By Nick Brunger
The director of Cotswold Players’ production of “Frankenstein” admits that the play is giving her sleepless nights. But it is not nightmares about the monster that is disturbing her dreams but her determination to do justice to the original story crafted by Mary Shelley.
This new version of the classic horror story was devised by writer Nick Dear for the National Theatre but director Sam Swinford says she is giving the play a few twists of her own to make the story more sympathetic to the Creature, as Victor Frankenstein’s creation is properly called.
“Our production is very different from Guillermo del Toro’s new film, currently showing on Netflix.”
“The cinematography is amazing but our play is much closer to Mary Shelley’s vision.”
The teenage Shelley famously came up with the concept of the dead being brought back to life by galvanism, as electricity was once known, during a lightning storm.
She then crafted the full story while living in Bath, creating what was the first work combining horror with science fiction.
“I’ve strived to keep the production as authentic to her spirit as possible,” says Sam.
“As a passionate wildlife enthusiast, I was also drawn to Mary’s themes of compassion toward nature and the responsibility that comes with scientific ambition.”
“The story warns us: when we exploit nature and bend her to our will instead of working with her, we engineer our own destruction.”
“Obviously there’s not a happy ending to the story but hopefully you will go away a nicer person, with a respect for nature and kinder to people that you meet.”
Frankenstein features Alex Nixon in the title role with Simon Amos as the Creature – a role that requires him to be in make-up for two hours before each performance.
As his appearance is true to Mary Shelley’s novel the production team are keeping his image under wraps to allow audiences the impact of seeing the character’s “animation” during the performance.
The Cotswold Players’ production also features Imogen Gorf as Frankenstein’s much younger brother, Freyja Simpson as the Female Creature and Gabrielle Fernie as Victor’s fiancée Elizabeth among a total cast of twelve.
“Frankenstein runs from Tuesday 18th to Saturday 22nd November at the Cotswold Playhouse on Parliament Street. Tickets are available from www.cotswoldplayhouse.co.uk.
