Guildbury
are a non-professional theatre company based in Surrey, founded in 1963,
they appear regularly in Gildford, Woking and have an annual open-air
production in front of the Norman keep at Farnham Castle. They present
'Frankenstein' at this years Fringe Festival.
Without
referring to Mary Shelly herself they just cover her famous novel, this
adaptation is written by Ian Nichols, who is also the director and set
designer for the show. It is obvious Nichols has taken into account the
specific abilities of the performers available to him. Keeping things
fairly basic he utilises cast members as narrators from time to time to
keep up momentum. Most of the actors play several parts and slip well
from character to character.
Although unfair in an ensemble show I
particularly liked Kathryn Attwood as, Elizabeth, Debby Dean as Justine,
Steve Nankervis as Henri Clerval, Damien de Roche as Victor
Frankenstein and last but certainly not least Michael Lawrence as the
Creature. Whoever does the makeup for the creature is doing a superb job
it is excellent.
Well
written and nicely performed this is a very enjoyable piece of theatre.
****
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