Frankenstein: The Final Blasphemy

"It's a disquieting and monster exploration, Frankenstein - the final blasphemy"

doo-cot theatre company's exploration of the Frankenstein myth is a disquieting, multi media experience, which combines live performance, movement and puppetry with music, computer art and video projection.

The set is highly economical, consisting of a simple white floor cloth and back cloth surrounded by the production's lighting rig: a floor standing skeletal frame of polished metal. The function of the technical rig is symbolic in addition to practical as it strikingly defines the boundaries of the performance space, in addition to enhancing the severe, clinical atmosphere.

The production utilizes only two performers, Nenagh Watson plays the monster maker and Rachael Field appears as both corpse and lab assistant in addition to creating the live digital imagery which is projected on to the backdrop.

The monster is a fully articulated and exquisitely detailed eight-foot puppet whose imposing presence oppressively dwarfs the actors. The creature is constructed so it can stand unsupported: this gives it both a figurative and physical independence, which, coupled with the cadaverous form, is baleful and unsettling. The creature is given life by Watson, whose skilful puppetry endows it with a realistic movement vocabulary. She pulls off the difficult trick of manipulating the puppet into conveying a range of emotions whilst at the same time interacting with it as a performer.
This production is particularly innovative in the manner it utilizes projected digital imagery. Rather than merely using prerecorded video feed as a backdrop to the action, as is often the case in multi-media projects, doo-cot manage to fuse the live and digital imagery so that in addition to acting as a symbolic counterpoint to each other, the two sides of the performance are actively integrated. A particularly interesting example is the use of a concealed camera behing the monster's eye. This challenges the audience to switch perspective and not just metaphorically, but literally from the monster's point of view. Live video projection is used to startling effect in creating a gruesome autopsy scene, in which Watson stands naked against the backdrop and is slowly sliced from throat to gut by a computer generated blade of livid red light.

The grisly images are complemented by composer Stuart Jones' clamourous, often discordant, electronic socre, whose deafening beats are sometimes loud enough to hit one physically. All this, combined with the recorded images of real autopsies and the frequent handling of genuine, bloody animal viscera, make director Emilyn Claid's Frankenstein a fascinating piece of theatre, but not one for the faint of heart, or weak of stomach.

Darren Gooding, Essex County Standard reviewing show at Colchester Arts Centre, 3rd October 1999.