“Victor Gialanella’s script is truly an actor’s dream; each role is essential to the telling of this story, and each must be a ‘real’ person,” according to Gates. She read six scripts before striking gold with Gialanella’s stage version of the classic novel written by Mary Shelley. In this version, as in Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein’s Creature does not begin his life as a monster – he is only a very confused being who “understands nothing”. He is made monstrous through his interactions with people. The only kindness he ever knows comes from a gentle, blind hermit, who teaches the Creature about living. This relationship eventually makes the Creature question his existence. Gates said, “This ‘questioning’ is something that I believe a great many of us do. But, unlike the Creature, we are never alone; we have family and friends who try to help us answer life’s questions. The creature is alone – he is the only one of his kind.”
Frankenstein – Victor Gialanella, from the novel by Mary Shelley: Set in nineteenth-century Switzerland, this classic tale of horror and suspense details the ill-fated experiments of young Dr. Frankenstein as he attempts to fathom the secrets of life and death. Purchasing cadavers from two unsavory grave robbers, he gives life to a creature both hideous and touching, and so physically powerful and mentally twisted that he soon brings death or destruction to all who stand in his way. Adhering more closely to the original novel than did the famous motion picture versions, the play blends moments of brooding terror and sudden shock with questions of morality and the dangers of unrestrained scientific inquiry. Blending thrills and shuddering horror with moments of touching sentiment and compelling philosophical insights, the play accomplishes the singular feat of being as moving and affecting as it is terrifying.
“No question, Gialenella’s script caught the legendary excitement of the Frankenstein story.” —Saturday Review.
“FRANKENSTEIN is more than a horror story…much more.” —St. Louis Citizen.
“…the most visually exciting stage presentation of the season.” —The Hollywood Reporter.