Frankenstein at the National Theatre

(I wrote this ages ago and forgot to post it!!)



When I first read about Danny Boyle’s stage adaptation of Frankenstein I felt a wave of excitement promptly followed by a smack in the face from reality… Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller were to play the Doctor and the Monster interchangeably.

Surely this was going to be the hottest ticket this season?

And it was. By the time I’d worked out where and when the shows would be performed it was a complete sell out with people queuing from 1am for on-the-day tickets.

But then three weeks ago I got an email from a friend of mine who had spare tickets for a live broadcast of Frankenstein at the Vue cinema in Leeds.

I had no idea that live broadcasts at the cinema even existed but it sounded like a good idea.

So what was the experience of theatre in the cinema like?
Well let’s get the obvious bit out of the way: The cinema ticket cost me £15 and I’ve heard that on average a ticket for the show in London costs around £192, so for starters my bank account say’s the live-link is winning.

Before the show began there was a 5-10 minute mini documentary with interviews of Danny Boyle and his star cast, interspersed with discussion around alternative interpretations of Shelly’s novel. It was quite intellectual but equally very interesting and I thought it was a really suitable apéritif to the stage performance.

As the show ensued and the background sounds from within the theatre, like the mumblings of the audience, were broadcast into the cinema. I suppose this was to bring the atmosphere to the satellite viewers but to be honest it didn’t really have the desired effect.

Then when the lights began to dim and the camera view took flight over the audience, along a ceiling of blazing light-bulbs, and descended vertically above a pulsing amniotic sac that had emerged onto the stage.

During the following ten minutes Frankenstein’s monster slowly emerged from within the sac and the cinema experience was enhanced using thoughtful camera direction. Sometimes the camera was still and I got the view of a well positioned seat in the audience but sometimes there were close ups that caught the intense emmotion on the characters faces. I was glad that the live-link wasn’t simply a secondary thought but had been considered to be of equal importance.

The music was curated by Underworld and they had use a lot of electronic sounds which were complemented by the cinema’s surround sound making the performance very dynamic and absorbing.

Emotionally the whole experience kept me completely gripped and the live-link was near perfect except for one point at which the vocal’s cut out, but it was only momentary.

I imagine that nothing could really beat the experience of actually being at the National Theatre however the substitute felt like I had forfeited very little. In fact for every experiences lost from actually being there an alternative experience had been considered for wider viewing, like camera position, lighting and sound.

Most importantly I still jumped out of my skin at the frightening bits. I still felt in awe at the intensity of the acting. And the ease at which I could enjoy something that would have previously been a London-centric activity after work one evening in Leeds was a huge bonus.

All in all I was so pleased with the experience that I’ve made going to the next show by the National Theatre high on my list of priorities.

Lindy Hop meets Charlston

After choreographing my first ever Lindy Hop today I thought I'd put my achievement into perspective. Take a look at this amazing video of Lindy Hop with the Charlston mixed in!! Awesome...