Nescol's "Frankenstein" Part 1
- Stage Scuttlebutt
- Jun 18, 2019
- 8 min read
Stage Scuttlebutt, Chatter and More... takes a special interest in local theatre. We want to shine a light on it and give it a voice! With this in mind we have decided to start a new line of articles, which will feature a different theatre production by a local theatre group. The first in our new line is "Frankenstein" by North East Scotland College's (Nescol) 2nd Year Drama Students. The following article is the first of three part series - with the second being a review and the final part giving us a chance to explore more of the play without having to worry about giving anything away!
Article 1/3. Written by Dotti. Photography by Emmie Newbold Photography.
This year's Nescol's 2nd Year Drama class is made up of 14 incredibly talented actors, taught and directed by Lecturer Hannah Macbeth. What can be said about this group of actors and their Director is that they find a home in non-mainstream plays, which have a darker, grittier edge to them. Their 1st Year production of "Scuttlers" (a gang based play set in Manchester) was a sight to behold, as they bought the essence of the play to life before the audience's eyes. Their choice of "Frankenstein" for this year's play would seem to be a bid to expand on their success from last year.
We were kindly invited to go behind the scenes with the cast and Hannah last week to see what has gone into the production and how the actors feel about it.
The first thing you immediately notice when walking into the theatre is the set. The amount of thought and detail which has gone into it is one of the reasons why this group of actors productions stand out from the rest. It's the tiniest details from the golden leafs on the trees to the weird and macabre objects placed into Victor Frankenstein's workshop that bring the set to life.
Everything you see on stage (set, costume, makeup) has been designed and crafted by the students giving it a unique and special feel.
"I think the good thing (as well) is we're all very very creative and we're all very specialized. For example Dany is amazing at making the costumes, Paige is amazing at the makeup. We've got two dancers who are really good." - Alex Lees (The Creature, Cast A & B).
"Everyone was in a role they could contribute to" - Chloe Johnson (Female Creature, Cast B)
"Oh definitely. I think things have come together a lot more in the past few days. Like before we had a basic idea of what we wanted, but even just getting the small things makes such a big difference, especially in the set." - Eve Martin (Holie, Cast A & B).
Next to the set and costumes the biggest and probably most time consuming aspect would be the makeup. For their production of "Frankenstein" both Creatures are required to wear heavy SFX Makeup, included in the designs are bald caps which the students make themselves out of liquid latex. They also use the latex to age Rebekah Clark and Aaron O'Neill who play the old De Lacey and Fergus Massie who plays Frankenstein Senior.
Paige Henderson and Sianainn Dreelan are responsible for most of the makeup, and both have an incredible talent for it, mainly looking after the characters of De Lacey and The Creature.
"I chose to do makeup because its kinda like a hobby of mine and I wanted to challenge myself making the De Lacey's and Monsieur Frankenstein look older." - Sianainn Dreelan (Agatha, Cast A).
While the Female Creatures and the rest of the cast do their own makeup, with input from Paige and Sianainn along the way. The end result is a delight for the audience to see!
The actors have had to work on finding a harmonious relationship with their makeup, in order to make their performances work, in a way that it doesn't hinder their actions, yet at the same time allowing it to add to their performance.
"Oh I love it! When I'm in the costume it really improves my way of performing in costume. I find myself walking backstage talking in my character (voice). I think its fun, like I love costumes and creating a character through my costume. It enhances my performance, definitely. At the same time when I'm rehearsing without costume it's easy to get into that character regardless of it. We had to practice latex and whatnot to see how I could (move), as I'm a very expressive person with my face so we had to make sure it didn't restrict or come off when I was smiling or frowning or anything like that. And we managed to find a happy medium with it and we've managed to work it out." - Alex Lees (The Creature, Cast A & B).
What can be said for all the students is that they are immensely proud of what they have created, whether it be the set, costumes or makeup. We could write a entire article on the behind the scenes themselves, but that would take away all the surprise and joy of seeing it in real life!
Over the years there have been many different takes on the story of "Frankenstein" through film, television and theatre, and this is no different for the students's production as well.
Hannah Macbeth has envisioned something special for her students, while still keeping to the original text. This production features a different look at the key relationship between the two main characters and incorporates gender swapped roles for two other main characters, something that is a growing and progressive trend in theatre.
"Well The Creature is obviously a creation of Victor Frankenstein. In this adaptation that we've done, its very, very different to Mary Shelly's. It gives The Creature a new morality as apposed to Victor's morality, in the sense, that it shows more of a monster side to him and more of a human side to The Creature. With still having the underling obviously that he's clearly gonna be consumed by the world that is around him cause he doesn't understand it." - Alex Lees (The Creature, Cast A & B).
When talking to the students about the characters they play, each showed how they have come to know the character. Here are some of the answers given to our questions, without giving away too much!
What can you tell us about your character?
"So, I feel like overall Frankenstein is a pretty nervous guy, like everything is just blowing up. He is a bit arrogant in some ways, like he's above everyone in the whole thing whether it's The Creature or his Dad. Which has caused obviously a strained relationships I'd say with Elizabeth (his Fiance) and his Father and all that." - Danny Bingham (Frankenstein, Cast A & B).
"Myself and Aaron play De Lacey, which is a blind, old person. Who meets The Creature after he has been beaten and stuff from beggars and teaches him how to read, how to speak, what morals are. And helps him develop as a person." - Rebekah Clark (De Lacey, Cast A).
"My character is Clarice, she works in the Frankenstein household, so it's sort of close to the family. She knows them quite well, which is obviously why she's always so worried about Frankenstein and think he's off, cause she's seen him grow. She'll be close to Holie because she's watched her grow up, that why she's worried about her and why she tries to support Frankenstein or comfort him. She's worked for him for a along time really." - Lisa McIntyre (Clarice, Cast A & B).
For those of you who are double cast, does this give you an advantage of being able to work off each other? So that you both give unique performances, yet there is a sense of unity?
"Blocking wise would be the same, because blocking is usually the same and doesn't change. Interpretation wise (everyone) you're directed by the Director. But I don't think you would see a same show. Each actor has their own way of getting into the character or his own vision on how he sees the character. We don't see the same Elizabeth at all. She (Paige) plays Elizabeth really strong, really really strong. like you can see there's clash clash. I only have clash when I was told, when I was directed to. My vision of how to do Elizabeth is more subtle, more like I'm in this area, I can not speak to loud, I can not show myself because in my vision that's how a woman was. At this stage I can tell when I'm watching her (Paige) doing it I'm not doing the same thing." - Dany Dupuy (Elizabeth, Cast B).
"Where as I (Paige) see it its like Elizabeth is at the breaking point now. In like it's the last resort, she just wants to try and get through to Victor. So I've been playing her as like a strong character, cause she feels like she needs to be to get what she wants." - Paige Henderson (Elizabeth, Cast A).
"Like with our characters (Female Creature), although the character is completely the same, I think with like the (Female) Creature first being seen in the play its the movement piece, it's like a dream sequence. I think that we both choreographed that ourselves, completely separate routine, very differently. Like I decided to go down the route with the fabric and it's inspired by the Japanese. So I kinda took that and then you (Chloe Johnson) took a different direction with it. Which I quite like that it's different." - Chloe Christie (Female Creature, Cast A).
"I'd say as well. Because although we're both in movement, we're in very different disciplines. You're (Chloe Christie) much more dance, whereas I'm a lot more circus based, so I think we tailored our choreography to suit our individual strengths. So for you (Chloe C) it was dance with fabric, whereas mine was a lot more acrobatic and balance." - Chloe Johnson (Female Creature, Cast B)
The play features gender swapped characters (De Lacey and Holie). Did this give you more freedom? Do you think it betrayed the original work or do you think its a new way to keep the original work alive and bring it to new audiences?
"From when Aaron and I were both cast as De Lacey, like my immediate thought was like aw cute we'll get old husband and wife pictures together! The was my first thought, but yeah I did sort of think, like you (Aaron) would be my counter husband, in a past life. It was weird taking on a gender swapped role because I've not done it before, but I put down De Lacey for who I wanted because I liked the sort of nurturing of The Creature and I thought it would be nice to see a female nurturer than a male one." - Rebekah Clark (De Lacey, Cast A).
"The text is very fluid (anyway), we didn't have to change anything about the script to do that, other than like pronouns we didn't have to change anything. I think it really does bring it into more of a modern world. I think it would have been just as brilliant with William, rather than Holie, but you know either or it works." - Eve Martin (Holie, Cast A & B).
With that we conclude the first in our three part series looking at North East Scotland College's 2nd Year Drama production of "Frankenstein". The next in the series will be a review of the production, when it opens to the public this Wednesday evening. Followed by an after show style look at the production, where we will go into more detail about it and really get to know the workings of it!
Comments