fajrdrako | Frankenstein... (Reply)

Went to an amazing show tonight. Not theatre, not movie, but both: a broadcast performance of a live play at the National Theatre in London. The play in question being Frankenstein, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller. And there's a trick to the play. On alternating nights, they switch roles: Cumberbatch as the monster, then Miller as the monster. A few weeks ago,

maaseru and Pim went to see the show (without even telling me about it, the fiends) with Cumberbatch as the monster. Tonight, I went with them and with Vicky and Marion to see it with Miller as he monster.

It's quite a show. The script by Nick Dear - based on Mary Shelley's novel - is brilliant; though he took a few liberties with the story. (Less than others have done, perhaps.) The directing by Danny Boyle was amazing. And best of all, the stagecraft. I totally loved it: the grass, the snow, the rain, the lighting, the cottage in the mountains, the mansion in the city, the croft in Orkney, the pier on Lake Geneva. Artistically, dramatically, and technically breathtaking. I've seen some great creative concepts at the National Theatre in terms of inventiveness and spatial design, and they now have technology that can make theatrical miracles happen.

I thought Miller was superb as the monster until about halfway through the show; at which point he periodically last me. I'm not sure why. Was he just not quite good enough to sustain the pathos and intensity the role calls for? By the time we got to the climax - which, though telegraphed, ought to have been very tense - I found myself metaphorically rolling my eyes and thinking of the less restrained Greek tragedies. Both Pim and

maaseru said Cumberbatch was much better.

The lesser roles really were lesser roles. No one would want them to upstage Dr. Frankenstein and his creation, and there was no danger of that. The the De Lacey family was an exception - I did like Karl Johnson as the old blind man. George Harris as M. Frankenstein was monotonous in his delivery, as if he didn't understand what the script was about, and was maybe reading it.

I hope to see more of these filmed plays - the production quality is incredible. Of course, I'd also like to go to more actual National Theatre shows in London, but I hear the tickets are hard to get these days. This beside me being, as it were, a pauper.