Frankenstein

Director's Notes I Cast and Crew  I Gallery  I  Performances  I Feedback  I Recording

A tender and bittersweet portrait of this classic outsider with contemporary reflections
on the themes of alienation, otherness and prejudice.

Blue Apple are proud to present the second of our productions prepared in lockdown. This show is presented unlike anything we have done before, but some of the staging possibilities offered to us may stay with us forever. ‘Frankenstein’ has been on our planner for a while as it says so much about what it means to be excluded and isolated; we hope our take on it is unlike anything you have ever seen before. 

As is our normal approach, we went right back to Mary Shelley’s original words and found (even without the bolts through the neck) that she had lots to say about mankind tampering with nature, about grief and about the importance of connection to others in all our lives – maybe also something about not judging a book by its cover? The more we looked at the original story the more we all realised there is very little horror in it but lots and lots of sadness. 

Our live/broadcast hybrid is an experiment for sure, but it’s one we aim to learn from. The period from March 2020 to now took so much from us but offered new opportunities to build on. The past year has been terrible for some small charities like us, with some simply ceasing to exist – I am so proud of the participants, staff and trustees of our organisation as we pick ourselves up and dust ourselves down from the blow of Covid. We are still here, still making work and telling stories and we’re in a great position to build on the international relationships we have made with such ease over a terrible year. 

Stick with us as we resume something like normal service, and you’ll be rewarded in winter with our own take on another classic – ‘The Wizard of Oz’! 

Richard Conlon
Director

Running Time

Estimated running time is 80 minutes with no interval.

Victor - James Benfield 
Mother, Lecturer, Angry Public - Ros Davies 
Father, Angry Public - Lawrie Morris 
Elisabeth, Angry Public - Katy Francis 
Justine, Lecturer, Angry Public - Anna Brisbane 
Henry, Lecturer, Captain Walton, Angry Public - Sam Dace  
The Creature - Tommy Jessop (voice) 

Students: 
Kym Nash, Ali Sinclair-Wilson, Alice Peck, Paul Smith, Tom Hatchett, James Spencer, Neil White, Lucy Parrott, David Hunt, Neil Bennet, Aaron Pressman, Katie Appleford, Dan Chopra, James Elsworthy.

Victor’s Nightmares: 
Joseph Jeffrey, Daniel Austin, Helen Burns, Andy Canning, George Collingwood, Joseph Guerrier, Lucy Thomas, Jonny Ling.

Creative Team: 
Art Direction, Costume and Puppets - Polly Perry 
Set and Production Management - Mark Pyke 
Technical Creatives - Samuel Morley, Django Pinter 
Film and Live Camera Operator - Sophie Pyke  
On Stage Support - Michelle Pluck, Sue Dashper, Mary Richards
Thanks to - Cat Randall, Chris Pearce, Clare Talks, Sorcha Young, Rachel Collins, Rachel College, Rhodri Mayer

Professional Associate Artists -
Amanda Watkinson (Street Dance), Kate Mellors (Singing), Alana Jones (Contemporary Dance), Caroline Hotchkiss (D@win Dance), Simon Morris (Drama).
We need more professional associate artists so please contact us if you can help.

Graphic Design - Richard Williams
Photography - Harvey Mills
Printing - Diguru Limited

Blue Apple Trustees -
Georgiana Robertson, Rebecca Sheppard, Duncan Rutter, Ross Harvie, Ed Rochead, Kim Gottlieb, Marilyn Weston, Jon Brown, Cara Honey, Lucy McKenna.
Blue Apple Founder - Jane Jessop
Blue Apple Patrons - Alan Lovell DL, Sally Phillips

Blue Apple Team -
Artistic Director - Richard Conlon
Finance Manager - Kenneth Parry
Administrator - Elisabeth Yeats-Brown
Communications Manager - Pip Armitage

The staff and board of Blue Apple would like to thank the families and supporters of our performers as well as the many volunteers who give their time freely and enthusiastically to support all of our groups.

Frankenstein is co-produced in partnership with the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association, and supported by The Edward Gostling Foundation and many individual donors.

Blue Apple is supported by The National Lottery Community Fund, University of Winchester, Perivoli Foundation, and Winchester City Council.

Photography by Harvey Mills (harveymills.com)

Live events Thursday 8 July 4.30pm and 8pm at Theatre Royal Winchester, 2021

Recording broadcast Friday 9 and Saturday 10 July 4.30pm and 8pm, 2021

See this article by the Keats Shelley Memorial Society here:
https://keats-shelley.org/news/keats_shelley200_keats_shelley_memorial_association_blue_apple_theatre_production_of_frankenstein

See this external review from Broadway Baby here: https://broadwaybaby.com/features/frankenstein-adapted-by-blue-apple-theatre/2283

“"It is lovely - so moving, and so beautifully performed. We were very impressed by the quality of work and the success of the integrated live and filmed performance. Please pass on our congratulations to all involved.” Audience member

“Challenged my previous thinkings about Frankenstein. Brilliant use of live stage, puppetry, video, shadow puppets.” Audience member

“Enjoyable, interesting, imaginatively staged, slightly slow paced, made me want to read the book” Audience member

“Creative, innovative, engaging, poignant, relevant, moving, beautiful” Audience member

“I loved how it asked how the narrative could be seen as modern. I know a Blue Apple performer and I believe the way in which they asked questions and gave answers would have been of enormous benefit to the actors as this particular story is complex.” Audience member

“I really enjoyed the show and thought the mixed media worked very well. The filmed discussions were not only entertaining, they were also insightful and a brilliant device for moving the narrative along.” Audience member

“The stage performers were really good but the discussion group was excellent and really gave pause for thought. It opened my eyes to what Frankenstein is all about.” Audience member

“Subtitles very useful. The script was so brilliant it was important to hear and see every single word The formatting and combination of live theatre and digital gave voice to more individuals and facilitated this complex story to be portrayed in a very clear and understandable manner. We cannot praise it enough..” Audience member

“I loved all the extra touches - the revolving stage, puppetry of the monster and the shadow box.” Audience member

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