amberdreams (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
amberdreams) wrote2014-11-04 10:16 pm
amberdreams) wrote2014-11-04 10:16 pm
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Cumberstein - the movie
Finally got to see the Frankenstein play at the cinema, after a little mix up over tickets (all my fault!). We saw the version with Jonny Lee Miller as the Monster and Benedict Cumberbatch as Frankenstein.
The sets and lighting were amazing, especially the inverted pyramid myriad of lights that hung over the stage and were used to great effect for the lightning, creating ice, and pulses of electricity in the brain… But blimey, this was a dreadfully slow starter of a play. it couldn’t seem to decide at the beginning if it wanted to be a modern dance version of Frankenstein, or maybe a musical, or perhaps a recreation of some of the Industrial Revolution scenes from the Olympics’ opening ceremony in 2012. It must have been at least half an hour, if not longer, before we got any dialogue or character building worth having, and I was getting worried the whole two hours was going to be – quite frankly – boring.
However, after the poor monster burned the one person who’d been kind to him, plus the pregnant woman and her husband who had admittedly been quite unkind, the play finally got going. And after that I was engaged throughout, though not really feeling much sympathy for any of the characters apart from Frankenstein’s fiancé, Elizabeth.
Visually and intellectually the ending was very satisfying, and maybe I’d feel more empathy for the monster after a period of reflection, but that isn’t really what a play should do – I’d expected it to give me more feels, and it didn’t quite succeed. I’m sure it would have been very spectacular to watch in the theatre though.
The sets and lighting were amazing, especially the inverted pyramid myriad of lights that hung over the stage and were used to great effect for the lightning, creating ice, and pulses of electricity in the brain… But blimey, this was a dreadfully slow starter of a play. it couldn’t seem to decide at the beginning if it wanted to be a modern dance version of Frankenstein, or maybe a musical, or perhaps a recreation of some of the Industrial Revolution scenes from the Olympics’ opening ceremony in 2012. It must have been at least half an hour, if not longer, before we got any dialogue or character building worth having, and I was getting worried the whole two hours was going to be – quite frankly – boring.
However, after the poor monster burned the one person who’d been kind to him, plus the pregnant woman and her husband who had admittedly been quite unkind, the play finally got going. And after that I was engaged throughout, though not really feeling much sympathy for any of the characters apart from Frankenstein’s fiancé, Elizabeth.
Visually and intellectually the ending was very satisfying, and maybe I’d feel more empathy for the monster after a period of reflection, but that isn’t really what a play should do – I’d expected it to give me more feels, and it didn’t quite succeed. I’m sure it would have been very spectacular to watch in the theatre though.