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FRIDAY, JANUARY 04, 2019
THEATER: It's Alive! "Frankenstein" at the
Public's Under The Radar Festival
UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL: FRANKENSTEIN ** 1/2 out
of ****
THE PUBLIC
It's alive! Mary Shelley's gothic masterpiece Frankenstein; or, The
Modern Prometheus was published in 1818 but it took this new multi-
media work of theater to prompt me to finally read it. (The 1931 movieis better but the differences are fascinating; the book is very
different.) Like me, most people are familiar with the story through
that first film, the equally great sequel Bride Of Frankenstein from
1935, countless remakes ever since and the creature's omnipresence inpopular culture, from Abbott and Costello films to Halloween and
Saturday morning cartoons and the Spanish classic film
The Spirit of
the Beehive and the Mel Brooks comic masterpiece Young
Frankenstein and the stage version from the UK in 2011 with Benedict
Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller and on and on and on. Yes, theidea of becoming a god and bestowing life on another is a powerful
idea that never dies, anymore than the Creature himself.
The Chicago troupe Manual Cinema has crafted a silent film homage
of sorts to that story. But they've expanded the tale in numerous ways.
They also draw on the life of Mary Shelley, including the early death ofher prematurely born child. And while the narrative mostly sticks tothe version in the novel, it also adds some new elements to simplifythe tale, along with key scenes from the film and its overall attitude
towards the man-made Creature. That's when it's not reminding us
that Shelley wrote this story in the first place.
In short, it's a bit of a Frankenstein's monster itself, stitching together
all sorts of ideas about the novel, the film, what inspired it, Shelley'slife and the creation of art in general. If it's a little ungainly, whoMICHAEL GILTZ AT WORK
Michael Giltz is a freelance writer
based in NYC and can be reached atmgiltz@pipeline.com
FAVORITE LINKS
Americablog
Five O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's Blog
The Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPN
Radio
Cine-Blog -- George Robinson's Blog
Documents On Art & Cinema - Daryl
Chin's Blog
Brucie G's Wondrous Blog Of
Adventure and Mystery -- Bruce
Greenspan's Blog
BLOG ARCHIVE
▼ 2019 (7)
► February (1)
▼ January (6)
would be surprised?
First the good. Manual Cinema works in a style similar to a number of
new creative theatrical troupes like Pigpen Theatre. In this case, they
combine puppetry, actors, the sound effects of classic live radio andprojections to create a visual film right before your eyes. You can seean actor holding up the prop of a door with one hand on stage or you
can look at the screen hanging about the cast and musicians to see the
effect fully realized. You can watch puppeteers manipulate a tinyFrankenstein's monster on a tiny little set that features waves lappingonto a shore. Or you can look at the screen where the creature loomslarge and the moment is alive and touching.
That constant tension between observing how an effect is created or
simply watching the story unfold is great fun. Very minor slip-ups (apause before a projection appears, an image slightly askew) only add tothe pleasure, reminding you how challenging such a performance canbe. It's a refreshing, delightful approach to theater that is both hand-crafted and up to the minute. If you've never seen anything like this
before, Frankenstein is a fine introduction.
However, adopting the tropes of silent cinema for this particular show
is daunting. All the dialogue and narration appear as text onscreen andcreating a 90 minute silent movie is not easy, even with the welcome
pleasure of seeing it done right before your eyes. It seems this
Frankenstein has been trimmed by 30 minutes from an earlier version
they developed and that surely is all for the good.
While they make some wise adjustments to the novel's story within a
story within a story structure, they've also tossed in Shelley a bit
haphazardly. They clearly show Mary treated with condescension byher husband Percy and Lord Byron early on. So her triumph over themin this contest should be sweeter. But after beginning with her story,the show moves onto the tale of Frankenstein . And it goes on so long
before they bring her back, one assumes Mary Shelley's story will be abookend. Instead she pops back into the narrative rather jarringly.BookFilter Reading List
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Worse, she's seen writing out the words detailing a scene that took
place ages ago. It would only make sense if we saw her crafting the
moment we just saw, describing what comes next or offering someinformation that relates to the story's creation that was pertinent atthat moment. Instead, we're essentially told, "By the way, Mary wrote
that scene you saw half an hour ago!" It muddies the moment, makes
her presence at that stage feel pointless (surely the last thing theyintended) and breaks up the suspenseful story.
Nonetheless, the score is marvelous. And the varied techniques of
puppetry, live radio, theater and cinema are a pleasure to watch in
action by this talented troupe. Manual Cinema gives Shelley her dueby showing even bold, rule-breaking rebels like Byron and PercyShelley dismissing her efforts. Fittingly, Shelley's triumph over men
by drawing on the horror of watching her own baby die is yet anotherreminder of how painful and difficult the act of creation can be.
THEATER OF 2019
Frankenstein: Under The Radar Fest at the Public ** 1/2
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the creator of BookFilter, a book
lover’s best friend. It’s a website that lets you browse for books online the
way you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensive info on new
releases every week in every category and offers passionate personal
recommendations every step of the way. He’s also the cohost of Showbiz
Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on
entertainment news of the day with top journalists and opinion makers as
guests. It’s available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called
Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes.
POSTED BY MICHAEL GILTZ AT 5:29 PM
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 04, 2019
THEATER: It's Alive! "Frankenstein" at the
Public's Under The Radar Festival
UNDER THE RADAR FESTIVAL: FRANKENSTEIN ** 1/2 out
of ****
THE PUBLIC
It's alive! Mary Shelley's gothic masterpiece Frankenstein; or, The
Modern Prometheus was published in 1818 but it took this new multi-
media work of theater to prompt me to finally read it. (The 1931 movieis better but the differences are fascinating; the book is very
different.) Like me, most people are familiar with the story through
that first film, the equally great sequel Bride Of Frankenstein from
1935, countless remakes ever since and the creature's omnipresence inpopular culture, from Abbott and Costello films to Halloween and
Saturday morning cartoons and the Spanish classic film
The Spirit of
the Beehive and the Mel Brooks comic masterpiece Young
Frankenstein and the stage version from the UK in 2011 with Benedict
Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller and on and on and on. Yes, theidea of becoming a god and bestowing life on another is a powerful
idea that never dies, anymore than the Creature himself.
The Chicago troupe Manual Cinema has crafted a silent film homage
of sorts to that story. But they've expanded the tale in numerous ways.
They also draw on the life of Mary Shelley, including the early death ofher prematurely born child. And while the narrative mostly sticks tothe version in the novel, it also adds some new elements to simplifythe tale, along with key scenes from the film and its overall attitude
towards the man-made Creature. That's when it's not reminding us
that Shelley wrote this story in the first place.
In short, it's a bit of a Frankenstein's monster itself, stitching together
all sorts of ideas about the novel, the film, what inspired it, Shelley'slife and the creation of art in general. If it's a little ungainly, whoMICHAEL GILTZ AT WORK
Michael Giltz is a freelance writer
based in NYC and can be reached atmgiltz@pipeline.com
FAVORITE LINKS
Americablog
Five O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's Blog
The Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPN
Radio
Cine-Blog -- George Robinson's Blog
Documents On Art & Cinema - Daryl
Chin's Blog
Brucie G's Wondrous Blog Of
Adventure and Mystery -- Bruce
Greenspan's Blog
BLOG ARCHIVE
▼ 2019 (7)
► February (1)
▼ January (6)
would be surprised?
First the good. Manual Cinema works in a style similar to a number of
new creative theatrical troupes like Pigpen Theatre. In this case, they
combine puppetry, actors, the sound effects of classic live radio andprojections to create a visual film right before your eyes. You can seean actor holding up the prop of a door with one hand on stage or you
can look at the screen hanging about the cast and musicians to see the
effect fully realized. You can watch puppeteers manipulate a tinyFrankenstein's monster on a tiny little set that features waves lappingonto a shore. Or you can look at the screen where the creature loomslarge and the moment is alive and touching.
That constant tension between observing how an effect is created or
simply watching the story unfold is great fun. Very minor slip-ups (apause before a projection appears, an image slightly askew) only add tothe pleasure, reminding you how challenging such a performance canbe. It's a refreshing, delightful approach to theater that is both hand-crafted and up to the minute. If you've never seen anything like this
before, Frankenstein is a fine introduction.
However, adopting the tropes of silent cinema for this particular show
is daunting. All the dialogue and narration appear as text onscreen andcreating a 90 minute silent movie is not easy, even with the welcome
pleasure of seeing it done right before your eyes. It seems this
Frankenstein has been trimmed by 30 minutes from an earlier version
they developed and that surely is all for the good.
While they make some wise adjustments to the novel's story within a
story within a story structure, they've also tossed in Shelley a bit
haphazardly. They clearly show Mary treated with condescension byher husband Percy and Lord Byron early on. So her triumph over themin this contest should be sweeter. But after beginning with her story,the show moves onto the tale of Frankenstein . And it goes on so long
before they bring her back, one assumes Mary Shelley's story will be abookend. Instead she pops back into the narrative rather jarringly.BookFilter Reading List
THEATER: "Choir Boy" -- It's
The Same Old Song
THEATER: "Ink" -- The Art of
Calligraphy, Performa...
THEATER: UNCLE VANYA;
VANYA -- MY UNCLE;
UNCLE IVA...
The Movies, Books, Theater,
Concerts, CDs I've See...
THEATER: It's Alive!
"Frankenstein" at the
Public'...
► 2018 (34)
► 2017 (6)
► 2016 (2)
► 2015 (14)
► 2014 (2)
► 2013 (5)
► 2012 (18)
► 2011 (15)
► 2010 (10)
► 2009 (43)
► 2008 (86)
► 2007 (781)
► 2006 (2412)
► 2005 (5)
Worse, she's seen writing out the words detailing a scene that took
place ages ago. It would only make sense if we saw her crafting the
moment we just saw, describing what comes next or offering someinformation that relates to the story's creation that was pertinent atthat moment. Instead, we're essentially told, "By the way, Mary wrote
that scene you saw half an hour ago!" It muddies the moment, makes
her presence at that stage feel pointless (surely the last thing theyintended) and breaks up the suspenseful story.
Nonetheless, the score is marvelous. And the varied techniques of
puppetry, live radio, theater and cinema are a pleasure to watch in
action by this talented troupe. Manual Cinema gives Shelley her dueby showing even bold, rule-breaking rebels like Byron and PercyShelley dismissing her efforts. Fittingly, Shelley's triumph over men
by drawing on the horror of watching her own baby die is yet anotherreminder of how painful and difficult the act of creation can be.
THEATER OF 2019
Frankenstein: Under The Radar Fest at the Public ** 1/2
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the creator of BookFilter, a book
lover’s best friend. It’s a website that lets you browse for books online the
way you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensive info on new
releases every week in every category and offers passionate personal
recommendations every step of the way. He’s also the cohost of Showbiz
Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on
entertainment news of the day with top journalists and opinion makers as
guests. It’s available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called
Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes.
POSTED BY MICHAEL GILTZ AT 5:29 PM
NO COMMENTS:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)Newer Post Older Post Home