REVIEW: The Hawth Theatre brings Victor Frankenstein’s creature to life in its latest in-house production

Shelley’s iconic piece of literature tells the tale of a young scientist, Victor Frankenstein and his quest to ‘cure’ death. His pursuit to rid the body of all ailments has grizzly consequences for the character and others around him.

The first thing that impressed me about the production was the set. It is the most intricate set that I have seen from a Parkwood Theatres production and the level of detail was immense. The set designers constructed the stage to look like a creaky ship and the element that amazed me was the use of the pulleys to bring the creature to life.

The set added to the horror of the production and the ‘bed scene’ was particularly bloody.

Editor of the Crawley Observer, Mark Dunford described Luke McGibney’s performance of the creature as a “real tour-de-force”. McGibney’s portrayal of the creature had a lot of similarities to John Hurt’s performance of John Merrick in David Lynch’s ‘Elephant Man’. The body acting from McGibney was incredible and he replicated the distorted body of the creature through movement well. His physical presence was imposing on stage, especially when sat in the front row. Another stand-out performance was Samuel Brewer’s portrayal of both Waldman and DeLacy, as he embodied the characters perfectly and brought humour to his roles.

The community cast was utilised in this performance. The young actors added music to the production and were used as the chorus, which added to the drama of the piece. The cast also had individual parts to play in the performance and worked well with the senior actors.

The atmosphere of Victorian England was captured excellently on stage and I appreciated the use of silhouettes to portray the horror of Victor’s creations. The use of lightning in the performance also added to the intensity of the performance.

Overall, Sarah Slator (Director) and her team put on a performance that will be forever remembered in the history of The Hawth Theatre and it was fantastic to see Victor Frankstein’s creature being brought to life on stage, especially in time for Halloween.

See more: REVIEW: Dreams and reality get muddled in a spellbinding adaptation of Skellig at The Hawth, ‘A Call To Peace’- A review of The Poppy Red by Parkwood Productions at the Hawth, Crawley October half-term in pictures: Here’s our top places for some spooky fun in the town

You still have time to buy a ticket, which you can purchase here: https://www.parkwoodtheatres.co.uk/The-Hawth/show/abddfe43-3ee7-ec11-aa66-f92c46e06bfd/frankenstein