Frankenstein
a new play by Nick Dear
based on the novel by Mary Shelley
The final performance of Frankenstein was on 2 May 2011.
I followed nature into her lair, and stripped her of her secrets! I brought torrents of light to a darkening world! Is that wrong?
Childlike in his innocence but grotesque in form, Frankenstein’s bewildered creature is cast out into a hostile universe by his horror-struck maker. Meeting with cruelty wherever he goes, the friendless Creature, increasingly desperate and vengeful, determines to track down his creator and strike a terrifying deal.
All I ask is the possibility of love!
Urgent concerns of scientific responsibility, parental neglect, cognitive development and the nature of good and evil are embedded within this thrilling and deeply disturbing classic gothic tale.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is adapted for the stage by Nick Dear and realised by Danny Boyle in his return to the theatre after winning the Academy Award for best director for Slumdog Millionaire.
Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternate the roles of Victor Frankenstein and the Creature.
Slowly I learnt the ways of humans: how to ruin, how to hate, how to debase, how to humiliate. And at the feet of my master I learnt the highest of human skills, the skill no other creature owns: I finally learnt how to lie.
World Premiere
Suitable only for 15yrs+
Captioned performance Wednesday 13 April at 7.30pm, Thursday 28 April at 7.30pm
Audio-described performances Friday 15 April at 7.30pm, Saturday 16 April at 2pm (Touch Tour at 12.30pm) and Saturday 30 April at 2pm (Touch Tour at 12.30pm)
Ticket update
All advance tickets for performances of Frankenstein are sold out. Day Tickets are available for every performance.
National Theatre Live
For the first time ever, National Theatre Live will broadcast two separate performances of a production. Throughout the run of Frankenstein at the National Theatre, Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller are alternating the roles of Victor Frankenstein and the Creature. Audiences in cinemas will have the chance to see both combinations, with two broadcasts a week apart.
17 March: Benedict Cumberbatch (Creature), Jonny Lee Miller (Victor)*
24 March: Jonny Lee Miller (Creature), Benedict Cumberbatch (Victor)*
* and varying dates internationally
Find your nearest participating cinema
Late night Q&A
Tickets are available for a special late night Q&A with Danny Boyle, Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller on 20 April, in aid of charity Dramatic Need. More information
Image: Dissection of the axilla by Joseph Maclise, courtesy of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto
Frankenstein finished on: 2 May 2011
