Frankenstein

I followed nature into her lair, and stripped her of her secrets! I brought torrents of light to a darkening world! Is that wrong?

I spent Valentine's in the presence of a ghoulish Creature and his genius maker. Oh yes.

It is hard to put into words how excited I'd been since December, when I got my tickets for the Nick Dear adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel - especially as for the preview performances, the castlist hadn't yet been announced. Would Benedict Cumberbatch play the god-like scientist? Or his Creature? Would Jonny Lee Miller be hounded by torch-wielding peasants, or would he become be followed to the ends of the earth by his own creation?

So, some of my expectations were proved wrong. There were no torch-wielding peasants (in the traditional sense), no 'MWAHAHAHAHA' as lightning raged outside a wind-lashed castle. I think Tall Man was rather disappointed. I, however, was delighted.

I got to spend 2 hours watching Jonny Lee Miller as the Creature transform before my eyes from an ignorant child-man (a very, very naked one at that) to an eloquent but hideous man-child, begging for the answers to his existential questions from Benedict Cumberbatch, his creator-father.

Yes, the all-singing, all-transforming stage was a couple of notches over the top, and yes, elements of the soundtrack were jarring rather than complementary. But the swagger was glorious, and the face-offs between Miller and Cumberbatch were touching, at times tender. Dr Frankenstein wildly grasping for control over a creature he hadn't known he could create, contrasted with the Creature, naively believing that his creator could save him, was terrifying without any need for gore, blood, cackling or bolts through necks.

There was no lumbering fiend, rather something infinitely more interesting: a sentient human-not-quite-human Creature howling into the void with no guarantee of an answer.

Many reasons to go see and enjoy (if you can!): the gothic-fantasy aesthetic with a healthy dose of horror (and an interesting nod to steampunk), the mostly fabulous set design showing off the post-enlightenment obsession with electricity, two fabulous actors locked in a terrifying battle of wills, and having every one of your hysteria-inducing philosophical question writ large before your eyes. Nick Dear's play explores what it means to be human, and how badly we can fail at it.

Soooo much sexier than chocolate and flowers.

See also: If you can't get tickets to the NT, Frankenstein will be screened live with both castings at Picturehouse Cinemas, book here.
Find out more about The Beauty and Terror of Science (Amazon)
Meet Frankenstein's Monster's mates: Man-Made Creatures (National Theatre)
Meet the team: Playwright Q+A