MAYER WAKEFIELD has reservations about the direction of a play centered on a DVLA re-training session for three British-Pakistani motorists
Monstrous anger breathes life into Frankenstein staging
frank
New releases from Steve Knightley, Jupiter & Okwess, Jason Palmer, Lisa Knapp and Gerry Driver, Kin'Gongolo Kiniata, Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey, Dan Sealey, Simin Tande, PAZ
JOHN GREEN relishes photography that unfolds a longstanding and poetic relationship with Leeds
A uncomfortably misogynistic authorial voice that sometimes seems to lack insight troubles FIONA O’CONNOR
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a production that panders – if inadvertently – to Western prejudice against China
JOHN GREEN is fascinated by a history that excavates the enormous role played by agricultural workers in recent times
ALEX HALL recommends a book that places empirical evidence at the heart of understanding racism
Frankenstein
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
MARY SHELLEY was an enigma. Slight, weak and sickly pale, she eloped at 16 and by 20 had endured two pregnancies resulting in one death, with the other infant dying shortly afterwards
And yet she was the author of one of the most profound novels ever written. Dressed up as gothic horror, Frankenstein is not only the embryo of modern sci-fi, it is a highly political and proudly feminist book.
In the two centuries since she created her monster, Frankenstein has been reimagined in music, stage and film and even been appropriated by capitalism in order to sell all manner of kitsch. April De Angelis’s new adaptation for the Royal Exchange, lovingly faithful to Shelley’s original, is problematic.
More from this author
PAUL FOLEY applauds a faultless musical that tells the tragic real-life story of working-class winners of the football pools
PAUL FOLEY is blown away by a Brazilian band at the top of their game
PAUL FOLEY examines how the Whitworth is attempting to engage with sexual minorites
