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Federico Bonelli as Victor Frankenstein in Frankenstein. © ROH 2016. Photograph by Bill Cooper

Steven McRae as The Creature and Federico Bonelli as Victor Frankenstein in Frankenstein. ©ROH 2016. Photograph by Bill Cooper

Steven McRae as The Creature in Frankenstein © ROH 2016. Photograph by Bill Cooper

Steven McRae as The Creature and Federico Bonelli as Victor Frankenstein in Frankenstein. ©ROH 2016. Photographed by Andrej Uspenski

Steven McRae as The Creature, Federico Bonelli as Victor Frankenstein and Alexander Campbell as Clerval in Frankenstein. ©ROH 2016. Photograph by Bill Cooper

Frankenstein

5–23 March 2019
Main Stage

Love, grief and the desire for power over death fuel a tragic spiral of events in this revival of Liam Scarlett's first full-length ballet.

The Story

Victor Frankenstein is about to leave home for university, away from his family and Elizabeth, the woman he loves. Just before he departs, his mother dies in childbirth. Victor becomes obsessed with the idea of bringing his mother back to life, and his relentless studies eventually lead him to animate non-living matter. Repulsed by the Creature he has brought into the world, he flees.

Read more… (Contains spoilers)

Background

Liam Scarlett's Frankenstein, his first full-length ballet for the Royal Opera House main stage, is an adaptation of Mary Shelley's classic Gothic novel. The score, composed for the ballet by Lowell Liebermann, sweeps the dramatic action towards its devastating end, while the detailed and chilling designs by John Macfarlane bring the Creature and the anatomy lab to terrifying life.

Scarlett's choreography is highly expressive and dramatic as it explores the grief and desperation felt by Victor and the Creature's childlike need for acceptance. The ballet's momentum is sustained by the whole Company, with fellow students pushing Victor further into isolation and obsession, couples swirling around the stage in a dark waltz at his wedding, and the inevitable, tragic end.

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