Theatre / red rope theatre
Review: Frankenstein, Arnos Vale Cemetery
Having tackled the ghostly goings-on of The Turn of the Screw at Arnos Vale Cemetery this time last year, Bristol’s Red Rope Theatre seem determined to milk the macabre possibilities of the setting even further with this faithful adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
No kitschy bolts of lightning or bolts-through-necks here: the atmosphere of cold, creeping dread and inescapable bleakness of the original novel is what the company are after, and whilst the results are sometimes mixed, it’s an effective reminder of just how far into the black Shelley wanted to take us with her original tale.
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Matt Grinter‘s script appropriately foregrounds the many musings on death that run through the novel, with characters sometimes pausing for a joint soliloquy on the subject as they perch on the chapel’s altar. Their words are sometimes a strain to hear as they reverberate off the stone walls, an unfortunate downside to a setting that otherwise works well.
Danann McAleer’s Victor Frankenstein is a haunted, slightly manic presence throughout, mirroring the overall tone of a production that veers a little too close to hysteria to make the really dramatic moments hit home.
Lois Baldry’s monster is paradoxically somewhat more measured, segueing between lost and lonely vulnerability, articulate anger and psychopathic fury with enough gradations in between that the character remains sympathetic even at its most horrifying. The fact that a woman plays the monster is never commented upon, but adds an interesting ambiguity to a figure so often caricatured in the nearly 200 years that separate us from the text.
Meanwhile one can only feel sorry for Lily Maryon‘s patient, naïve Elizabeth, pining after the young man that Victor once was and hoping that somehow marriage and normality can win out over the darkness that engulfs the characters, quicker than a November night.
Frankenstein continues at Arnos Vale Cemetery until Saturday, Nov 11. A few tickets still remaining. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.getawriggleon.com/o/bristol-red-rope-theatre-company-frankenstein-the-arnos-vale-cemetery
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