To be as your creator is
The National Theater’s production of Frankenstein brings us into the world of the creature, unlike any other adaptation. We are either meant to monsterize the creature or hold Frankenstein’s human form above the creature. Even in Junji Ito’s adaptation of the novel by Mary Shelly, Victor Frankenstein is portrayed more like a victim. In this production, we begin at the creature’s beginning, not Victor Frankenstein’s.
He is left to learn how to use his stitched-up legs within fifteen minutes because if he were to take any longer, even the audience would abandon him. Thankfully, we watched him from the very beginning. Making sure this newborn can make it on his own. While we feel safe from his grotesque appearance, we still want to hold his hands. Why would we want to hold the hands of such a monster? We know too well what cruelty awaits him. After all, we only know to show him nothing but kindness because we know the circumstances of his birth. The villagers on stage, however, only see him for the stitched-up sentient meat bag he is.
The dark world the creature is brought into draws us closer to him. We see his conception, in some way, the audience is his guardian. But the only thing we can do is hope he makes it in the darkness that takes over the theater. Each time he is met with the light above, he learns about the world he was abandoned in. Just as in the novel, Victor and his creation chase the light that is beyond them. The former yearns to become a god above humans while the latter yearns to live among them. They each chase what their creator has determined they cannot have. Just as Odysseus attempts to defy the gods which led to his downfall, Victor attempts to reach the level of a god and is stripped of his humanity. The creature attempts to torment his creator for abandoning him. While trying to become greater than or equal to humans, they are dehumanized by their own actions. The more they try to become greater, the closer they are to becoming the monster they wish to run from.
We are brought to sympathize with the creature no matter who he kills. The moments when the background music is filled with a sweet melody are short-lived. The stage only lights up as the creature is tormented with abandonment. The audience can only feel for the creature as the lighting and the music give a tangible form of what he feels. We can see what the creature is doing, but it is the music that expresses how he feels when he cannot speak.
The cycle of abandonment is neverending for the creature, to the point where he is not even given the liberty of having a name. He is stripped of any humanity and treated as an object to the point where he dehumanizes his creator’s lover. His creator runs from him, De Lacey’s family drives him away, the villagers hunt him like an animal, and the audience sits and watches him suffer.
