‘Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein’ by David Catlin. Directed by Brian Isaac Phillips. Scenic Design by Sam Reno. Costume Design by Rainy Edwards, Lighting Design by Jeff Adelberg, Projection Design by Robert Carleton Simmel, Sound Design by Zack Bennett. Produced by the Merrimack Repertory Theater in partnership with the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company at the Nancy L. Donahue Theatre at Liberty Hall, 50 E. Merrimack St., Lowell, through November 24.
By Mike Hoban
If you’re heading to Merrimack Rep hoping for a post-Halloween fright fest (as if the election results weren’t horrifying enough) based on the Boris Karloff Frankenstein films, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment. But if you’re looking for a high-quality theatrical production that eschews special effects and makeup in favor of a staging that brings psychological and emotional terror to the stage, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein delivers brilliantly.
Merrimack Rep has once again teamed with the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, a year after their intriguing Gaslight production enjoyed runs at both theaters. Playwright David Catlin combines the Frankenstein novel with real-life occurrences, including the “ghost story” competition that spawned the book, but also draws upon the personal trials and tragedies of Mary Shelley’s life that informed the work – the death of her firstborn daughter Clara 12 days after birth, and the tumultuous relationship with her husband.
The play opens in 1816 (two years before “Frankenstein” was published) with English Romantic poets and writers Percy Bysshe Shelley (John Patrick Hayden), Lord Byron (Jay Wade), Dr. John Polidori (Billy Chace), Mary (Jasimine Bouldin), and Mary’s pregnant stepsister Claire Clairmont (Alexis Bronkovic) vacationing on a lake near Geneva, Switzerland. Housebound due to inclement weather, the male writers engage in a horror-themed storytelling contest, which Shelley believes he has won handily until his wife Mary begins to spin her yarn.
Mary’s story melds the pain of the death of her child with the hope of bringing her back to life through galvanism (an 18th and 19th-century scientific theory that held that electric shocks could reanimate the human body) and transforms them into a morality play about the consequences of withholding love and connection. As she tells the story, the cast morphs into the characters in the novel – Percy Shelley becomes Victor Frankenstein, Lord Byron becomes the Creature, Mary becomes Victor’s adopted sister Elizabeth, and Claire and the doctor assume multiple roles.
The opening minutes are essentially a display of literary one-upmanship as we endure the insufferably erudite writers jab at each other with witticisms, but the brilliance of the original novel, interwoven with Shelley’s personal anguish, soon reclaims center stage. Frankenstein is a morality play in which a mortal attempts to conquer death itself – not for the good of humankind but for his own deification – as evidenced by this passage from the original novel: “I began the creation of a human being… a new species would bless me as its creator and source…owe their being to me,” says Frankenstein, who after his experiment goes horribly wrong, refers to the life he created as a “wretch – the miserable monster whom I had created.” It’s that rejection that ultimately drives the unloved and feared Creature to (inadvertently) kill the innocent and gain revenge on his creator and his loved ones.
The acting is superb, led by Hayden’s transformation from the grandiose Shelley to Victor Frankenstein – initially as a loving brother to Elizabeth and later to the wild-eyed, obsessed madman portrayed by every actor from Karloff to Gene Wilder – and he holds his own against those iconic portrayals. Bouldin embraces the pain and suffering of Mary/Elizabeth while projecting the strength of a young woman who will not kowtow to her husband or his male counterparts. Wade thoroughly embodies the hurt of the misunderstood Creature and delightfully captures the haughtiness of the pompous Lord Byron. Chace is solid in his characterizations of high-status Englishmen, and Bronkovic is a treasure in a wide range of roles, from Claire to an Irish innkeeper. The production team (including projection designer Robert Carleton Simmel) also deserves praise for seamlessly creating two simultaneous universes while delivering the appropriate sound and lighting jolts that great horror stories require.
One note to those planning to attend this thought-provoking and stirring production. Unless you are familiar with the novel and/or the life of Mary Shelley, it is strongly advised to take the time to read the program before the show. The details of her life play a significant role in how the novel evolved, and the backstory adds to the richness of this fine production. For tickets and information, go to: https://mrt.org/
