CHRIS SEARLE recommends a work of love and deep admiration for a great musician
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Monstrous anger breathes life into Frankenstein staging
Wonderful: Harry Attwell as The Creature
[Johan Persson]
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Frankenstein
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
MARY SHELLEY was an enigma. Slight, weak and sickly pale, she eloped at 16 and by 20 had endured two pregnancies resulting in one death, with the other infant dying shortly afterwards
And yet she was the author of one of the most profound novels ever written. Dressed up as gothic horror, Frankenstein is not only the embryo of modern sci-fi, it is a highly political and proudly feminist book.
In the two centuries since she created her monster, Frankenstein has been reimagined in music, stage and film and even been appropriated by capitalism in order to sell all manner of kitsch. April De Angelis’s new adaptation for the Royal Exchange, lovingly faithful to Shelley’s original, is problematic.
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