“Frankenstein,” the 200-year old Mary Shelley novel, has undergone every sort of torture from plays and TV permutations to the famous movies that turned her sympathetic man-made creature into a monster. In 1981, Victor Gialanella wrote a stage version that leaves behind most of the adventure that Shelley wove into her story. In what turned out to be the most expensive flop on Broadway up to that time, Gialanella added and changed characters and deleted whole portions of the creature’s quest.
But never mind, his script has the basics of the story: An increasingly mad scientist creates a living creature out of deceased human parts and that creature takes off on an odyssey of mayhem. This version is currently being played out at DCP Theatre in Telford, an easy 30- minute drive south of Allentown.
From the outset, R. Cameron Purdy, who plays “The Creature,” is terrific; he captures the pathos of a poor homemade wretch trying to get along in uptight 18th-century Switzerland, and not being very good at it.
Purdy beautifully captures the creature’s gradual change from giant adult newborn to a near gentleman. He’s ugly, strong, and helpless as he tries to deal with the “civilized” world in which he finds himself. It was a convincing portrayal and I hereby nominate Mr. Purdy for whatever awards they give to folks in amateur theatricals.
Another nomination goes to 3rd-grader Brennan Sibel who performs a supporting role as the younger brother of the gentleman scientist Victor Frankenstein, played with intense preoccupation by John Bell. Young Sibel is restrained -- as all good children should be -- but he still has plenty of stage life in him, that is until he’s accidently dispatched by you know who. Sibel does his death scene like a pro.
At the Oct. 27 performance I attended, many of the actors started out a bit stiffly but as the plot continued, they loosened up and by Act 2 were limbered up for the finale. Frankenstein’s father is played by Mark Henry; his fiancé by Carly Nuneviller, and Justine, a live-in older playmate for young William, is well played by Katherine Henry. Sometimes it’s a bit confusing about who is related to whom, but that’s not the fault of the players.
Two rough grave-diggers are performed with black humor by David Williams and Brandon Pascucci; Frankenstein’s best buddy Clerval is elegantly portrayed by Noah Baliles. Michael Romito and Linda Walsh are the visiting Muellers, surrogate parents of Elizabeth, and Patrick Gallagher is the blind man DeLacey.
A shout-out goes to Set Designer Ray Thompson and his crew who use every inch of the DCP stage to bring us from graveyards to scientific labs to humble cottages to the Frankenstein chateau. Sets fold and unfold and appear and disappear behind curtains. The play opens on a sort of false thrust stage into which they have a grave already dug and filled with dirt; from this they pull out the corpse that will eventually be born again. Fun stuff like that. Oh, and did I mention the fantastic lightning effect'
It’ss obvious that everyone at DCP is having a terrific time. Director Geoff Yaroschak and his crew ultimately put on a good show so bring the kids if they’re old enough not to be frightened by death and monsters. “Frankenstein,” DCP Theatre, 795 Ridge Road, Telford. Until Nov. 9. Fridays and Saturdays at 8; Sundays at 2. Tickets: 215-234-0966 or