Frankenstein (Theatre Royal) ★★★★

Based on the novel by Mary Shelley. Adapted by Nelle Lee. Theatre Royal, Sydney. 28 Sep – 13 Oct, 2024.

The Theatre Royal continues to be the home of frothy gothic thrillers as Shake & Stir’s Frankenstein finally makes its way to Sydney. This is wide-screen theatre with an almost computer game sensibility to storytelling… and it’s a lot of fun.

Victor Frankenstein (Darcy Brown) is a brilliant young scientist obsessed with the “spark of life”, the animating force that separates living tissue from dead. He leaves his father, younger brother and fiance in Geneva, Switzerland to go to university in Germany and there starts experimenting with dead tissue, and eventually, creates a new man from cadavers. When the Creature (Jeremy Wray) comes to life and flees, Frankenstein must deal with the consequences of playing god.

Befitting the tale of scientific hubris and technological advancement, Frankenstein’s stars aren’t actually any of the actors. No, it’s monolithic screens that dominate the stage (and instantly made me think of Kip Williams’ Gothic Cine Theatre trilogy – to which this show owes a debt). Director Nick Scubij and designer Josh McIntosh have created a piece full of fantastic moments. The opening aboard Robert Walton’s ship in the arctic is stunningly presented, as is the sight of a cabin burning in the woods. 

Vibrant animation by video designers Craig Wilkinson and Jake Lodder transport us from stately homes in Geneva, to creepy attics, icy expanses and lush woods. The transitions are beautiful and video work mostly manages to enhance rather than distract. Combined with Trent Suidgeest’s lighting, Guy Webster’s sound design and music, and the hardest working stage revolve since Les Miserables, Frankenstein is a moody, immersive experience using all the tricks in the book to impress you.

That’s not to say the performances are weak, they definitely are not. Darcy Brown uses his comedic skills to breathe new life into the role of Victor Frankenstein, who isn’t just an obsessed scientist, but instead a bumbling, frantic geek on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Chloé Zuel gives strength to Elizabeth, Frankenstein’s very long suffering love interest. Nick James is the calm in the story as Frankenstein’s friend Henry. Jeremy Wray has the toughest job of all, making us care for the miraculously autodidactic Creature Frankenstein creates, while still being a menacing presence. Along with Anna Lise Phillips and Tony Cogin who play a number of roles, they keep the spectacle around them grounded. 

Nelle Lee’s adaptation put the spotlight primarily on Frankenstein himself. Stepping away from the stereotypical maniac genius of Hammer Horror films and painting him more as a neurotic nerd who finds himself out of his depth and struggling to take responsibility for what he has done. It’s a more sympathetic portrayal than you usually find (more so that the gruff arrogance of Danny Boyle’s star-studded version of Frankenstein for the National Theatre).

If I was going to get picky, then yes, the accents are all wrong, and the gender politics are pretty sketchy at best (they do try to rectify this as much as possible by giving the female characters more agency, but you can’t get around the blatant “fridging” of a key character). The overreliance on the screens and the revolving stage does get a little obvious as the show progresses and, as I’ve mentioned, the show plays out like a computer game in “story mode”, you’re here for the plot not for any deeper character work. 

Frankenstein is big, bright, blockbuster theatre, and it does exactly what it sets out to do – entertain us with thrilling visuals and a classic horror story. It’s a fun, occasionally silly, often spectacular show that puts its money on stage for everyone to see and I had a blast with it.