Gesamtkunstwerk Frankenstein

I have wanted to see the National Theatre's production of Nick Dear's Frankenstein since it was new. That was 2011. Because I like to go in "as a virgin" to new works, I purposefully avoided reading any reviews or listening to anyone except people saying, "You've GOT to see it."  Finally a little over thirteen years after the fact, I got to sit down and watch it. Twice in fact,: once last night, with Benedict Cumberbatch as The Monster and Jonny Lee Miller as Victor Frankenstein, then again this morning with those roles reversed. I found the events in my life between 2011 and now absolutely worked relevant in experiencing Mr. Dear's take on Mrs. Shelley's novel.

Now knowing anything of the play, I was unprepared for the difference between what I imagined it might be, and what it actually was.  Dear has given us a theatrical "experience" that is, by very definition, Gesamtkunstwerk. His Frankenstein calls not only for acting, but movement, choreography, dance, songs, pyrotechnics and spectacle. As to the last of these, Mark Tildesley's stage and set design is a work of wonder, allowing the multiple locations and interiors - laboratory, cabin, lakes, railroad, fields, estates, and mountains to appear and disappear seamlessly, packing its entire universe into two quickly passing hours . The audience is plunged - from the beginning -  directly into the story, as is the home audience experience through judicious camerawork. Director, Danny Boyle has strong, convincing and bold ideas about how it all should go and the results he inspires from his actors are in the "astonishing" range, with not a single weak link in his cast.

The first twenty minutes gives us the astonishing birth of The Monster, and within its first minute I found myself in tears - as I would be for most of the rest of the play. As The Monster, Benedict Cumberbatch surpassed pretty much his work in every role I'd previously seen him in - and all before uttering a word. I related to this creature, identified with him so strongly I felt as if watching of my own story taking place. As a recovering stroke and brain damage victim (god I hate that word), six years still later struggling with balance, movement, everything Cumberbatch did served as a reminder of the horrific processes of learning how to move, eat and drink on my own, the futile attempts at balance, use of limbs and digits, and most of all, to walk again. My frustration crushing, labored, pitiful movement, falls and failures all reflected in The Monster's every move.. But, so too was the dogged determination . . . the unrelenting persistence. For about eight minutes Cumberbatch overwhelms with a horrifying dance of tortured movement punctuated by grunts, groans, screams and shouts.  

It was not surprising to read afterward that although choreographed, Cumberbatch based his creature on his observing stroke victims in recovery.  I also learned his co-star and fellow Monster, Jonny Lee Miller based his on observing his two year old child. The differences between The Monsters keeps the story in place, but creates two very different experiences. Cumberbatch is more physical, twitching, flailing limbs,a rough elegance,  Miller's "quicker" with lots of drooling and stomping, a greater command of rapid speech . . . indeed, Miller's energy propels everything and everyone along at a quicker pace. After watching both actors in both roles, I can easily say I prefer each in the role I first saw him in. 

Dear sticks fairly close to Shelley's details (as best I remember them - I need to revisit the book) taking every opportunity to open up its philosophies of the nature of man, our formations of societal structures, hunger for knowledge, our fears, rejection, loneliness . . . how love and kindness can be manipulated and too easily stripped and replaced by cruelty and hate. .

What a beautiful, terrible work Mr. Dear has written . . . an impactful look into what it is to be human . . . and inhuman.Doyle and company can be proud of what they achieved here.  Everything single thing about these performances convinces me Frankenstein is one of the most beautiful, heartbreaking dramas created for the stage in the last 50 years. Its language, its movement and music are profound and moving. So  too, are its silences.