FRANKENSTEIN to Open at Theatre Charlotte This Fall

Theatre Charlotte will bring a rarely produced adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to the stage, offering Charlotte audiences the chance to experience Nick Dear's acclaimed retelling. Directed by Dee Abdullah, the production is, to Theatre Charlotte's knowledge, the first professional or community theatre staging of this adaptation in North Carolina. Frankenstein runs October 30 through November 15.

Dear's adaptation premiered at London's National Theatre in 2011, directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Danny Boyle and starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller, who famously alternated between the roles of Victor Frankenstein and the Creature. Only a couple dozen professional and community theatres in the United States have since taken on the adaptation.

Told through the eyes of the Creature, the play explores the consequences of creation and abandonment. Rejected by both society and his creator, the Creature's longing for connection turns to rage, raising unsettling questions about who gets to define humanity and what we owe one another.

Abdullah also sees the story's themes reflected in today's advances in artificial intelligence and genetic engineering. 'The greatest danger is not innovation itself, but the failure to accept responsibility for its consequences,' she says.