A few years ago, courtesy of National Theatre Live, I was able to see Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller in Frankenstein. The premise for this show had Benedict and Jonny switching places each night - one would be the monster and one would be Dr. Frankenstein, then switch places the next night. A ridiculous amount of work for the actors I'm sure and they handled it really well. During that showing I saw Benedict as the Doctor and Jonny as the monster. Both were astounding in their roles. But here's the thing, the show itself was just weird.
It was a really strange and gory way to tell the story, with some super cool creative effects thrown in for good measure. So when my friend purchased tickets for the show again for this evening without asking me first, I was less than enthused. I was actually secretly hoping she'd forget. But unfortunately she didn't.
Luckily, this time I saw the opposite casting of Benedict and Jonny so that's a good thing. But still, it's just weird man. I just couldn't get into the way the story panned out. I mean, it is Frankenstein so they kept the same bones to the story. But the monster himself was super gory. Benedict did a great job and showing him learning, but I couldn't get past the make-up. And Doctor Frankenstein, just didn't get much to do. He had no redeeming qualities so you pretty much spent the entire show hating him.
And then after 1.5 hours of this, the show just ends. No resolution, no big fight. Just the Doctor and the monster tramping off stage together in the snow (for some reason). Can you say bizarre? As much as I like these 2 actors, 2 times was quite enough with for this play. No more "experimental" theater for me - I'll stick with the classic re-tellings thank you very much!
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