Frankenstein
(Or The Modern Prometheus)
Adapted for the stage from Mary Shelley’s novel
By Kathleen Lockwood
A full-length play in eight scenes.
about the play: Earlier versions of this adaptation have been performed in school and community theatres since 1980. Audiences love it and scream heartily every time the Creature arrives in the window. The open staging works well and makes the scene changes easy to accomplish. In one production, the Creature entered and exited through the audience, which was raked and acted as the mountain path. Parents and kids screamed together!
The
Characters:
Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist
Henry Clerval, victor’s friend
Elizabeth, Victor’s fiancée
Professor Zurmat, a scientist at Ingolstadt University
The Creature, Frankenstein’s creation
Herr Frankenstein, Victor’s father
Jonathan, a student at Ingolstadt
Hanz, another student
Annie, a nearsighted housekeeper
Officer Nugent, constable on the Scottish Coast
Chief Kirwin, in charge at the police station
Delacey, a blind villager
Felix, his son
Safie, Felix’s girlfriend
Captain Walton, on HMS Archangel in the Arctic Sea
Seaman Olaf, on-board the ship
Extras for police& students, good opportunities for doubling
The set: Use open staging with one dramatic alpine backdrop, a tall staircase, flowing into and behind a snowy mountain peak, and winding all the way up into the flyspace, one scrimmed interior space with a door entrance from; and two tall, narrow windows that can be flown in/out, and one round, ship window. Tables, chairs and benches as needed for interiors. Some potted trees and plants for garden and hotel scenes.
The special effects: Sound effects and complex, fluid lighting are essential. A clear, round ball with bubbling red liquid and a tube, canvas sheets and a body suit for the creature. The set should be a montage of shadows and jagged edges. An electric fire and oil lamps add ambient lighting.
The music: Alexander Scriabin’s Prometheus is used throughout the play. Also, Scriabin’s Poem of Ecstasy is perfect for the creation scene. Somehow, this music seems to have been written for this story. Music CD available with production.
The
Scenes:
Act One
Scene 1 The garden of the Frankenstein Villa, Summer, 1710
Scene 2 The University at Ingolstadt, Autumn, 1712
Scene 3 Frankenstein’s laboratory, November, 1713
Scene 4 The Alps, Summer, 1715
Act Two
Scene 1 Mont Blanc, high in the Alps, Fall, 1715
Scene 2 Frankenstein’s laboratory, spring 1716
Scene 3 A police station on the Scottish Coast, early next morning
Scene 4 Deadly pursuit: from Lake Geneva to the Arctic Sea, one month
later
from the play:
Act one, Scene 3: both windows
are flown in side by side, with a sheet hastily taped across them to prevent
prying eyes. The room/laboratory is lit with gas lamps and a disturbing
bulk is covered atop a table in the middle of the area. Upstage of the
table, a glass globe with tubes coming out of the top, leading to the
covered body, bubbles with red liquid. A dilapidated couch, forming the
right wall of the room, has a blanket and pillow messily thrown over.
Music fades as the lights come up on Victor feverishly making notes in
a small diary. It is November16th, 1713.
Victor: (writing) It is finished. My months of dreadful effort are over.
I am about to awaken from the nightmare of unimaginable acts committed
in the dead of night. No one can feel my sense of impending relief. Life
and death seem to me now as only boundaries to be crossed. Mortality,
but a dream from which one can be aroused. A new species may bless me
as it’s creator and source. Many happy and excellent natures will
owe their lives to me. I’m exhilarated and afraid at the same time!
What intensity of emotion! My head will split soon if the act is not consummated!
(searches his pockets) Where is it? Precious Elizabeth’s letter?
Ah! Here. My love says: ‘Dearest Victor, we are thrilled that you
will soon be done with your project. Then, home at last! I don’t
think Henry and I can wait for the day. You are in our prayers. Take care.
Love.’ (he re-folds the letter and puts it in his coat pocket) She
says love! She is still an innocent. The love one feels for that which
he has created himself is far greater than she knows. It’s like
a slow burning inside. The time has come…
Just then, Frankenstein’s door opens and he is nearly startled out of his skin. He whisks the diary into his pocket and stands as the near-sighted housekeeper, Annie clumps in with her bucket, bucket, mop and duster. She is a squinting character, raggedly dressed, and a bit oblivious to what’s going on around her. She squeaks when she notices the intense young man.
Annie: (French accent) Ooh!
Pardonnez-moi, Monsieur! I am not accustomed to cleaning in your quarters
at night, but you are often out to class in the evenings.
Victor: (irritated with the interruption) It’s six o’clock
at night! What are you doing in here?
Annie: Please excuse me, Monsieur. But, when I come to clean in the morning,
you are sound asleep, and I am afraid I disturb you. So, you see how your
rooms are such a mess!
Victor: (suspicious) What do you mean, I am asleep? I go to the library
every morning.
Annie: (with her feather duster) oh, Monsieur, I was going to make the
bed and I was frightened to see you were in it. And the smell! Those blankets
require a wash. So sound
asleep, I thought you were dead! (They both look over at the mound. Annie
gasps)
Victor: (quickly, trying to cover) Yes, yes, Madame. But, please leave
now. I have a great deal of work to do tonight
and I require privacy.
Annie: ( As she works along, she dunks her feather duster into the cleaning
bucket) Ah, Monsieur! What flattery. But, I am not a Madame.
Victor: (Too tired to cope, stares at her) Not a Madame? You are what?
A man?
Annie: (Giggling as she picks up Victor’s hat and washes it with
the wet duster) oh, Monsieur Frankenstein, you have such a way with humor!
I am a Mademoiselle! Never married, you know.
Victor: Oh, for god’s sake! Enough of this nonsense! (She is taken
aback by his vehemence. Victor tries to calm down. Sits as Annie continues
her fumbling
work, talking to the coat tree as if it were Victor)
Annie: What I cannot understand,
Monsieur, is why a bright, handsome young gentleman, such as yourself,
isn’t married. Why, I’ve actually wondered, at times, if you
wasn’t entertaining a lady here. (Gesturing towards the shrouded
figure)
Victor: (laughing finally) Well, you certainly are not the only one who
thinks that! (he loses the humor when she dusts his head)
Annie: Now, my friend, Bertie swears that you are in here taking apart
rotten dead bodies and piecing them together into some horrible monster.
She says…
Victor: Enough! (he leaps up, trembling) Gods! The things that people
say. Now, Mademoiselle, time for you to go. You may awaken my…er..lady
friend over there.
|
 Poster Art available for this play. Click on image above to see larger version |
About
the Playwright:
Kathleen Lockwood began her award-winning writing career at age fourteen
as a National Merit Scholarship finalist for her short story. Her loves
for both theatre and writing combined with her discovery of Playwriting!
She holds a BFA in Theatre Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University
and has been associated with many Tidewater Theatres. She co-founded the
Tidewater Dramatists Guild with Jean Klein in 1976, and served the City
of Virginia Beach as Performing Arts Supervisor at the Kempsville Playhouse
and with Shakespeare-by-the-Sea Festival. She founded Little Theatre for
the Deaf and Shadows ‘n Lights Theatre Company under the auspices
of VSAarts. Her adaptations of children’s stories and plays featuring
characters with disabilities are featured on HaveScripts.com.