'Frankenstein' takes on new look at Odyssey
By Barbara Hernandez
Daily Bruin Staff
If using two people to play one person seems odd, perhaps you aren't used to science fiction. In the spirit of Halloween, the Glorious Repertory Company stages their newest adaptation and world premiere of Mary Godwin Shelley's "Frankenstein" at the Odyssey Theatre.
Shelley's novel, the first in science-fiction, was written from a vivid dream Shelley had during a rather nightmarish, if not drug-induced, retreat. "She's the original Gothic heroine," Debbie Devine, the play's director and co-playwright, says of Mary Godwin. In her novel Shelley tells the story of Dr. Victor Frankenstein's obsession with creating life. When his creation doesn't live up to his expectations he shuns it. After being denied a companion, the Monster hideous, unwanted and fiercely intelligent slowly begins his downward spiral of revenge against his creator.
The play takes on a new twist in the adaptation; one that takes on the metaphor of rebellion, both in the Monster and in the peasants rebelling against the selfish aristocracy. Devine cites the the 1992 Los Angeles civil unrest as the reason for the plot device, which remained heavily in her mind. "It's an original adaptation," she says. "Being a native of Los Angeles, I found it easy to make an adaption."
She decided to place the play in the Hapsburg Rebellion, deciding to have a peasant uprising in 19th century Austria, the same time the Monster begins his reign of terror on Herr Frankenstein. "The underclass rebelled against the government as the monster rebelled against Frankenstein," Devine says.
Devine cautions that the play is nothing like the Boris Karloff movie. "The Creature is very far from a monster," she says. Based on Shelley's novel, the Monster, if not physically appealing, is both eloquent and sympathetic. Unfortunately Devine was worried that it wouldn't come off in a play like it would in Shelley's prose-ridden book. So she took a little poetic license.
"We have one actor from the Royal Shakespearean Company, Allan Hendrick, playing the Creature's brain and another for the body (Erick Melton)," Devine says, hoping to flesh out the character to the audience. "It's to capture the elegance of the Creature, and we used the two actors to accomplish it."
The play itself took six months to adapt, improvising scenes and structure while writing simultaneously. The company read the book; many for the first time. "It's wonderful to use in an ensemble," Devine says of the 15-member cast. Being together five days a week for six months causes people to work well and gauge each other's reactions and emotions. Everyone is satisfied. When you make the art itself, you're really an artist."
Devine didn't realize the play would coincide with the soon-to-be opening Kenneth Branagh epic Frankenstein, but decided it wouldn't hurt. "It's just serendipitous that Tri-Star's doing it ... the hype could only help our production," she says with a laugh.
Although the production didn't cost $50 million, it is still gripping. "It's really a beautiful production," Devine says. "I like to call it 90 minutes of visual poetry."
With 25 scene changes in 90 minutes, the play keeps the audience's attention. "It's a perfect piece for initiates of the theater," she says, rather than "Macbeth." "There's no tedium and audiences are secure in knowing something of what the play's about."
Don't think it's something for the kiddies, though. "Some of the images are pretty graphic," Devine warns.
THEATER: "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley. Adapted by Debbie Devine, Jay McAdams and the Glorious Repertory Company. Starring Allan Hendrick, Gabrielle Boni and Erick Melton. Now playing at the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble Saturdays at 2 p.m., Sundays at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., and Mondays at 7:30 p.m. Running through Dec. 4. TIX: $12.50 general, $10 students and seniors. For more info call (310) 477-2055.