ATTN: Head of English ABOUT ENSEMBLE THEATRE Formed in 1958, Ensemble Theatre is the longest continuously running professional theatre company in Australia, with a 52 year history of maintaining the highest standards in theatrical presentation. The company has toured many productions around Australia, including TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE which won the 2011 Drover Award for Best Touring Production, HALPERN AND JOHNSON with Garry McDonald and Henri Szeps and SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS with Nancye Hayes and Todd McKenney which won the 2007 Helpmann Award for Best Regional Touring Production. National tour of MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN in a brand new stage adaption by Nick Dear In 2013 we will be touring FRANKENSTEIN, an astonishing new adaption of Mary Shelley’s classic tale by British playwright Nick Dear, which was a smash hit for the National Theatre in London when it premiered there in 2011. There have been close to 100 film and theatrical adaptions of Frankenstein since Mary Shelley’s novel was published anonymously back in 1818. Ensemble Theatres’ Artistic Director Mark Kilmurry is directing this Australian Premiere production. He has assembled a fabulous cast including Lee Jones as The Creature, Katie Fitchett as Victor Frankenstein’s fiancé Elizabeth and the Female Creature, Andrew Henry as Victor Frankenstein, Brian Meegan as Victor’s father, Monsieur Frankenstein, Michael Ross as a blind man De Lacey plus Olivia Stambouliah and Michael Rebetzke as various other townspeople including prostitutes, beggars, peasants, servants and policemen. The play features original music by award winning Australian composer Elena Kats‐Chernin written for solo cello played live during the show, by Heather Stratford. The production will be performed at Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre on Tuesday 25 June at 8pm. As Mary Shelley’s novel is one of the texts on the English syllabus for the HSC, we would like to invite you to bring a group of your HSC English students to see this Australian production which has received great reviews from the Ensemble Theatre and Sydney Opera House Seasons. MARK KILMURRY: DIRECTOR’S NOTE REGARDING STAGING THE PLAY A troupe of actors arrive to put on a play of Frankenstein. These actors dance, juggle, act, tumble. They set the bare stage: a scenic design capturing the gothic darkness of Mary Shelley’s novel; flaming torches light the back walls; actors exit and enter the acting circle, while other actors watch their scenes; make up is applied; blood, dirt; a cello player, half human, half creature plays stirring music; the creature comes to life in a burst of light and steam; the images of anatomy flash on back walls; heartbeats pound in the darkness… another flash of light … the creature tries to speak! And the play begins… Fast, furious, dynamic, dark, funny, cheeky, scary, compelling… Frankenstein. MARKETING INFO FOR WHAT’S ON: Mary Shelley’s classic tale reimagined in a spine‐tingling new version – not for the faint hearted. MORE DETAILED PLAY INFORMATION: Thrilling, moving, scary and beautiful – a man born as an adult has to survive on his wits, learning fast. This is a rollercoaster ride of a story, fast, furious, haunting and entertaining… a Frankenstein with a mission. The Creature is cast out by his creator, the young doctor Frankenstein, and unleashed upon the world. He is shunned for his grotesque appearance and spurned by society wherever he goes. When a blind man takes Frankenstein’s monstrous creation under his wing and educates him, the Creature begins to question his existence and to yearn for a future without loneliness. His search for a lifelong partner brings him back to his maker, with vengeance foremost in his mind. Ensemble Theatre has gathered together a dynamic young cast of actors who, along with a live musician, will take to the stage in the Australian Premiere of this classic gothic drama. ‘Frankenstein is an astonishing adaptation and it was a huge hit for the National Theatre in 2011. The play gives the Creature a voice – this is a Creature that talks, that can be articulate about the way he feels – and the way he feels is very angry. We’ve got some exciting young talent on stage in this piece with Elena Kats‐Chernin doing original music. Being a film horror buff from way back, I’m very excited about doing this play – it’s going to be something very scary indeed.’ ‐ Director Mark Kilmurry BRIEF HISTORY OF Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN taken from a BBC interview with Playwright Nick Dear: Mary Shelley began writing the story of Frankenstein when she was just 18 years old. The novel was published anonymously in 1818, and quickly found its way into theatres in the 1820s. There have been almost 100 theatrical and film adaptations since, with Frankenstein's creature played ‐ among others ‐ by Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, Dave Prowse and Robert De Niro. "We all think we know the story," says Dear, "but that's mainly to do with knowing the movies. Most of the movies have a very different agenda." Playwright Nick Dear and Director Danny Boyle (of the movie Slumdog Millionaire fame) began discussing the idea of staging Frankenstein in the early 1990s while working together on The Last Days of Don Juan at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Dear worked on some early drafts, but the project was shelved when Kenneth Branagh's film came along in 1994. "I kept it on the backburner and Danny went off and became very famous," says Dear, whose theatre credits include The Art of Success and Power. The project was rejuvenated in 2004. "I knew I wanted to do Mary Shelley's book justice. The book has a catalogue of ideas stemming from the radical philosophy of the time it was written. I wanted to put that on the stage, not to focus on the scary horror elements of it. "We keep it roughly in period, the story doesn't in any major sense deviate from what she wrote, though I've had to cut great chunks of it. "My hope is that if Mary Shelley popped into row G in the stalls she'd recognise what she wrote." At the heart of of Shelley's story are themes of scientific responsibility, parental neglect and the nature of good and evil. But the eloquent creature of Shelley's story is, in many movies, reduced to a lumbering, inarticulate monster. Dear points out the novel contains a 40‐page monologue where the creature describes his coming to life, education, growing sense of injustice ‐ and desire for revenge. SEMI‐NUDITY & SEX SCENE The semi‐nudity and sex scene in Frankenstein is subject to change in rehearsal, but director Mark Kilmurry expects to include the following scenes as written in the script: The Creature (played by Lee Jones) is “born” in the first 10 minutes of the play so theoretically should be naked. Mark has decided that the actor will wear a skin coloured loin cloth, wrapped like mummy bandages around his genitals, so will not in fact be naked for this scene, but semi‐naked. The rest of his body will be unclothed. The Female Creature (played by Katie Fitchett) is semi‐naked for a much shorter scene, and stands quite still on the stage for a few minutes only. Once her character is “born” she doesn’t actually “wake up” , so she stands quite still, and this scene is shorter, only 3‐4 minutes. Mark plans for her to wear a see through light cotton or muslin cover, so the nudity is not full frontal, just suggested. The sex scene is actually at the end of the play, the Creature, and Female Creature are now fully clothed, but there is a simulated scene where he rapes her then breaks her neck, killing her. Mark intends to make it as least graphic and tastefully done as possible, so he is not planning for it to be shockingly grotesque, but he has to warn audiences that it will still be graphic, it is a rape and murder, but he is very conscious of audience reactions so it will be done tastefully. FRANKENSTEIN by NICK DEAR Adapted from the classic novel by Mary Shelley COMPANY LIST: Director: Mark Kilmurry Designer: Simone Romaniuk Lighting Designer: Nick Higgins LIST OF CHARACTERS as per the script: The Creature (Lee Jones) Victor Frankenstein – a scientist (Andrew Henry) Gretel – a prostitute (Olivia Stambouliah) Gustav – a beggar (Michael Rebetzke) Klaus – a beggar De Lacey – a blind man (Michael Ross) Felix – his son (Michael Rebetzke) Agatha – his daughter‐in‐law The Female Creature (Katie Fitchett) Elizabeth Lavenza ‐ Victor’s fiancé (Katie Fitchett) Clarice – her maid William Frankenstein – Victor’s brother Monsieur Frankenstein – Victor’s father (Brian Meegan) Ewan – an Orkney islander Rab – his nephew (Michael Rebetzke) A Constable (Michael Rebetzke) Townspeople of Ingolstadt Servants of the Frankenstein household The supporting cast will all play multiple roles. COMPANY BIOGRAPHIES: PLAYWRIGHT – NICK DEAR Nick Dear’s plays include Lunch in Venice (National Theatre Connections 2005), Power (National Theatre, 2003) The Villain’s Opera (National Theatre, 2000) Zenobia (Royal Shakespeare Company, 1995) In The Ruins (Bristol Old Vic, 1990), Food of Love (Theatre de Complicite, Almeida, (1988), The Art of Success (Royal Shakespeare Company, 1986), Pure Science (Royal Shakespeare Company, 1986), and Temptations (Royal Shakespeare Company, 1984). He also collaborated with Peter Brook on the development of Qui est la? (Bouffes du Nord, 1996). His adaptions include The Promise (after Arbuzov, Tricycle, 2002), Summerfolk (after Gorky, National Theatre, 1999) Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (after Moliere, National Theatre, 1992) The Last Days of Don Juan (after Tirso de Molina, Royal Shakespeare Company, 1990) and A Family Affair (after Ostrovsky, Cheek by Jowl, 1988).