MARY SHELLEY'S GOTHIC THRILLER REIMAGINED FOR OUR TIME. CALGARY | October 23–26, 2019 EDMONTON | October 31–Nov 2, 2019 CHOREOGRAPHER: JEAN GRAND-MAÎTRE Electric has gone Audi. www.glenmoreaudi.com 25 Richard Way SW, Calgary (403) 568-2834 201 years ago, a young writer, barely 18 years old, wrote the most significant literary masterpiece of her generation. Indeed, many scholars agree that Mary Shelley may have invented the first myth since the early Greeks. As if this was not momentous enough, she also simultaneously achieved to write the very first science fiction novel. So many profound psychological, sociological, historical and humanistic questions have been woven into the fabric of this JEAN GRAND-MAÎTRE narrative that you could literally produce hundreds of films, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR television specials, operas and ballets and still not explore all of 2002 - PRESENT the themes embedded within this titanic story. – As always with these giants of literature, you need to find your own personal portal in order to capture what you believe is equally essential to the writer and to yourself. I was inspired by the writings of film director Guillermo Del Toro. His thoughts on Frankenstein’s monster are more concerned with the uniqueness of his birth and the gentleness of his original character. Del Toro also believes that the crime perpetrated within this haunting tale is not committed by the creature, who didn’t ask to be born, but by his maker. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the many designers of this production. They were the ones who pushed me to attempt a modern transposition of the story. I realized that creating the ballet this way would be more powerful and would reverberate more deeply. Indeed, the idea of bringing back the dead is more feasible in our time. Recently, I’ve been reading of scientists bringing the brain of a pig back to life and of other researchers in the world cloning the genes of rats with humans. To Guillermo Del Toro, Victor’s creature is the “most beautiful and moving of all monsters”. Indeed Del Toro believes that to capture the essence of Shelley’s novel, you need to “portray the human trapped in the monster’s body and not the monster trapped within a human body”. This was a game changer. It helped me understand how profound Shelley‘s metaphorical world is. There is a lot of terror in this gloomy adult fairytale. If such a thing as galvanizing a human corpse back to life could be possible, we could indeed be living in a godless world. The fact that a man has usurped the female procreative power is also quite a powerful statement. Science and ethics are central characters within this dire warning. Endless gratitude to the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity for hosting us this summer and allowing us to begin this creation surrounded by the inspiration of nature. I’d also like to send a warm thank you to Barbara Palmer, Heather Edwards, Sharon Watkins, Andrea Brussa and Don Wilson for their very generous support for our new creations. Without these contributions, these productions wouldn’t be possible. Our deepest gratitude is also owed to Mary Shelley for her extraordinary foresight and brilliant writing all those years ago. To my assistants, the staff and to all our volunteers, thank you. This creation has been particularly exciting. Without the intense commitment of our sublime dancers and my precious collaborators, I would never have been able to create such canvases. Thank you always. Enjoy the terror! Jean Grand-Maître 3 Libretto As the curtain rises, we discover, sheathed in ice, a weather friend Clerval. Their joyous reunion is abruptly interrupted by station adrift in the vast immaculate landscapes of the a bolt of lightning making a direct hit on their home. Arête, by northern Yukon. Brambles - © 2012 Serein. A fierce arctic blizzard is tormenting Dr. Walton and his team SCENE 5: VICTOR AND CLERVAL of meteorologists who are struggling to collect samples and TRAVEL TO BOSTON TO STUDY AT to load supplies. HARVARD’S MEDICAL SCHOOL Suddenly, in the icy distance, they behold a giant and Vivaldi, The Four Seasons: Summer 3, by Max Richter, Daniel deformed monstrosity traveling at an astonishing velocity. Hope, Konzerthaus Kammerorhester Berlin - © 2014 Deutsche Not far behind this disturbing apparition, they will observe Grammophon GmbH, Berlin. another silhouette, this time definitely human, chasing the hideous mutant. After having collapsed in the snow from SCENE 6: CLASSROOM HARVARD A large group of medical students dances energetically exhaustion, Dr. Walton will order his men to retrieve the around a table upon which their professor attempts to pursuer and to carry him into the station. galvanize a corpse. To make its nervous system react. With great care, Dr. Walton will slowly bring their strange Unsuccessful in his attempt to make the corpse's nervous intruder back to consciousness. Once revived, he will confide system react, the professor ends the class. Vivaldi, The Four to Walton the horrible and prettifying occurrences that Seasons: Summer 3, by Max Richter, Daniel Hope, Konzerthaus brought him there. Kammerorhester Berlin - © 2014 Deutsche Grammophon SCENE 1: OUTSIDE A GmbH, Berlin. METEOROLOGICAL STATION SCENE 7: CLASSROOM AT NIGHT Dr. Walton and his meteorological team see a giant creature Late in the night, Victor returns alone to the classroom. running in the distance and then a man running after it. He Attempting a different approach, he succeeds in giving the will collapse and they will carry him inside. Consumed, by The corpse life for just a few seconds. Study in Rituals, Pt.2, by Uno Haxan Cloak - © 2013 Archaic Devices Inc. and 4101, by Roly Helmersson - © 2017 Decca Music Group Limited. Porter - © 2016 Tri Angle. SCENE 8: NEWBURY STREET SCENE 2: INSIDE A BOSTON METEOROLOGICAL STATION A busy street scene, Victor is walking on a cloud, elated by The team members carry the stranger and lay him on a bed, his secret discovery. Clerval arrives and joins his friend in a followed by Dr. Walton who enters last after the rest of the merry dance. Victor's phone rings. He receives a message team. They are terrified by what they saw, and they want to that his mother died suddenly. He collapses in grief. Ruins, by know what that wretched creature was they saw dashing Jim Copperthwaite - © 2017 Village Green. across the snow. Dr. Walton orders the team out of his cabin and begins to nurse their tormented visitor back to health. SCENE 9: VICTOR’S PRIVATE The stranger will introduce himself as Victor Frankenstein LABORATORY and will begin to confide in Walton and confess the atrocities Torn to pieces by the pain of his mother’s death, Victor vows of his existence. Miste, by The Haxan Cloak - © 2013 Archaic to defeat death, the Angel of Destruction. He assembles his Devices Inc. private laboratory and begins to build his creature. Having successfully given life to his wretched creature, he runs away SCENE 3: OUTSIDE THE MAR-A- in terror. Himmelfahrt, by J. Peter Schwalm - © LAGO HOME RareNoiseRecords & Parting Chant, by The Haxan Cloak - © As we flash back in time to Victor’s childhood, we are 2011 Archaic Devices Inc. introduced to the Frankenstein family at a younger time: his baby brother William, his father and mother, their beloved SCENE 10: VICTOR’S PRIVATE maid Justine, their adopted sister Elizabeth and finally to the LABORATORY charismatic and astute teenage wunderkind, Victor. Ruins, by Victor returns to his laboratory to find the creature has Jim Copperthwaite - © 2017 Village Green. disappeared. He collapses in despair. Clerval finds his friend near death and will nurses him back to health. Garden Of SCENE 4: INSIDE THE MAR-A- Forking Paths, by Christina Vantzou - © 2018 kranky. LAGO HOME Flash forward 10 years and we find the blissful Frankenstein family welcoming a new family member, Victor’s closest SCENE 11: NEWBURY STREET SCENE 18: VICTOR’S PRIVATE Victor and Clerval decide to walk the streets to get fresh air. LABORATORY IN BOSTON Victor’s mood and health seem to ameliorate. All around Victor is almost finished and ready to give life to his female them, the busy street is bustling with life. Victor’s phone will creature. At the last lament he will destroy her and his ring once again, delivering yet another grim message. His equipment. The Monster, crushed by his actions, will warn beloved younger brother William has been brutally him that he will be present on his wedding night. Study in murdered. 847, by Christian Badzura - © 2019 Deutsche Rituals, Pt.2, by Uno Helmersson - © 2017 Decca Music Group Grammophon GmbH, Berlin. Limited. SCENE 12: IN A PARK NEAR THE SCENE 19: NEWBURY STREET AT MAR-A-LAGO HOME NIGHT CLERVAL IS MURDERED BY Young William is alone playing outside, he is being stalked THE MONSTER by the creature. Out of envy, the creature smothers the child, Minim, by Bach/Dustin O'Halloran - © 2014 The Red Hot thus instigating the persecution of his maker. Minim, by Bach/ Organization, under exclusive license to Sony Ductin O’Halloran - © 2014 The Red Hot Organization, under Music Entertainment. exclusive license to Sony Music Entertainment. SCENE 20: INSIDE THE MAR-A-LAGO INTERMISSION HOME Devastated by this latest tragedy, Victor’s father suggest SCENE 13: OUTSIDE A that Victor marry Elizabeth so that they “may cling to what METEOROLOGICAL STATION: remains”. The History of Cubes, by Jim Copperthwaite - © 2017 VIKTOR CONTINUES TO RECOUNT Village Green. HIS SHOCKING TALE Miste, by The Haxan Cloak - © 2013 Archaic Devices Inc. SCENE 21: MAR-A-LAGO TO JASPER The newly married couple travel to Jasper as Victor believes SCENE 14: INSIDE THE MAR-A- the great distance will protect them from danger.