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    Frankenstein (NHB Modern Plays): Stage Version
    Frankenstein (NHB Modern Plays): Stage Version
    Frankenstein (NHB Modern Plays): Stage Version
    Ebook72 pages36 minutes

    Frankenstein (NHB Modern Plays): Stage Version

    By Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

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    About this ebook

    Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant and ambitious young student, discovers the secret of creating life from the remains of the dead. But elation at his triumph is replaced by horror when he sees his monstrous creation. Abandoned by the one who made him, Frankenstein's Creature is left to a world that fears and rejects him, and soon his innocence turns to misery - and a murderous desire for revenge...
    Every word in Patrick Sandford's 'vigorous adaptation' (The Times) is lifted directly from Mary Shelley's classic gothic novel. One of the greatest horror stories of all time, and one that still grips readers today almost two hundred years after its first publication.
    All the more successful for staying faithful to the dark spirit of the original book, this adaptation includes notes on the first production and can be performed with a minimum of set and props, making it well suited for staging by schools and amateur theatre groups, as well as by professional companies.
    'Atmospheric… haunting… with splendid Gothic horror touches… a truly impressive theatrical experience' - ReviewsGate.com
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNick Hern Books
    Release dateMay 26, 2016
    ISBN9781780017778
    Frankenstein (NHB Modern Plays): Stage Version
    Author

    Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

    Mary Shelley (1797–1851) was born to well-known parents: author and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and philosopher William Godwin. When Mary was sixteen, she met the young poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, a devotee of her father’s teachings. In 1816, the two of them travelled to Geneva to stay with Lord Byron. One evening, while they shared ghost stories, Lord Byron proposed that they each write a ghost story of their own. Frankenstein was Mary’s contribution. Other works of hers include Mathilda, The Last Man, and The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck. 

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      Book preview

      Frankenstein (NHB Modern Plays) - Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

      Epub cover

      Mary Shelley's

      FRANKENSTEIN

      selected and structured for the stage by

      Patrick Sandford

      NICK HERN BOOKS

      London

      www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

      Contents

      Title Page

      Original Production

      Production Note

      Textual Note

      Characters

      Frankenstein

      About the Authors

      Copyright and Performing Rights Information

      This stage adaptation of Frankenstein was first performed at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton on 22 September 2004, with the following cast:

      A chorus of people drawn from the community played the ship’s crew, scientists and townspeople

      Production Note

      Mary Shelley’s original has been considerably distorted by film versions.

      In her book the chief characteristics of Frankenstein are pride followed by regret.

      The Creature is highly intelligent, physically powerful and emotionally vulnerable. He need not necessarily be naked. In the original production he was swathed in wet muslin, and later dressed in clothes stolen from Frankenstein’s university room.

      Clearly the body parts cannot be real. A lateral interpretation must be found. In the original production a group of real hands pushed through the floor trickling earth and holding human organs. Other solutions might involve Victorian encyclopedia etchings of human limbs, or projections of funerary statuary. Directors and designers will have better ideas.

      The original design was fluid, suiting the fast-moving ‘story within a story’ structure of the play, hinting at locations rather than representing them literally.

      Textual Note

      The words of this play are taken almost entirely from the 1818 edition of Mary Shelley’s novel, with one short passage from the revised 1831 edition.

      The quotations from Percy Bysshe Shelley and Samuel Taylor Coleridge are included by Mary Shelley. The abbreviated fable of Jean de la Fontaine is referred to by Mary Shelley.

      The language, educated and sometimes formal, should be spoken simply and swiftly. Elisions (e.g. ‘haven’t’ for ‘have not’) should happen quite naturally.

      Stage directions from the original production are in italics and may of course be ignored. Some of these reflect directly Mary Shelley’s wording.

      Characters

      in order of appearance

      CAPTAIN WALTON, a polar explorer

      VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN

      ELIZABETH, Frankenstein’s cousin

      HENRY Clerval, Frankenstein’s friend

      FATHER, to Frankenstein

      WILLIAM, Frankenstein’s little brother, aged seven or eight

      JUSTINE, William’s young nurse

      THE CREATURE

      OLD MAN

      FELIX, a peasant

      AGATHA, a young peasant girl, perhaps fourteen or fifteen

      SAFIE, a young Turkish woman

      Plus Arctic crewmen, scientists, villagers, a hangman, townspeople

      Before the play, the image, by whatever means, of a disembodied arm – female – writing.

      ACT ONE

      Scene One

      The play begins and ends on the ice.

      Out of the darkness a face appears, tightly lit. It is CAPTAIN WALTON, a young polar explorer.

      WALTON. There is something at work in my soul which I don’t understand – a love for the marvellous, a belief in the marvellous! This hurries me out of the common pathways of men, even to the mysteries of the ocean. I am going to the land of mist and snow, never before imprinted by the foot of man, surpassing in wonders and beauty every region discovered on the globe. These enticements conquer all fear of danger or death. My daydreams are extended and magnificent!

      Light

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