In “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,” who is the monster and who is the man?

We are all familiar with Frankenstein, both the story itself and the story behind the story. Mary Shelley, her lover the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, his lover and Mary’s stepsister Claire Clairmont, and Byron’s doctor John Polidori, while vacationing one summer in Switzerland, took part in a game to discover who could come up with the scariest story. Acknowledged as the best tale was Mary’s entry: Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, written by David Catlin, interweaves scenes of Mary relating her story with interludes and interruptions by the others. The five companions are 19th Century elites, reveling in their youth, wealth, and privilege. Byron and Shelley, long-time friends (and, it is hinted, maybe something more), are condescending egotists tempered by casual misogyny and an elevated sense of their intelligence and entitlement. Mary and Claire, both pregnant by their lovers, are perfectly happy flouting the sexual conventions of the day. Dr. Polidori, under the influence of Byron and with a crush on Mary, is an easy target of the “wit” of the others. As Mary tells her tale, she and the others assume the parts of the characters in her story. 

Young Victor Frankenstein, stunned by the death of his mother from yellow fever, plunges into studies about reanimating the dead. He rejects the plea of his best friend Henry, and his adopted sister Elizabeth not to pursue these studies, collecting body parts from various corpses. Finally stitching together a hideous form, Victor animates it with electricity. But the Creature is neither perfect in form or in mind – that is, not what Victor envisioned him to be. It is a child, halting in speech for it knows no words, hesitant and awkward for it has not yet learned grace of motion. Victor cruelly mistreats the Creature, lashing out at its imperfections in his disappointment. The Creature, after long periods away from Victor, slowly learns English and familial love, insisting a companion be created for him.

The cast, under Brian B. Crowe’s direction, gives solid performances, moving smoothly between the fictional tale and the “real world” of Switzerland. Amber Friendly breathes fire and life into Mary. We see her start to grow into her independence as her love for Shelley conflicts with his oblivious certainty that he knows what her role in life should be. She also takes on the role of Elizabeth, frightened by Victor’s obsession but steadfast in her love. Sean-Michael Wilkinson takes on the dual roles of Percy Shelley and Victor Frankenstein, both in their ways models of blind confidence. Jay Wade skillfully handles two wildly different characters. He is Lord Byron, coldly indifferent to the needs or desires of others, with a need to be the center of attention at all times. He is also the nameless Creature, desperate to know the warmth of human connection yet thwarted, ill-used, and embittered at every turn. Brooke Turner displays her talent by taking on Claire Clairmont and Victor’s mother, while Neil Redfield does likewise as Dr. Polidori and Henry. Turner and Redfield, along with the rest of the cast, also appear throughout the show in a variety of smaller roles.

The set, designed by Sarah Beth Hall, is spectacularly eerie, making use of gauzy ceiling-to-floor curtains to obscure some of the early scenes. Adding to the unsettling atmosphere of Switzerland is the constant thunderstorm created by Andrew Hungerford’s lighting design and Ariana Cardoza’s sound design. Hungerford’s lighting and Hall’s strategic trap doors also come into play with the Creature, making him appear suddenly out of nowhere and disappear just as easily into the darkness.

Frankenstein, the story within the play, is a deeply layered examination of the obligations a creator has to their creation. Throughout the story, Victor denies the Creature and its actions, frantically seeking to distance himself from responsibility for the consequences. He does not see the Creature as the infant-in-adult-form it is, rejecting it for its ignorance without making the slightest effort to tutor it. Victor is an unfit, unfeeling parent to this child-thing he has created. In Victor Frankenstein we see the folly of a man whose obsession blinds him to the problems of what the outcome of his success would mean.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a shiver-inducing and ultimately tragic work with an ending that is as shocking and surprising as Mary’s story. I cannot encourage you strongly enough to make the trip to Drew University in Madison to spend a riveting, unsettling evening with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein!

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is presented by the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey at the F.M. Kirby Theatre on the campus of Drew University in Madison through Nov. 16, 2025. For more information, or to purchase tickets, go to shakespearenj.org.