Frankenstein’s Monster on the comeback trail

Frankenstein’s Monster will make a return to his spiritual home of Dundee next month.

Dundee University is hosting a series of events celebrating Mary Shelley, whose time in Dundee as a teenager inspired her to become a writer.

Frankenstein Returns takes place at venues throughout the city from Friday November 16 to Saturday November 24, as part of Being Human 2018, the national festival of the humanities that has this year expanded to include events in Australia, France, Italy, Singapore and the United States.

One of the flagship events will be a recreation of the popular Gothic shows that thrilled huge crowds around the time Shelley was writing Frankenstein.

“The Frankenstein Phantasmagoria” promises a hair-raising, eye-popping performance using Victorian projection equipment and live musical accompaniment that will allow the audience to experience Frankenstein in a whole new way.

A special Dundee edition of Frankenstein will be launched, while other events focus on comics, theatre, film and science relevant to Mary Shelley’s masterpiece. Admission to all the events is free. Dr Daniel Cook, event programmer and a lecturer at the university’s English department, said: “This year the world has been celebrating the 200th anniversary of the first publication of Frankenstein and it is important we mark this event in Dundee, Mary Shelley’s home during her teenage years.”

Mary Shelley spent part of her teenage years in South Baffin Street in the city after her father, William Godwin, sent her to live with the wealthy jute baron Baxter family.

This spell would profoundly influence Shelley. She later wrote: “It was beneath the trees of the grounds belonging to our house, or on the bleak sides of the woodless mountains near, that my true compositions, the airy flights of my imagination, were born and fostered.”

To find out more about Frankenstein Returns, or buy tickets for any of the events, visit www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/ being-human-dundee-17920127913

To celebrate Frankenstein Returns and Hallow, The Courier sent Frankenstein’s Monster out for a tour of Dundee, where he visited City Square, Tickety Boos and Waterstones.