Mary The Birth of Frankenstein. Let us be strapped to a tree with roots and let the Bardo trip begin.
Mary The Birth of Frankenstein
Writer: Jess Sayer
Director: Oliver Driver
Auckland Theatre Company 2025
Tickets Available HERE
A monstrous thunderclap and bolt of lightning courses through our core and awakens the chattering audience like a defibrillator shock. This is to revive the life spirit of anyone who needs it, preparing all for a magnificent Heart of Darkness trip deep into the psyche and a brilliant script from Jess Sayer, her debut work for ATC.
Frankenstein is a name which conjures up the undead post-human monster, so he is a predecessor of the cult of the Zombies. Decomposing body stitched up and oozing putrefaction, as Mary (Olivia Tennet) envisions.
The monster was never named. He was given the appellation of his creator Victor Frankenstein.
There may be a connection to the ancient Jewish myth of the Golem. A giant male figure sculpted from mud and clay and brought to life to save the Jewish race in times of calamity and apocalypse, of which there have been many.
The story of Frankie is now legend but let us set the stage, of a retreat in Lord Byron’s (Tom Clarke) mansion on the shores of Lake Geneva, in the dark winter of 1815.
Lord Byron is hosting his young friend Percy Bysshe Shelley (Dominic-Ona Ariki), an up-and-coming poet with a wild and rebellious nature. Shelley is in the thrall of the Machiavellian and wealthy Byron.
Shelley has eloped with Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (Olivia Tennet), barely 18. In mitigation, Shelley was just 23.
Mary’s mother was an early feminist and a free thinker with several lovers. Her father was a publisher, a friend of Shelley especially with his radical political thoughts.
Also in tow is Mary’s stepsister Clair Clairmont (Timmie Cameron), who craves attention and is promiscuous in decadent fashion.
Byron has his favourite drug supplier with him, Doctor John Polidori (Arlo Green).
The staging (John Verryt) is dark Gothic, with a central sweeping staircase. Reminiscent of the classic Globe Theatre sets of recent times, but with a more austere design.
The costumes (Sarah Voon) are flamboyant and strikingly colourful, underlining the personalities of the protagonists. Mary is the most reserved.
It is clear they are gathering for a night of sybaritic pleasure. All is permitted shall be the whole of the law.
Since Lord Byron is very wealthy, and with an intellect to match, this makes him a most dangerous beast.
He is the perfect Stavrogin, from Dostoevsky’s most violent and demonic masterpiece, known under the collective titles of The Possessed/ The Devils/ The Demons.
Documenting in novel form the spiritual crisis of the 19th century giving way to the moral bankruptcy of the 20th century. Shining light on the dark recesses of the psyche as much as Freud and Jung later.
The verbal sparring is rapid and cuttingly sarcastic, filled with delicious wicked black humour. Sexual tension is raising the temperature quickly.
At times both Byron, Shelley and Polidore threaten to break out into Young Ones farce.
The ceremonial ingesting of drugs. Maybe laudanum which was just tincture of opium. Not a drug of opening consciousness according to Wild Bill Lee Burroughs. You need psilocybin, tainted ergot, DMT (ayahuasca), MDMA.
The sybaritic dance has an appropriate score from sound designer and composer Leon Radojkovic.
Open the consciousness and enlightened thoughts can flood in but you have no control of the dark forces. The hairy ape (Hemingway’s word), the beast, the subconscious Id.
Byron starts the competition. Come up with the best horror story. Which means confront your inner demon.
Mary relates the tale of reanimation of a corpse through galvanism. That’s a seed but what emerges becomes much darker.
Lord Byron recites one of his famous poems Darkness.
I had a dream which was not a dream at all/ The bright sun was extinguished, and the stars did wander darkly.
Byron says he champions freedom of thought and expression. That includes women and he admired Mary’s late mother (who died of post-partum sepsis after giving birth to Mary).
It is revealed that he is narcissist and a total control freak. Group-think has them excitedly jumping around looking for a subject.
The first character we see on stage is Marta (Emily Adams), the downtrodden servant who is elderly and mute. Byron only addresses her by shouting.
She is old, broken down, cannot talk. What good is her life anyway! The Shadow slips in.
The five get intoxicated on their wonderful idea to reanimate her through lightening. They feed her poison.
The evil of groupthink manifests as pregnant Claire smashes Marta’s head repeatedly into a table. It’s an agonising death
The tension is heightened as we head to the interval.
Wait and see what happens next!! Says director Oliver Driver to people passing by.
Best experienced in person when you come to see it.
A darkened stage with minimal spot lighting. Combined with spectacular laser lights as impressive as the best from Spark Arena.
Tarantino is mentioned in the publicity. There is a flash of the Manson murders demonic atmosphere. There were five in that house on 10050 Cielo Drive in Los Angeles. Clair is pregnant.
In truth, this Mary is closer to the psychological violence of Reservoir Dogs.
Byron ends up laughing manically in his best Joachim Phoenix Joker impression.
The origin of the monster is revealed. We are in the midst of opening Pandora’s box in Present time via science and medicine.
Mary The Birth of Frankenstein is a magnificent production, and I am sorry for you if you miss it. A genuinely delicious and wicked horror.
Mary The Birth of Frankenstein
Writer: Jess Sayer Director: Oliver Driver
Auckland Theatre Company 2025
Tickets Available HERE
Rev. Orange Peel
All photos by Andi Crown
