Classic tale will revert to dark side
COMING to Middleton Arena early next year, 2020, as part of a nationwide tour, is a new theatrical adaptation of Mary Shelley’s seminal 1818 gothic horror novel Frankenstein.
Jonathan Higgins, head of events & programming at Link4Life says, ‘This will be the first time (other than panto!) that Middleton Arena has hosted a week-long run and is part of a wider strategy, working with a variety of partners, across a number of venues and events, to broaden the cultural programme across the Rochdale Borough.’
This is a major coup for our Borough. (Middleton Arena is managed and operated on behalf of
Rochdale Borough Council by Link4Life, which is a charity and the trading name for Rochdale Borough Wide Cultural Trust.)
Rona Munro’s brilliant new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Gothic masterpiece places the writer herself amongst the action as she wrestles with her creation and with the stark realities facing revolutionary young women, then and now.
An eighteen-year-old girl dreams up a monster whose tragic story will capture the imaginations of generations to come.
In a story that has become part of our cultural fabric, a young scientist by the name of Frankenstein breathes life into a gruesome body.
Banished into an indifferent world, Frankenstein’s creature desperately seeks out his true-identity. This ‘monster’ suffers the agony of rejection and a broken promise, pushing him into darkness. Dangerous and vengeful, the creature threatens to obliterate Frankenstein and everyone he loves, in a ferocious and bloodthirsty hunt for his maker.
Rona Munro said of the new production: ‘This story has been told and retold in hundreds of different versions since it was first written. But it remains the dark and rebellious roar of its adolescent author. Mary Shelly was only 18 when she wrote the novel and she had already broken every social rule that should have shaped her life. That’s the version I have returned to, the version of the novel. The story is told in the voice of that passionate young girl, accusing her elders, the culture of her age and intent on terrifying the whole of the world.’