Frankenstein

By Nick Dear

Hayling Amateur Island Dramatic Society

I’m not really a fan of the horror genre. Frankenstein, Dracula, zombies and the un-dead in general leave me cold. Adding to the ‘horror’ of the traffic on the M27 as I was heading to HIADS at the Station Theatre, I was wondering why I was making the journey at all.

I arrived at the theatre and took my seat. The lights went down and the play started with the monster trying to free itself from a sack after he had been deserted by his creator. This took some time until he was finally free and loped off stage; this was followed by a couple of short scenes of the monster meeting various people and the consequences that ensued. I thought to myself that the last thing I wanted to do was spend an evening watching dark sketches.  Then came the scene where the monster met the blind De Lacey and a friendship struck. Suddenly the previous scenes suddenly became clear, they were necessary to show the monsters true thoughts and feelings, and I sat and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the show.

This was a brilliantly acted piece of theatre all round. Tony Johnson played the Monster beautifully,  and done in such a way you could read every thought going through his mind. Not many actors can bring this off, but Johnson managed it with great conviction and professionalism. Likewise, Andy Rees played the part of the blind De Lacey wonderfully; he never once destroyed the illusion that he was blind by looking at the monster or anything in particular.  He was most definitely a blind person all the time he was on stage.

Phil Gyngell played the part of Victor Frankenstein perfectly. His range of happiness, through to desperation were all shown admirably, showing signs of genius but coming close to signs of madness.

All the other cast members played their parts very well and the whole ensemble was very believable under the superb direction of Andy Wharton, who had his eye on the ball right through. As far as I’m concerned, the play started a little bit stunted and slow, but soon got into gear and moved well, although there were the odd couple of places where it could have done with a tad more pace. The various sets were well thought out and wheeled on and off stage by a well-choreographed group of stage hands. The sets were all enhanced by some great lighting,  it is surprising how a good lighting designer can light something on stage and make it appear darker and more sombre - well done to Vicky Fox.

The wardrobe department excelled in getting the costumes just right, especially the body suit worn by the monster in the opening scenes.

The writer, Nick Dear, has written many pieces in the past with some good credits and awards to his name, but I don’t think this was a particularly good script.

In spite of my great dislike for the horror genre,  I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Don’t ever go by your pre-conceived ideas, there are many shows out there that you may think you will not enjoy, go and see them anyway, you might be pleasantly surprised. Very well done all round.

Bob Heather.