Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Quintessence Theatre Group’s Sedgwick Theatre, 7137 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia, through October 21, 2018.
Many of us think we know the story of Frankenstein because we saw the movie with Boris Karloff. But that was only a narrow segment of the tale. Quintessence Theater has staged the full adventure with a script by Alexander Burns, the company’s artistic director.
To appreciate the length and breadth of Shelley’s tale, you should know how it originated.
In the summer of 1816 all of Europe was in the grip of an icy spell caused by the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia a few months earlier. Skies were perpetually dark because of the volcanic ash in the atmosphere and 1816 became known as “The Year Without a Summer.” Eighteen-year-old Mary Godwin and her lover and future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley visited Lord Byron at his villa near Lake Geneva. Unable to go hiking because of the weather, they sat around a log fire and talked about the vulnerability of human beings confronting uncontrollable forces. And they made up ghost stories to entertain each other.
Mary’s story became the novel Frankenstein, about a scientist who created a creature much better adapted to cold conditions. Byron used the same inspiration to write his poem Darkness, imagining the dimming and the freezing of the entire universe. And Percy created Mont Blanc which describes glaciers that “creep like snakes that watch their prey.”
The stage adaptation by Burns tells almost all of Mary’s story. It’s three acts and runs over three hours. Keep in mind its genesis: the length of the tale is intentional, meant to hold one’s interest through a long night. And the running time is no deterrent to those of us who love Wagner’s Ring and Berlioz’s Troyens and O’Neill’s Strange Interlude.
The narrative begins with a sea captain voyaging toward the North Pole on a quest for scientific knowledge. He and his crew rescue Victor Frankenstein from the icy waters. Victor then relates his family history and his eventual resuscitation of a dead man through the use of electricity. We are almost an hour into the play before the Creature is created. In contrast, a successful production at London’s National Theatre in 2011 with Benedict Cumberbatch started at this point. I find the Quintessence version to be more enthralling. The National Theatre skimmed the highlights while Quintessence explores details and nuances.
The Creature learns to speak by eavesdropping on villagers and teaches himself to read after discovering a satchel of books in the woods. He comes upon a hut occupied by a farmer’s blind father who, unable to react to the Creature’s appearance, sees only the good in him and befriends him. The blind man’s son returns, is scared by the Creature’s appearance and attacks him. Rejected, hurt and angry, the Creature burns down the hut and embarks on a career of vengeance.
The Creature yearns for companionship and for love, but he learns hate from the people he encounters. After a myriad of adventures, the story ends back in the Arctic where it began.
Michael Zlabinger is effective as the obsessive Frankenstein. Jake Blouch is captivating as the monster, speaking with articulate erudition, almost like a character by George Bernard Shaw. Hannah Wolff is especially charming as Frankenstein’s adopted sister and other roles, while Kevin Bergen excels in multiple parts including the sympathetic blind man. Lee Cortopassi, Leah Gabriel, Brenden Dahl and Coralie Lyford do yeomen’s work as the other characters.
Burns’s direction is engrossing, utilizing the assets of a very wide stage. His use of bathtubs to simulate boats is especially creative. Sound and lighting effects by Daniel Ison and Curtis Coyote add a lot to the creepy atmosphere. Jane Casanave’s costumes are a mix of period and modern. I was distracted, however, by wide variations in accents. Perhaps there’s a reason why most of the actors use British accents while the Creature speaks American, but I haven’t figured out why.
All in all, this is a significant and enthralling production.