[Event Review] Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Abridged

From folklore to family histories, everything we know comes from one of the most ancient and most precious of all pastimes - storytelling.

Horror is no exception with the films, literature, festivals and games we play all engaging us through the mode of storytelling. However, while these art forms have the ability to captivate us, the traditional method of storytelling has been largely abandoned. Creator and Performer, Rosalind Buck’s work encourages a return to the jackanory-style cosiness in her reading of Mary Shelley’s gothic masterpiece: Frankenstein.  

Adopting a stripped down and simplistic approach which works perfectly for this text, Buck transports us from bleak and unwelcoming icy landscapes to the mysterious confines of Frankenstein’s workshop. The text is crisply delivered with Buck giving the impression that through the expression and cadences in her voice that she is reading and experiencing all that is happening for the very first time. Tackling a text such as this is no easy task; not only does Shelley’s fairly lean tale require an attention to rhythm, form and pace but two dynamic and opposing performances. However, Buck makes it so convincing that you often feel the characters are disclosing their accounts to you in a direct and personal manner, similar to a confessional. 

In a novel which both slips from one character to another and features exchanges between the enigmatic Scientist Victor Frankenstein and his murderous yet wholly apathetic creation, it remains clear who is talking throughout. From time to time, Buck employs gestures in her performance but essentially, she tells the story through the inflexions in her voice and through her ever-changing facial expressions. It’s important to note however, that she never pushes her characterisations too far, which would be an easy trap to fall into. A natural born performer, Buck has clearly thought about every word and in Frankenstein, which she has adapted and abridged for performance, she radiates a passionate energy. 

Strongest when portraying Victor, the performer evokes a spectrum of emotions from anxiety to triumph to horror and curiosity. Memorable moments include the Scientists’ disbelief when, upon finalizing his creation, he asks himself: ‘How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe’ and the evocative description of the storm: ‘when I watched the tempest, so beautiful and so terrific’. 

While watching the story being performed is rewarding, Frankenstein would also work as an audiobook experience, most ideally with a glass of Malbec on a cold, Autumnal evening. Telling stories is how we preserve, pass things down and entertain one another and the origin story of Mary Shelley’s tale is now as famous as the text itself. Finding the poetry in Shelley’s gothic prose, Buck manages to deliver an unforgettable tale whilst also leaving enough room for the imagination of her audience to blossom.

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