The Royal Ballet: Frankenstein, March 2019

[penelopesimpson]

I share your thoughts, Dawnstar.  I have always been a bit of a Hirano fan but I felt, and still feel, that Rudolf is not a role for him.  Mayerling is my favourite ballet and having seen it countless times, this was the first time I felt my attention wandering.  I found Hirano's performance physically strong but as far as the dramatic interpretation was concerned, I felt it failed completely.  I should add that others have said that he improved a great deal during the run but your observations are based on his final performance, so...

 

Whatever, I shan't be rushing to get a ticket for him in Mayerling again.  I saw Ball's debut in the same run and it was light years away emotionally and utterly engrossing.  The wonderful thing is that as he grows into the role, he will doubtless find endless scope for further interpretation.

[Dawnstar]

I would have liked to have seen other Mayerling casts for comparison (unlike Frankenstein where I feel 1 viewing was enough for now) but of course by the time I'd seen it & knew I wanted to see more of it I was too late to get tickets for any other casts, apart from seeing an encore of the cinecast. I look forward to future revivals!

[alison]

3 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

I didn't have an issue with that because the synopsis said that Victor told Elizabeth he would marry her after he finished his studies. As a standard medical degree is 6 years, & he was presumably taking extra modules on reanimating the dead, then 7 years seems reasonable!

 

So it does.  I didn't spot that when I read it last night.

 

I was going to say that I thought last night's cast really gave it their all, and I found the last few minutes quite engrossing.  Possibly Kish's extra height may have helped, because he and Morera really flung themselves into it - and presumably they hadn't had that long to rehearse.  I found Kish very moving last night, rather more than in the other cast, I think.  Oh, and I was delighted to see James Hay's Henry at last, too.

[JohnS]

I’ve been meaning to add something about last Saturday’s matinee and evening performances which brought Frankenstein’s run to a close.  I’d wanted to read again the posts from 2006 and the first run and managed to do that on the train.  Rather good that there is now free WiFi in standard class on some Virgin trains (but not all).  First I should say I very much enjoyed the two performances, with enthusiastic audiences giving them both a rapturous reception.  I also hope Frankenstein will have further outings despite the critical reception and very poor full price sales.

 

I know Mrs BBB explained that the filming for the matinee was for Japanese television.  I was told it was for a documentary etc on Ryoichi Hirano but it wasn’t clear whether there would also be a broadcast in Japan of the full Frankenstein being filmed as part of the Ryoichi Hirano coverage.

 

As regards the tweaks which Nogoat detailed so helpfully much earlier (page 4), I wasn’t at all sure about the extra stage crossing in the Prelude where Alphonse Frankenstein carries young Elizabeth through the storm with family in tow.  We’d seen them enter the house and it didn’t seem credible to have them outside again.  The other tweaks were fine but I still think it’s a shame that the reanimation is so rushed.  I know people point to the incredibly brief reference to the reanimation in the novel but that is Frankenstein’s perspective and I think a case can readily be made for including the Creature’s perspective.  I do hope Liam Scarlett might look again at the reanimation.

 

While I very much like the Frankenstein/Creature scenes in Act 2, I do struggle with Frankenstein’s journal which the Creature has in his pocket after 7 years.  There was a fair amount of discussion about the journal during the first run.  His coat and its contents seem to be the Creature’s only possessions and it’s hugely improbable that he hadn’t discovered the journal.  The implication in the Ballet is that he hadn’t understood the journal’s import.  But are we really supposed to conclude that the Creature’s observing Justine help William to read enables the Creature, by osmosis, to read the journal and understand how he was created - and the route by which Frankenstein might create a wife for him?  In the Ballet we only know that the Creature has been rejected by Frankenstein and society, being beaten up by at the start of Act 2.  But in the novel during the 7 years the Creature had learned to read (including Frankenstein’s journal and Paradise Lost) and speak, observing from a safe distance the De Lacey family and being befriended by De Lacey, the blind father.  So when the Creature met Frankenstein he knew of his creation and could plead for Frankenstein to make him a wife.  When the Creature shows Frankenstein Elizabeth’s scarf in the Ballet, I wasn’t sure if this was part of his plea for Frankenstein to create a wife for him and not simply a threat that Elisabeth would be next.  Doesn’t the Creature too readily move into revenge/destruction of Frankenstein’s family when he needs Frankenstein to create his wife?  However, the cast sheet synopsis very starkly flags up revenge, but is it for the destruction of the journal and hence the steps that would need to be taken for creating a wife, although the Creature retrieves most/all of the papers torn from the journal (one missing page was retrieved by one of the maids in the matinee performance if I recall).

 

In Act 3, it seems to me that right up to Alphonse’s death, the Creature is haunting Frankenstein alongside Justine and William, with no one else seeing Frankenstein’s various phantoms.  I saw that Alphonse slips onto the bottom steps as the Creature dressed for the wedding rushes by.  The next time we see the Creature he’s back in his familiar coat etc.  While we don’t see the Creature kill Alphonse, I think it’s reasonable to assume that the Creature was only dressed in Frankenstein’s imagination and Alphonses’s death takes place just off stage (though if we’re quick we see Alphonse slip into position).  I think the blood fest in the last part of Act 3 is a very telling compression of the narrative by Liam Scarlett and the closing scene with the Creature approaching immolation rather than the Arctic is impressive.

 

On reflection, despite some weaknesses and questions in the narrative, I find Frankenstein a gripping piece of theatre and very enjoyable as such.  I do find the Creature sympathetic, the pdd with William is very moving and to me William‘s death is more an accident than the Creature exacting revenge on Frankenstein which is made clear in the novel.  Both the Creature and Frankenstein treat Justine appallingly and I find it difficult to have any sympathy for Frankenstein - he knows Justine is innocent as the Creature has told him what happenen, showing him William’s coat, but Frankenstein does nothing when he knows he should.  Whilst I don’t think I’d choose to attend a concert performance of the music, it works pretty effectively to support the narrative and the Ballet and some phrases are haunting.  And there were some execellent performances on Saturday.  I was very impressed by Federico Bonelli and Laura Morera and found both Ryoichi Hirano and Nehemiah Kish very moving.  James Hay was brilliant as Henry - such an accomplished dancer.