Dr Paul T Davies's recent project directing a Frankenstein adaptation, by the National Theatre, is being showcased at Headgate Theatre, Colchester from Wednesday the 16th of November 2022 to Saturday the 19th of November 2022.

 

After his successful play ‘Jacky’ shown at the Mercury theatre, that tugged at the audience's hearts, I can’t wait to see what Dr Davies brings to the table this time. You may think you already know everything about the spooky classic, but alongside this new adaptation comes terrific acting, comedy and even a few jump scares. “The audience can expect everything they know or think they know about Frankenstein but can also expect something new,” said Paul.  

  

I spoke to Dr. Davies more about what this new take will entail and what we can expect as an audience. This new adaptation plays with minimal set and costumes to focus all the audience's attention on the acting “the actors have nowhere to hide they’ve got to act really well.”   

  

This isn’t Dr Davies's first play adaptation; he adapted the 1946 film ‘a matter of life and death’ into a live production. He said the most important thing about adapting plays “is making it your own, the story has to be good, and Frankenstein is a really good story.” “With adaptations you have to adapt it to your space” Having seen the play at the national theatre with an audience of 1,200, adapting to Headgate's 84 seated auditorium must be taken into consideration by Paul. The smaller venue will give the audience an intimate experience, however this will be challenging for the director “To make your version yours but also get it to work in the space.”  

  

When discussing revisiting classics, Paul shared that “If you can go to a classic and it tells you something new about the society you live in” it gives them the ability to engage with the audience to challenge negative attitudes or put across new messages. We agreed that it is ‘Well worth going back’ to revisit classics.