Review: ‘Frankenstein: A Living Comic Book’ shocks, delights audience in Logan
Frankenstein: A Living Comic Book” is a wonderful blend of old and new, not only giving the classic tale of “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley a modern twist but showing how technical advancements can bring together multiple forms of art from different times in history.
The modern-meets-classic style play has been on tour throughout the U.S. and performed at the Ellen Eccles Theatre in Logan on Oct. 23, where they entertained the audience with eye-catching visuals and captivating characters.
The see-through screen they used reflected comic-book style art frames the same way a projector would but also made it so we could see the actors behind it. The black and white frames themselves had minimal movement, effectively taking the place of most of the props, and objects on the screen only moved when used by the actors, furthering this idea that this comic book is “alive.”
This combined with the realistic sound effects helped me fully immerse into the story with all of my senses. The play was also unique because it only had three actors playing all of the main and side characters. They wore masks and threw on coats to make it seem like there were more than three actors and even had two puppets who represent characters as well.
Not only was the play a fascinating sensory experience but it also engaged the minds of the audience as well. We followed the story of Mary, who is an aspiring artist following her dreams by attending college. Mary’s big dreams come to a screeching halt when one of her art pieces almost burns down the school. Feeling like a failure, she drops out of college and decides to go with her father to the Arctic. Her father, who is a world-renowned scientist, hopes to end climate change, but after one of his plans goes wrong, their ship ends up stuck in the ice. With nowhere to go, Mary goes for a walk, discovering a frozen block of ice with something inside. After chipping away at the bottom of the ice block, she finds the journal of Victor Frankenstein.
Through the journal, we learn about Victor Frankenstein, who is very similar to Mary. He goes to college to study medicine but becomes fascinated with the idea of bringing the dead back to life. Eventually, he is successful and creates the “creature” Frankenstein, but he is horrified with what he has created and leaves school to go home, abandoning his work. The parallels here between Mary and Victor are incredibly well represented, with Victor on the train in a black and white frame writing to the woman he left behind at school and Mary in a colored frame texting her father. It shows how both went through hardship while chasing their dreams and instead of facing it, they ran away.
The next part of the play was particularly fascinating to me because after Victor abandons Frankenstein, he is left to wander the earth. We get to see a very human side of Frankenstein, showing us he is more than just a monster back from the dead. He seeks out companionship but is treated poorly because he is different. We see him experience a range of emotions, with the most prevalent being loneliness. Like all humans, he wants companionship, especially after being abandoned by his creator.
To combat his loneliness, Frankenstein hunts down Victor, demanding he create him a companion. Victor refuses, wanting nothing to do with Frankenstein. He is still running from what he considers his biggest failure. In retaliation, Frankenstein kills Victor’s wife, wanting him to feel the same loneliness. Enraged, Victor chases after Frankenstein, following him all the way to the Arctic until he eventually dies from overworking his body. The last words in Victor’s journal are not written by him but by Frankenstein, who writes “I forgive you.”
After finishing Victor’s journal, Mary realized she had to face her fears. Mary finds a way to help navigate the ship out of the ice safely and helps her dad and crew avoid a tragic ending. Overall, the play teaches us we can’t run from the “monsters” we create. Humans have created climate change, and if we continue to run and hide from our fears, we too will meet the same tragic end that befalls Victor Frankenstein in the play. At the end of the play, Mary left us with a powerful message when she said, “We have the opportunity to face our monsters before they face us,” emphasizing we need to do something before it is too late.