‘Frankenstein’ Review: A Bewitching and Artistic Spin on a Classic

The week of Feb. 22, Manual Cinema’s production of “Frankenstein” sold out every show at the Emerson Paramount Center before the five-day run started, adding an additional Sunday performance. The show presents an experimental production that screens a film while also revealing its live creation on stage.

Though a play with no audible dialogue isn’t for everyone, “Frankenstein” is a gripping form of audiovisual performance art that immerses the audience in all of its elements.

Over the last two centuries, many people have told the story of Victor Frankenstein and his creature through a variety of mediums, from the original novel by Mary Shelley and scary campfire stories to thrilling films. The Emmy-award-winning performance collective Manual Cinema draws on every one of those mediums in their production.

The cast and crew blur the lines between theatrical performance and live film. Throughout the show, the audience views a central screen that shows physical actors, puppets, animation, and textual quotes from the original novel. Additionally, Manual Cinema frames the story in a new way by beginning the show with a portrayal of Mary Shelley’s life leading up to writing the novel, based on true events.

The performers convey Shelley’s aspirations to become a writer, her strained relationship with her husband, and the experience of losing her first child. She enters into a competition with her husband and his colleague to create the best ghost story, launching into the world of her creation.

Including Shelley’s personal narrative deepens the emotions the fictional novel “Frankenstein” initially conveys by allowing the audience to see another dimension of Victor Frankenstein’s ambition, his monster’s loneliness, and the loss all characters feel throughout. While “Frankenstein” has been done more times than one can count, Shelley’s life story is less well-known but — as Manual Cinema conveys — just as narratively intriguing, expanding their production beyond a mere recreation.

From there, the plot follows the authentic story of Frankenstein and his monster fairly closely, from creation to abandonment and destruction. At the same time, the production is an original, imaginative depiction that touches every sense to create a longing for family and connection true to Shelley’s initial intentions.

With projections and scenic design by Rasean Davonte Johnson, the set resembles a performance studio. Three white screens are set up on stage, where actors and puppeteers rotate throughout the show incorporating shadow puppet design by Drew Dir with Lizi Breit, projecting two and three-dimensional puppets, the silhouettes of actual actors, and combinations of all materials. The main screen hangs about 15 feet above the stage, showing the content captured by the other screens — sometimes combining drawings, puppets, and actors’ movements from one or multiple screens at the same time — for the audience to view together in the center.

Rather than feeling chaotic, the use of many moving pieces coming together for one picture seems deliberate. Because of the flawless execution, transitions to using different areas on stage and across mediums feels fluid.

Every movement is timed precisely; actors rush out of the light so the screen can move fluidly to the puppeteers’ next scene, and vice versa. Additionally, all performers demonstrate a remarkable awareness of the whole set as the actors interact with shadows and multiple puppeteers huddle around one projector’s stage glass to create an image. The lighting design by Claire Chrzan highlights the active sections of the stage while muting others, a considerable achievement considering the many screens that remain on stage while inactive that would be distracting otherwise.

There are no lines in the play but the actors more than make up for it by using strong gestures that also translate to their scenes as silhouettes. Though the story is dark overall, the cast still communicates lighthearted moments, such as Shelley’s relatable annoyance while she struggles with writer's block.

Sarah Fornace makes a striking impression in her roles as both Mary Shelley and Victor Frankenstein. The audience's ability to see the artists creating a film and the film itself simultaneously makes the production feel all the more impressive by making the immense effort going into it tangible. At times, Fornace performs so well as a two-dimensional puppet that the audience questions whether puppeteers are moving paper on stage until they notice her acting against a backdrop.

In addition to the set pieces used for film projections, the stage holds a band to one side and an elaborate percussion setup to the other, including chimes, symbols, pots, and a xylophone. The band’s visible position on stage adds to the audience’s feeling of being in an immersive art studio. Their prominence also represents their importance to the storytelling in a play with almost no lines, creating both music and sound effects that establish an eerie, desolate tone as the most engaging element of the performance.

“Frankenstein” certainly doesn’t come off as the typical play or trip to the theater. Instead, Manual Cinema’s latest touring show is more on par with modern immersive art experiences, successfully reinventing a classic. Without audible words, the show manages to capture the story similarly to how a reader might feel picturing it in their own imagination.

—Staff writer Margo A. Silliman can be reached at margo.silliman@thecrimson.com