I
now know why Danny Bole was invited to direct the 2012 London Olympics opening
ceremony. Whoever did so had seen his production of Frankenstein at the National
Theatre in 2011. I had to wait over three years to see it
being rebroadcast in a local cinema, (well, by local I mean 50 miles
away). Having seen it I checked out the team Boyle used for
both, and saw that he worked with the same Set Designer, Mark
Tildesley, Costume Designer, Suttirat Anne Larlarb, and Director of
Movement, Toby Sedgewick. If you saw the Olympics
you might have some idea how well they used the National Theatre’s resources
and the magnificent Laurence Olivier stage, with its rising,
falling, revolving centre. I saw the two episodes of Philip
Pullman’s His Dark Materials there a few years ago, which was
terrific – but this production was something else.
And
it had Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch on board.
Cumberbatch had already played a ‘high achieving sociopath’
Sherlock Holmes in the 2010 BBC series. At the National he played
another ‘high achieving sociopath’, the driven genius Victor
Frankenstein. At least he played him on alternate nights, as Miller
and Cumberbatch swapped the roles of the scientist and his unloved
creation. This adaptation of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel
was written by Nick Dear and broadcast live to cinemas in March
2011. More than a quarter of a million people, in over thirty
countries, saw the original cinematic event. I think the delay in
rebroadcasting it was due to a lack of agreement about which version to use;
the one with Jonny Lee Miller as the Creature, or Benedict
Cumberbatch. Both actors had been praised in both roles, but
for the rebroadcast it was Cumberbatch.
He
was a revelation . I had hugely enjoyed his Sherlock,
been quietly surprised by his casting as Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness, and remembered
him from a few earlier TV shows and films, but nothing had prepared me for his
performance as the Creature. First of all his physicality.
The long opening sequence shows the Creature learning how to move, crawl, stand
and walk, how to wrest control of his new body.
Cumberbatch is almost naked, and his writhing, rising and falling reveal his
remarkable physique. His power does not come from massive muscles,
but from spun steel cords. And this was not simply an actor
thrashing about in free form, it seems plain that every contorting
bruising, muscle stretching movement was choreographed by the actor and Toby Sedgewick.
Later in the play we see Cumberbatch’s remarkable grace, agility and
athleticism as he leaps, bounds, climbs, spins, gestures and wrestles with his
creator. At one point, a real coup de theatre, the Creature
is hidden on stage, lying on his back, completely covered, until he leaps,
springs, levitates into sight faster than any Vertical Takeoff fighter
plane. No wonder the actors swapped roles; to perform this every
night would have been exhausting.
Jonny
Lee Miller playing another modern Sherlock in the current American series, has impressed
me, and his playing of Victor Frankenstein was
impressive. We clearly see who the real monster is, and
it is Victor’s lack of humanity that monsterises his unloved
creation. But I can see why the actors vied for their embodiment of the
creature to be the one broadcast. The Creature, not
Frankenstein, is the main event.
The
rest of the cast are simply very good; Karl Johnson is de Lacey, the impoverish
– and blinded – professor who educates the creature, and Naomie Harris is
Frankenstein’s ill-fated fiancé, Elizabeth. But the evening belongs to
the two stars, Danny Boyle and the other directors.
