images, whether we approve or not, is probably Boris Karloff as the monster with bolts in his neck in the black and white movie versions and Peter Cushing as the mad scientist with Christopher Lee as the creature with a bad embroidery job around his forehead in the luridly colour House of Horror movies.
As for moral compass – their settings are about as accurate as the Bond movies depicting spies as martini-swilling sex maniacs.
More serious minds – including Kenneth Branagh – have had a pop at it as has Aussie Stuart Beattie in the sci-fi blockbuster I, Frankenstein which saw the monster as an evil-busting hero.
Blackeyed Theatre returned to the novel as the rock-solid basis for its stage adaptation.
Its version, adapted by Nick Lane, has heart, soul, fear and atmosphere by the boatload. It is dark, complex, absorbing and, at times, heartbreaking.
To think Mary Shelley was 17 when she wrote Frankenstein, she did not half ask some big questions. Blackeye meet head-on the moral dilemmas raised by the author – they include nature over nurture, man-playing-God, life after death, the power of science and scientific knowledge and the fickleness of nature.
Its anti-hero Frankenstein is a cocky student who thinks he has all the answers, refusing to listen to his teachers and is led astray by ambition.
The monster is not merely an unthinking murdering marauder but a tormented, anguished being who begs to know why the father who rejects him as created him in the first place.
Robert Bradley plays Victor Frankenstein who gives a powerful portrayal of the hopeful scientist whose work turns him into a despairing mess.
The monster is a puppet – banish all thoughts of Orville. Yvonne Stone has created a life-size mannequin seemingly made of bone, sinew and muscle. Billy Irving who voices him and the rest of the five-strong cast brings the puppet to wonderful life. It is stunning.
Blackeyed’s version of Frankenstein is a must-see for all students of the book – and life’s big questions. It leaves you to discuss the answers.
It runs at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, on Thursday February 10 and Friday September 11 at 7.30pm; Saturday February 12 at and at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.
Tickets, priced from £10, are available from the box office on 01723 370541 and online at www.sjt.uk.com