Frankenstein: The Fire and the Silence

Back in 2024, Congleton Players took to the stage to bring Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to life and left their audiences with one main question: What became of the creature and his creator as they vanished into the snow?

We now have an answer thanks to a brilliant, original play written by Robin Jackson. The audience are taken on a dark, cold journey through the frozen North, following Victor Frankenstein in his attempt to track down the creature he created to seek his revenge. I was not fortunate enough to see the 2024 production, however now having seen what director Robin Jackson can bring to life on stage, I am truly disappointed that I never got to see it. The direction throughout the production was very strong, every element clearly thought out. The opening of the show saw Victor Frankenstein writing a letter, with selected words projected onto the white backdrop, accompanied by a voice over relaying what was being written. This whole scene, with the use of smoke and cool toned lighting along with a subtle underscore, really set the location of the show. The set was brilliantly designed, with the left half of the backdrop acting as a scrim. This allowed for scenes to take place both in front and behind, giving us different locations for a variety of scenes. The right half was cleverly designed for the top to be flown out to reveal the deck of a ship, and the bottom half made up of curtains to be pulled back to reveal even more settings for the story to take place. An excellent job by David Whitewright and team.

Lighting and sound throughout the production were used well to add depth to the scenes, making the audience feel like they were part of the story. The underscoring throughout was fitting for the atmosphere being created, however there were a few moments where the volume was slightly too high at the beginning of scenes which overpowered the dialogue. However, the sound quality overall was very strong. Glynis Aldred, assisted by Gaby Shaw and Louise Wright, clearly put a lot of thought and effort into the costumes and this paid off. Along with the fantastic make up by Jasmine Edmondson, the costumes really helped the characters come to life before our eyes. There were a couple of more “modern” pairs of shoes to be spotted throughout but this did not take away from the production value.

The cast was led by James Freeman in the role of Victor Frankenstein, who gave a great performance with a perfect balance of fear, anger, desperation and despair. Every movement and vocalisation was thought out and true to his character. Each relationship had its own feel to it, from the loving relationship with Elizabeth to his complex feelings about his creation, and they were all played very well by James.

Claire Morris gave a strong performance as Eira, acting as a guide to Victor. Her stage presence was great, and she commanded the audience's attention in all the right places. Another commanding presence was Adrian Grace as Robert Walton. The way with which Adrian had an air of authority which was then broken up in scenes where he was writing letters to Margaret was a lovely contrast between the light and dark of the character.

Chris Brady, Paul Berridge, Lewis Robinson, Freddie Condliffe and Richard Burkard made up the Crew of The Ozymandias. Together they gave some lovely comedic moments and played off each other well. There were a few hiccups in lines of dialogue and cues, but this was an otherwise great performance from them all.

Throughout the production there were several apparitions, brought to life by Sophie Williams, Barnaby Thomas, Paul Thomas, Emily Bourne and Amanda Jackson. Emily and Amanda took on the roles of The Ideal Bride and The Broken Bride; both were excellent and brought a real contrast to the show. Special mention must also go to Sophie Williams as Elizabeth. Sophie’s physicality was great and her warmness really shone through.

Without a doubt, the standout of the show was Sam Hands as The Creature. This was an absolutely incredible performance, and Sam clearly threw his all into the role. He had the audience captivated from the get-go, with all gestures and movements being erratic and non-human, whilst also portraying a childlike innocence. Sam’s voice often changed based on the creature’s emotion in the scene, this was exceptional. It is obvious that a lot of work has gone into bringing The Creature to life and Sam did a superb job.

I must also give a special shout out to Bram Stanway and Charlotte Condliffe for their role as Polar Bear Puppeteers. Bringing a puppet that large to life on stage must not be easy, but they executed this brilliantly. The relationship between the Polar Bear and The Creature, while only shown through movement (thanks to Em Stanway's choreography), was magical. Bram and Charlotte, along with Glynis Aldred and David Whitewright (Polar Bear Puppet Design and Construction Team) should be really proud of themselves for bringing this to life.

Overall, this was a brilliant production. The cast, crew and creatives have done an excellent job in bringing all aspects together to complement each other to create a fantastic piece of theatre.

A massive thank you to everyone at Congleton Players for the invite to the show and great hospitality. I wish them the best of luck for their next production (and I really hope it’s a spin off story for the Polar Bear!).

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