Touring theatre company, Imitating The Dog, have been creating and touring original performance work since 1998. Their work is innovative, integrating live performance and digital technology and their aim is to challenge audiences to see things from different perspectives. Imitating The Dog’s latest production, ‘Frankenstein’, explores creation (and the moral responsibility that comes with it) and love – the demand for love, and the rejection of love – some of the underlying themes of Mary Shelley’s novel. The themes are examined by interweaving two stories: a pared down version of Shelley’s novel and the modern-day narrative of a young couple confronted with an unplanned pregnancy and the forthcoming life changes and responsibilities they’ll face in bringing a new life into the world.
Hayley Grindle’s multiverse grey box set (and costumes), Simon Wainwright’s video design, Andrew Crofts’ lighting and James Hamilton’s sound design serve the two stories impressively – transforming time and place quickly from a contemporary apartment, to laboratory, to Robert Walton’s ship amid frozen wastes and snowstorms. The set also comprises video boxes, these are used as cabinets-cum-portable video screens which come alive when touched - another piece of technology which is exciting to see.
Two actors, Georgia-Mae Myers and Nedum Okanyia, play the roles of the modern-day couple, Frankenstein (Okanyia), Robert Walton (Myers) and ‘the creature’ (Myers). Their performances are strong in all the roles, naturalistic as the couple and physical, sculptural and choreographed in the Shelley story. However, I found the present-day story to be slow-moving and it was difficult for me to catch every word with some of the dialogue masked by electronic sounds or music. It was helpful to come to the performance familiar with the Shelley story.
Indeed there is a lot to take in and think about - it is worth looking at the online resources provided by the company on their website, these include interviews with the Imitating The Dog team about the process of putting together this stimulating piece of theatre: https://www.imitatingthedog.co.uk/learning-resource/frankenstein-learning-resources/
The Co-Artistic Directors for ‘Frankenstein’ are Andrew Quick, Pete Brooks and Simon Wainwright. ‘Frankenstein’ is an Imitating The Dog and Leeds Playhouse co-production and is showing at various venues across the UK until 2 May.
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