Performed by Madeline Smith & Jason Frederick - Monday 27th of October 2025 at the Phoenix Arts Club, London.
To date,
there have been over 400 full-length films and over 300 TV shows and series featuring
various incarnations of the monster born out of Mary Shelley's cautionary
gothic tale, itself stitched together during an uncharacteristically cold
summer in 1816 at Lord Byron's villa on the shores of Lake Geneva.
There was however nothing remotely uncharacteristic about the autumnal chill in the air as I turned off Charing Cross Road and headed down the splendidly spooky cobweb-themed stairs of the legendary Phoenix Arts Club to experience ‘Frankenstein Unchained!’ presented by Misty Moon Exhibitions and Events.
It is
somewhat fitting this inventive multi-media retelling of Mary Shelley‘s classic
Frankenstein features a fulsome live narration by the iconic film, stage and
television actress Madeline Smith given that her previous contribution to the
Frankenstein franchise was her portrayal of a mute assistant to Peter
Cushing’s Victor Frankenstein in Hammer’s ‘Frankenstein and the Monster from
Hell' (1974). Thankfully now gloriously
unmuted, Madeline’s narration breathed tangible life into Shelley’s literary
creation through a triad of voices depicting not only the novel’s narrator (Captain
Robert Walton), but also of the fatefully misguided scientist Victor and his
monstrously tragic creation.
Whilst the
narration was delivered from the right-hand side of the stage, to the
left-hand, behind keyboard and an array of instruments sat Jason Frederick, a
Canadian multi-instrumentalist film and television composer performing live
parts from his new original soundtrack, complemented by moving images on a
large screen backdrop which acted as a canvas for archival montages from past
screen incarnations of the timeless tale. Frederick’s score was seductively
evocative, the music ebbing and flowing with the dramatic beats of the story,
offering up a soundscape capturing the initial heady hopes to the descent into
horror and chilling despair. Like Victor Frankenstein himself, Frederick often
could be seen reaching behind the far-left curtain to produce various
instruments with which to stitch and sew together his haunting soundtrack.
I found the whole performance absolutely spellbinding and it’s a testament to its original creator Mary Shelley, and to both Madeline Smith and Jason Frederick that on 27th October 2025, for 90 terrific minutes, I can testify that Frankenstein was once more truly alive.
Paul Worts.
