Just in time for Halloween, NT Live’s ‘Frankenstein’

Above: Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller star in the NT Live production of "Frankenstein." (Photo/NT Live)

First dreamed up in 1818 by Mary Shelley, and re-created in just about every form of media possible, the story of “Frankenstein” still carries meaning for today’s audiences.

There’s just something about the idea of someone playing with the notion of creating life, and then that very life turning out to be an abomination – and then that abomination seeking revenge on its creator – that just won’t go away.

One of the most scintillating explorations of Shelley’s cautionary tale was performed on stage in 2011 with Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller alternating as Victor Frankenstein and The Creature.

It is an encore of that National Theatre production of "Frankenstein" that NT Live will present in an event set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at two area Regal Cinemas theaters, NorthTown Mall and Coeur d’Alene’s Riverstone Stadium.

Adapted by Nick Dear from Shelley’s novel, the play was directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Danny Boyle.  

Reviewing the London stage production of “Frankenstein” for The Guardian, critic Michael Billington wrote that the plays was “neither shlock nor satire. Instead it's a humane, intelligent retelling of the original story in which much of the focus is on the plight of the obsessive scientist's sad creation, who becomes his alter ego and his nemesis.”

It is, he added, “rather like seeing ‘The Tempest’ rewritten from Caliban's point of view.”

That summons up an intriguing scenario. Just imagine Caliban’s reaction to the Duke of Milan’s shouting, “It’s alive! It’s alive!”