Frankenstein Reimagined

Before going on the field trip this past week for English, I had only read Frankenstein in my sophomore English class. Of course, it was a book for school and I had to read it, so it wasn't necessarily my favorite right off the bat. However, after attending the play version of the book, I had a totally new found appreciation for Mary Shelley and the incredible story she told.

What I enjoyed most about the play was the glimpse into the creation of the book itself before diving into the actual story. I had no idea why Mary Shelley had chosen to write a piece of work such as Frankenstein, or where one even manages to come up with an idea like that in the first place. I think it's important to know and understand the history behind the art in order to gain a fuller understanding of it.

I also had a deep appreciation of the fact that no dialogue was used in the play. When art is created off of other art, it is necessary to revolutionize the final product as much as your creativity allows. The absence of dialogue was a sure fire way to keep the audience engaged in what was happening, while at the same time letting their minds fill in the blanks where dialogue may have otherwise been used instead. I would highly recommend seeing a silent play, especially one such as Frankenstein, which guarantees your mind will be in for a wild ride.

An Honest Review of Frankenstein

After seeing the "play" Frankenstein" with my English class, I wasn't initially sure about how I felt about it. My only background knowledge on the story was a basic, online summary which I read the day before seeing it. Although I'm a huge fan of art and creativity, I found myself a bit lost in this performance of the world renown story. I was extremely fascinated and left in awe by the high level of creativity that the performers displayed when performing for my class. I completely respect the skill and work that they put into their unique and independent project, but for me, I just wasn't able to really get into the story.

The main problem was that I kept getting distracted by the puppeteers and projector-controllers. I would find myself looking at them rather than what they were creating in the story. I understand this could very much be a "me problem," but it unfortunately took away from my understanding of the story because I would literally miss chunks of it. The exposure of the process of making the story is actually really interesting and fun to watch, but it personally made it harder for me to enjoy the actual story of Frankenstein.

Again, I want to stress that I really respect and enjoy seeing the work the performers and staff did for Frankenstein. I thought the artwork was amazing, the set was charming, the live music was great, and the unique process of performance was also fascinating. Truthfully, I just struggled paying attention to the screen where the story was told, and I feel I missed out on what everyone says was an awesome story.

Bringing Puppets and Frankenstein to Life

I was really shocked by this play. I was a little skeptical when I first came into the theater because I heard that there would be puppets, and I had never seen or heard of anything like that in a play before. But I ended up loving the play.

The actors were amazing at being able to convey their emotions without actually having any lines. And, the musicians playing the live music were extremely talented and used instruments that I had never seen before to make all of the sound effects. They didn't only make music to help convey emotion, but they used music to make sound effects which made the whole play seem very real. It was something that was extremely compelling and fully immersed you into a new world so that you could discover Mary Shelley's extraordinary life and the original story of Frankenstein. The actors were also able to make the puppets move in a way that made them seem natural and real. They brought all of these puppets to life. You could tell that the actors were all very dedicated to this play, because they must have put countless hours into making all the puppets and props.

It shocked me how all of the actors were able to change slides on the projectors or move puppets at exactly the right time. I liked how we were able to see what all of the actors were doing and the musicians so that the audience could chose what they wanted to look at, and see how they were able to produce those images on the screen in real time. I had never read Frankenstein before, so I enjoyed learning about the original character and how Mary Shelley's life influenced her novel. This play was like no other play I have ever seen before, and I'm happy that I was able to go on this field trip so that I could witness it.

Frankenstein

This performance that we saw today was not what I was expecting.  Walking in I didn't realize that it was going to be with puppetry, I was taken aback for a moment.  However, I continued into it with an open mind, and boy am I glad I did.  I have never seen anything like this before. The music along with the images presented were mesmerizing and I couldn't have enjoyed it more.  It was so cool that every single person in the show was on stage all at the same time, and throughout the whole show. 
In addition to that I wasn't very familiar with the story of Frankenstein so I was interested to see how it would play out.  The beautiful artistry they exemplified in this performance made Frankenstein a very enjoyable story to watch, if it wasn't already.  I think that now I should probably go and read the actual book by Mary Shelley.  I also am so happy to have been opened up to this world of performance and theater.  I can see myself continuing to seek out other performances in a similar style as it was so fun to be apart of.  Overall this field trip was a great day out with classmates and seeing and experiencing new things.

The Six Merry Murderesses of Cook County Jail... and Meursault

The Academy Award winning film Chicago came out in 2002 and critiqued the corruption of the prison system of Chicago in the 1920's. In addition to pointing out some corruption in the system, the film's main character, Roxie Hart, serves to criticize the general public's eagerness to enjoy a tall tale over the truth. In pleading her case after being put on trial she committed in cold blood, she and her lawyer devise a plan to make Roxie into a Chicago-land celebrity in order to win the public's support for her version of the story. 

Although The Stranger is not visibly a critique of the French prison system like Chicago is, Meursault, without his knowledge, becomes something of a local celebrity with the media attention around his case. In the movie, the women in jail dramatize their life stories vie for the attention of the press, while Meursault simply discovers that his case has become a story for the public's entertainment. Although these two different situations are very different, the situation of the inmates gaining outside popularity is fairly similar. 

In the case of Meursault's popularity, the story is rather ironic given his completely apathetic and uninterested personality. He would be the absolute last person a reporter would want to write about if that writer met him in person. The mystery of his case, however, apparently was enticing enough to overcome his complete disinterest in most things in life and make his case an interesting one to the public. 

Although the goals of the two characters, Roxie and Meursault, are quite different, with Roxie wanting to be found not guilty and Meurault not caring, their situations following their respective crimes and popularity are interestingly similar.