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Printer-Friendly ModeMonster of a play
October 22, 2007 —
Eleven stage deaths, scenes set to explode, The Creature and a stretch of characters all combined to portray a realistic classic in SVSU's theatre production of "Frankenstein."
Despite the complexities of the effort, director Janet Rubin was pleased with the results. This month's production portrayed a realistic Victor Gialanella stage adaptation of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, the story of Victor Frankenstein's attempts to give life to the dead and the consequences of his experiment. According to the director, the horror story was one of the most challenging plays SVSU has ever done.
Once the group decided not to do the green-bolts-in-neck character of Frankenstein's creation, the challenges came with portraying the story believably, and the cast began working on the physical aspects of the play.
In a story where all but two characters die, the majority of the cast members had to learn stage combat. Dee Lambertson, fight choreographer and recent theatre graduate, said she initially felt the process would be difficult, but found the cast learned quickly.
"They were not afraid to try different things," she said. "Their professional and improvisational attitudes allowed for us to work together to please Janet Rubin, the director."
Between the strangling, neck snapping, beating, and fires, Lambertson said the most important aspect was the sounds the actors needed to use with their cast fighting to make the effects come together.
"Believability is the most difficult aspect of a death scene," Darryn Crocker said, who was strangled on stage as Elizabeth Lavenza. "Especially after a very physically strenuous death, remaining completely still and not breathing visibly hard is always difficult. Not a lot is going through my mind at this time. It is more of a reflex or reaction to what is happening to me, my character, not a thought out processes."
Technical effects also had to come together. Scenic and Technical Director Jerry Dennis said the scenes came together without many challenges because of a good technical crew. Dennis found the most challenging aspect to be creating The Creature's make-up and would have liked to see a larger budget for creating full sets and larger effects.
Crocker said the production involved more set pieces and special effects than any other show she has been in.
"Backstage has become an obstacle course and the scene changes are certainly an intricate dance," she said.Actors were stretched to portray characters opposite of their personality, like Adam Arnold, who played The Creature, and Tyler Frank, who played Victor Frankenstein.
Rubin's decision to direct the Gialanella version stemmed from its "striking" contemporary relevance of the story. Although Shelly wrote Frankenstein during a time of many scientific advances in the nineteenth century, Rubin believes the story is still significant in relation to current issues such as cloning and stem cell research.
"We think we know where they will lead us, but we can't say for sure," she said.
Rubin hopes the experience has allowed the cast and crew to learn about the art and craft of theatre. For Crocker, learning more about theater is just what being in Frankenstein did for her.
"Every production is an opportunity to learn more about all aspects of theatre and myself," Crocker said. "With each character I portray, a bit of me is and another bit is not the person I am on stage. Differentiating the two is really an interesting avenue for my own self-reflection."