Discussing a play based on Mary Shelleys book Frankenstein Essay Example

Discussing a play based on Mary Shelleys book Frankenstein Essay Our drama group watched a play based on Mary Shelleys book Frankenstein on 29th November 2006, which took place in the Regents School, Pattaya. It was directed by Paul Stebbings, an artist director of TNT theatre Britain and The American Drama Group Europe. The production Frankenstein was about a young and mad scientist who tries to create a life form from dead human body parts. He tries to do what no other human being has never achieved before. Once, he had completed his objective, Frankenstein was terrified by the resulting look of his creation. The innocent, child-like monster was abandoned by his master and subsequently misjudged by the community. This tragedy that the scientists creation suffered under, turned him into a killer-monster. In the end of the play, the scientist was punished: his beloved wife dies through a bullet that was meant for the monster. Frankenstein was devastated due to the loss of his partner, therefore he tried to bring her back to life as he did for the monster. He succeeded. However Elizabeth had the same features as the monster: she had no idea how the world is functioning she was as a newborn. Elizabeth had a choice to make between Frankenstein and the monster. As the punishment for his actions, Elizabe th chooses the monster. We will write a custom essay sample on Discussing a play based on Mary Shelleys book Frankenstein specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Discussing a play based on Mary Shelleys book Frankenstein specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Discussing a play based on Mary Shelleys book Frankenstein specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The director makes the old-fashioned myth futuristic through using machinery as props. This kind of equipment could have not existed hundreds of years ago. On the other hand the machinery wasnt very convincing either, because it looked more like a white small paper box with some buttons. In order to achieve an outstanding effect on the audience, the mechanism shouldve been larger with several different coloured switches. However, even though the equipment was simple, the basic effect was achieved. Paul Stebbings has modernized the play also by the appearance of two scientists in white gowns carrying syringes in the beginning of the play. This instantly created a very rationalized and futuristic atmosphere. The director used cloning in order to modernize the Mary Shelleys play Frankenstein. The genre of Mary Shelleys Frankenstein is tragedy, but Paul Stebbings, the director of the play, has added elements of farce, making this serious issue with difficulties understandable to many different audiences. After looking more in detail of the content of the play, I realize that Frankenstein myth is not about a mad scientist above mortality and who is out of control. The myth is rather about a scientist, a man who creates a supernatural life-form. This creature looks hideous with his inhumanly yellow eyes and callously black lips. The sight of him created pitiless and disgusted feelings in Frankenstein he instantly abandoned the monster. He was thrown to the ferocious community that changed the unaffected creature into a killer-monster. This play is about human folly, which is put across by comedy and melodrama. The actors never make jokes; the comedy rather arises from the situation. The physical theatre and expressional performance appear very amusing to the audience. I find it to be a very smart technique, because it keeps the audience concentrated. This technique also refers to the fact that the play is addressed to different audiences the situations and events are clearer and easi er to understand, because the action and feelings is emphasized. This perfect example for this would be when Frankenstein and Elizabeth were flirting in the beginning of the play. Strong physical theatre was used in this scene, which immediately suggested to the audience that they were in love. However, I thought that it was over exaggerated. I think it made the performance look too comedic. Its very interesting how the farce is created only in the beginning of the play towards the end the atmosphere takes a rather tragic direction. It symbolizes the fact that until the birth of monster, everything was liberated, almost as if Frankenstein had no responsibilities, and exciting. For example Elizabeth was playing with the animals, Frankensteins name was given to a monkey and, Frankenstein and Elizabeth were flirting with each other. However, when it was time to take care of his actions, he failed to do so. This recalls the content of the play, the human folly: as soon as the experiment ended, he disliked the outcome and deserted the monster. This is, I believe, what the director wanted to achieve with the production: leave the audience thinking. Is it right to create supernatural human beings? Why? Did Frankenstein act reasonably not taking the responsibility? Why did the supernatural life form develop into a killer-monster? The director has broken up the scenes by lights fading black. This is an element of tragedy leaves the audience wondering and awaiting for something more dreadful to happen. The slow blackouts also indicate the time passing by, which gives clearer understanding of the timeline to the viewers. As the days, weeks go by, the monster develops his intelligence and the acknowledgement of the world. The stage in the Regents School Pattaya is based on Shakespeares theatre in London, The Globe. About 2/5 of the stage is surrounded by the audience and the set up of the auditorium is Elizabethan theatre, including one stair case on left and right. The lights were placed in the middle and in the two sides of the ceiling, surrounding the stage. The stage itself is rather small, but very suitable for this play, because it did not require too much space. When we first entered the hall, nobody was concentrated on the stage, because the play hadnt started yet. From the very beginning of the play actors made good use of the area that they were given: they walked amongst the audience and interacted with them. This efficiently grabbed the attention of the viewers and made them feel more involved, as well as showed the directors unique style and space use. Throughout the whole play, the set was quite simple, symbolic and naturalistic. There was more than one set throughout the production. The changes were handled by the actors within the scenes (when smaller adjustments took place) and between the breaks (in case when the set changed completely). The set of the first scene consisted of a cage (multi-functional), two stools, a machine (which was multi-functional also used as a table) and a bucket. All the items were satisfactorily spaced out. In the beginning of the play, the cage seemed very simple, but as I further examined it had many uses in different situations. It was used as laboratory equipment, where they carried out an experiment with the monkey. Elizabeth, Elizabeths father and Frankenstein wanted to kill the monkey with the machine and bring him back to life. But unfortunately they failed. The cage was also used as a prison, when Frankenstein was captured and accused for the murder of the laundry lady. But the main application of this item was cage itself where they kept and created the monster. The machine symbolized the futurism of the play as it was full of electricity and represented high technology. Whereas the costumes and the basic views on life in the play, suggested a rather historical set. Further in the play, the machine had another sub-use a table. The set combined with the props created a good image where the action was taking place. It was very clear to the audience that stage was meant to be a laboratory. The general colours of the set were grey and white, which created a rather cold feeling towards the play and suggested that all the surrounding and action is going to be concentrated on science. Contrasting with the colours, the set included wild animals. The lighting was provided from three different directions. They were set out in the middle and on the two sides of the stage, so that the audience couldnt actually notice the illumination source. In addition some extra lights were supplied from the back of the auditorium to give some better light to the audience in order to be see the action on the stage in a clearer way. All through the play the colours as well as the focus and direction of the light on the stage changed. This drew the audiences attention on the main action, wherever it occurred on the stage. In the beginning of the play, the spotlight is on the narrator. The rest of the lights are off. This highlights the narrator and the audience focuses on her. There is also the flashing lightning used to create an impression of storm, during the creation of the monster. Storm creates a frightening and terrifying atmosphere to the audience. It emphasizes the fact that bringing a dead body alive is against human nature and should not be done, because usually during storms terrible accidents happen and it always has negative effects on environment. Special colours of the lightning were used during the play. All of them created a different impression on the audience. The red light was used when Elisabeth had a dream. The futuristic colour suggested that she was hearing and envisioning the upcoming events. As the light was red, which is commonly known as the colour of blood, it emphasized a negative future, somebodys death. During the scene, where the monster was threatening and alarming Frankenstein, the lightning was set up only on one side of the stage where the action was taking place. It was a wise decision because there was neither large amount of movement nor the props to cover the whole stage. The lights were blue in colour, which emphasized the relationship between the monster and Frankenstein. It was cold. There was no love or caring feelings between the two main characters. The change in the lightning also represented the different times of the day. The dim, more concentrated on the action lightning in present suggested that it was an evening. For example, when the monster was dancing with the blind woman, full lights were illuminated on the stage. This suggested that the action was taking place during the afternoon or morning. Therefore bright light suggested that it was daytime. Blackouts helped the actors to change the set of the scene as well as showed to the audience that more time has passed (meaning days or weeks). Just before and during the scene where the monster was pressuring and threatening Frankenstein, the other actors, Elizabeth and the backstage staff were removing one of the man props, cage, from the set. Most of the sound effects used were recorded sounds. The acoustics of the auditorium was reasonably good, because it was heard until the end of the audiences sitting area. It felt as if it is all around me, not coming from only one source the sound was echoing in the auditorium. The loudspeakers werent visible for the audience, which is positive point to mention. The music used in the play was very modern, upbeat/dance and rhythmic. Its other evidence of the futurism of the play. It contrasts greatly with the characterization of the actors, which is rather old-fashion. Elizabeth was wearing a red Victorian dress, which is another significant comparison of the music. At Victorian time such music did not existing. Even though the director wanted put across the idea of cloning, but at the same time maintain the old roots of the myth, through contrasting the music and costumes, I think that it ruined the atmosphere. The mood was mixed with nineteenth century and modern fresh and busy life. The serious and technical illustration of the stage was combined with the upbeat/dance music. The stage had a scientifical image: it included machinery, for bringing the monster alive, and it was quite simple (meaning that it wasnt packed with props). I found it quite unnatural mixture, because the common and usual image of any laboratory is quiet, efficient in work and even if there is any music heard at all, then it would be classical style. I think the upbeat music was a too large contrast with the situation, and therefore lost its meaning. An offstage sound of thunder, which also referred to the sound of lightning, was used quite often: when the monster was created and when Frankenstein tried to bring Elisabeth back to life. It created a horrifying and frightening atmosphere to the audience. The sound joined with the lightning created the perfect effect of storm I personally think that its a very good technique, because during storms the major disasters occur. And this creation was going to be one of the biggest catastrophes of humankind: a man has stepped against the God and defeated Him. The stormy sounds already suggest that the result of it will terrible and extremely unsuccessful. In the beginning of the play, the actor of the monster doesnt use his voice to talk, he only murmurs and grunts. This suggests that he has a baby-like nature as a newborn it has been shown through the fact that he doesnt know any words. He is innocent in his characteristics and never means to harm anybody. Whereas his curved and yellow eyes and terrifying black lips disgust his master, this results in abandoning the monster. Frankensteins creation is hiding himself from society and observes human life. He tries to copy the actions of the habitants. This indicates that the monster had good intentions from the beginning of the play. The actor is using a little bit robotic and stiff movements to show that he was created from different body parts. This also symbolizes the fact that he really is not a human, although he is created entirely by a human hand. This creates fear in the audience, they are frightened by the fact that such creature can be alive. He was created from dead body parts, which is terrifying because now those pieces are formed as one human being. Its very unnatural and unusual for normal human being to see this, and therefore it is creating terrifying atmosphere. The pace of the actors voice is slow which suggests that he is in the phase of learning how to speak. He studies slowly so that he could learn all the words correctly and accurately. This creates sympathy in the audience towards the character, because he is presented as extremely blameless and immature ( in the sense that he doesnt know how to act upon events) The scene with laundry womans death is an excellent example of the infantile behaviour of the monster and the actors good performance. The laundry lady screams in the sight of the monster. He looks confused hearing the high notes, which is shown by facial expression and very small gestures. The monster was moving stiffly toward the laundry lady and was wondering how to stop her cry. Finally he strangled the woman in order to just stop her screaming. It was an innocent mistake because the monster wasnt aware of his power and he didnt know that this will kill the lady. He showed this through running away in confusion. Before running away he was looking help in desperation and his eyes were widened, which created sympathy towards the character. The actor show levels of power in the bedroom scene. The monster was blaming Frankenstein for not taken responsibility of him. All the way through the act, the monster is in higher position and the creator of him is lying on the bed. This situation was very ironic because Frankenstein was the scientist, who created him, extremely smart and part of the wide community. Whereas the monster was dumb, child-like and very lonely. However, at that situation the monster was in control and wanted revenge on Frankenstein. The scene was effective for its use of levels, but on the other hand the monster was using a low, normal voice. This included expressions in his voice and quite large vocabulary this made the monster look too intelligent. I think that the actor shouldve still used murmuring and grunting in his speech. This wouldve created sympathy towards the monster as his child-like features would have been maintained. In the same bedroom scene the monster was wearing a torn bodysuit, which suggested that he was without home. It shows that the monster is inhuman, because his clothes are too big for him, therefore it has several holes in it. The holes in the shirt make him look muscular and very big in size. This helped to create the effect of the monster as the actor was a normal human being. The character seemed larger in size that he really was. This also created fear in the audience and an expression that he has lots of power and he is extremely strong. The monster looked wild and mad, due to the torn suit, which again created terror in the audience.. In the beginning of the play Elizabeth was wearing peasant like clothes: brown skirt, grey shirt. This suggested that her life was very simple and she had no worries. The character was also jumping happily up and down while playing with the snake. This is another example of her simple life, which was without any worries and full of happiness: she was playing with animals as if theyd be her only friends. This also suggests that she spent lots of time in the laborotory with his father. On the other hand it shows her considerate and gentle side. Her movements were free and dance-like all through the play (except in the end, where she was brought back to life). She was also well aware of the space on the stage and therefore used all of it that was provided. Elizabeths gestures were smooth, which made her look feminine and described her character as gentle and caring. She used slow motion, when fighting with Egor (who wanted to chop her head for the monster). This shows the good control over her body and described her excellent acting skills. Elizabeth used a wide range of her voice, which indicated her developed vocal skills. She had a Northern-English accent in the play, which became thicker when flirting with Frankenstein. This shows the various ways that she can put her character across in different situations. She also makes animalistic sound in the flirting scene, which indicated Elizabeths and Frankensteins physical attraction towards each other. This suggested that their feelings were wild and that both of them really sense the connection. Their attraction becomes very obvious through the audience through the various techniques. Elizabeth wore pyjama clothes in her dream. This helped the audience understand that she was actually sleeping, not awake. In this scene she showed her knowledge of the stage moved widely up and down as well on both sides of the stage in order to show desperation and fear of what might happen. She was also screaming, which indicates that she wanted to escape and she knew that something horrible is going to take place. This also gives hints to the audience and makes them more concentrated on the play. Towards the end Elizabeth was wearing red Victorian dress. The colour red suggests that there is danger that something terrible was going to happen. The Victorian dress was contrasting the situation which was all about modern cloning. It referred back to the old myth that has been existing for centuries. After Frankenstein brings her back to life from her sudden death, Elisabeth is a transformed character. She acts like the monster did in the beginning: she murmurs, grunts and has robotic movements. She changes quickly from Frankenstein wifes character into the newborn Elizabeth. She is very convincing in her role change and the audience is able to understand the situation, because of her outstanding acting skills. I find the play overall excellent. I think that one of strongest points was the Elizabeths character. I found the actor really good and her role was very well played. She used wide range in her voice, also she was perfectly aware all of the stage space and she put across the explorative strategies with high-quality acting. I also think that some of the interpretations were excellent as well. Such as adding the monkey to the play, especially calling him Frankenstein was very effective. Frankenstein, Elizabeth and her father killed the monkey and tried to bring him back to life. They failed to do it, which is like a warning to them, that none of those characters should play with life and death. This game wouldnt have a positive ending, but even though the caution was given, Frankenstein continued. This expresses well the human folly and not learning from our own mistakes. Humans are eager to go for what they believe, not for what is actually right. I found some of the weaknesses to lay also in the directors interpretations. The flirting scene of Elizabeth and Frankenstein was, I think, too comedy-like. Though it was a very amusing scene, I think that it was over the top, because cloning is such an important and serious issue. The physical theatre helped the audience to understand the situation quicker and clearer, but I think that if the scene would have been less obvious, then the audience would have been wondering more. The relationship would have been more secretive, therefore the audience would have more been concentrated, rather that laughing loudly. I think that the lightning was very well done. The use of different colours was very effective and symbolizing various things. The flashing-lights created horrifying and a very scary atmosphere, which created tension in the audience. But I find that there could be done some improvements on sound. I think that more sounds of nature should have been used, such as innocent bird sound when the monster is killing the laundry lady to symbolize that his intentions were always good and that he never actually meant to kill the lady. During the bedroom scene, where the monster is threatening Frankenstein, his vocabulary should have been rather poor and his voice not fluent. Grunting and murmuring would have added more sympathy toward the monster, because then he would have been presented as child-like and innocent character. Whilst in the present play he seemed very civilized and used to the world and environment.