Director's Notes: Frankenstein

One of my favorite things about the gothic novels is the use of an epistolary technique. By treating the story as a combination of journal entries and letters, these novels invite the reader to take part as an observer, participant, or close friend. In FRANKENSTEIN, we find Captain Walton and his sister Margaret. They journey along with us as an audience and are drawn in, becoming other characters in the story as the need arises. From a theatrical standpoint, this technique is a love letter to the power of imagination, and returns this story to its roots of first person narrative. Walton tells his story to Margaret, Victor tells his story to Walton, and the Creature tells his story to Victor, and then the chain reverses until we are back to that first coupling of writer and audience. Perhaps you could think of this play as epistolary theatre. As an adaptor, the first decision to make is whether one plays to the common perception of a character or story, or returns to the source and presents the story as the author first placed it on the page. After deliberation, I decided to pursue the latter; and further made the decision that, wherever possible, this script would use the text Shelley had written. And in approximately 95% of the final text, that is exactly what happened.
 
Thank you for attending independent theatre. As we take the stage tonight I can begin looking ahead to our upcoming 9th season (titles will be announced on 8.20). I can’t wait to see you there.