FRANKENSTEIN

Victor Frankenstein: There are moments when a single idea consumes a life. I believed that knowledge could conquer death. I searched where others feared to look. I gathered the broken pieces of humanity and dared to breathe life into silence. But creation without wisdom is not creation. It is catastrophe. This is not the story of a monster. It is the story of a man who forgot that every life created longs to be loved.

Prologue

Victor Frankenstein is preparing to leave home for university, where he will study natural philosophy, anatomy, biology, and chemistry. By his side are his father Alphonse, closest friend Henry Clerval, younger brother William, cousin and family friend Justine Moritz, and betrothed Elizabeth. Before Victor’s departure, Alphonse gives him a locket bearing his mother’s portrait. In an act of love, Victor bestows the token upon William before bidding the family farewell.

At university, Victor’s fascination with the mysteries of life quickly becomes an obsession. Inspired by modern science, he experiments with electricity, anatomy, and the boundaries between life and death. After repeated failures, he accomplishes the impossible: creating life from human remains. A Creature awakens on Victor’s laboratory table. For one brief moment, Victor is proud, but when the Creature reaches toward him for acceptance, Victor recoils in horror and abandons him.

The Creature enters the world knowing nothing of humanity. Traveling from town to town, he observes mankind and discovers the concept of community. His instincts urge him to find a place in the world, but everyone he approaches rejects him. Despairing, he happens upon a small cottage in the woods.

The De Lacey family live a humble life in relative isolation. Felix and Agatha care for their blind father, while Safie, Felix’s love interest, helps tend to the family. Finding peace in their presence, the Creature keeps his distance and learns through observation, discovering nature, language, human relationships, and the meaning of family.

Believing the blind Mr. De Lacey might accept him without seeing his frightening appearance, the Creature finally reveals himself. Mr. De Lacey responds with kindness, but when the rest of the family returns, they attack the Creature and drive him away.

Heartbroken, the Creature’s hope turns to rage. He encounters William Frankenstein in the woods and murders him. Discovering the locket Victor gave William, he devises a plan to torment Victor further. He finds Justine searching for William and manages to plant the locket on her. When the search party discovers it, Justine is arrested and tried for William’s murder. Despite the Frankenstein family’s efforts to defend her, she is wrongfully executed. Victor is tormented by the guilt of knowing he bears responsibility for the tragedy.

The Creature: I ought to have been thy Adam. The first of thy creation. The child who opened his eyes and found wonder. I should have looked upon my maker and seen love. I should have walked beside thee, learning the beauty of this world. Instead I awoke alone. The first face I saw looked upon me with horror. The first hand that fashioned me abandoned me. I reached toward mankind and mankind fled. I learned kindness from those who could never bear to look upon me. I learned compassion, only to discover cruelty. I ought to be thy Adam. But I am rather the fallen angel. Not because I was born evil—but because I was cast from the only heaven I ever longed to know. You created my body. But it was your rejection that created the monster.

Isolated in grief, Victor is unaware that his Creature is watching him. The Creature finally approaches and recounts the tale from his perspective, demanding that Victor create a companion with whom he can share his existence. Victor reluctantly agrees.

The Creature: Tell me, Victor. Who is truly the creator of my misery? You must create a female for me, with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. I am alone and miserable: man will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same species, and have the same defects. This being you must create. If you consent, neither you nor any other human being shall ever see us again. We shall make our bed of dried leaves; the sun will shine on us as on man, and will ripen our food. We shall live harmless, and free from the misery I now feel. Shall each man… find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone? I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind? I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.

Months pass, and Victor and Henry embark on a Grand Tour of Europe. While in the Scottish Highlands, Victor urges Henry to continue ahead while he secretly withdraws to complete his task. Victor becomes lost in thought about an evil female Creature. The Creature waits nearby, hopeful that he will soon find peace with his bride-to-be.

Victor works quickly. Unlike his first creation, there is no wonder or discovery; he knows what must be done. As the female body gradually takes shape, the Creature watches in anticipation. Tired from anticipation, the Creature sleeps and dreams of his future wife. Just as Victor is about to bring the bride to life, the Creature appears. In terror, Victor destroys the unfinished body. Though she never lived, her destruction feels to the Creature like the murder of his only hope. He vows to take from Victor everything he holds dear.

On Victor and Elizabeth’s wedding night, Henry finds Victor physically and emotionally broken and attempts to restore the friend he once knew. When Victor briefly leaves him alone, the Creature appears and murders Henry in another act of revenge. Victor discovers his friend’s body but cannot reveal the truth about his creation.

Victor and Elizabeth are married by Alphonse, but Victor remains consumed by anxiety, expecting the Creature to strike at any moment. To everyone’s horror, the Creature appears and seizes Elizabeth, vanishing into the night. Alphonse collapses from a heart attack. In an instant, Victor has lost the last people he loves, along with his own humanity.

With nothing left but grief and rage, Victor pursues the Creature, determined to destroy him once and for all. Somewhere en route to the North Pole, explorer and ship captain Walton finds his ship trapped in the ice. A sailor spots movement in the distance: Victor Frankenstein, who collapses before them. Walton then glimpses the Creature across the frozen landscape.

Captain Walton: I sought the ends of the earth believing that greatness belonged to those who dared the impossible. Then I found a man who had already traveled that path. His name was Victor Frankenstein. His triumph became his torment. His genius became his prison. He pursued his creation across mountains, across oceans, across the frozen world…until nothing remained but vengeance.

As Victor recounts his tale, Walton recognizes the danger of following the same path of obsessive ambition. Victor urges him to pursue the Creature, but Walton tries to make him understand that the pursuit is over. Victor finally collapses and dies. Walton closes his eyes and withdraws with the sailors, leaving Victor alone.

The Creature silently boards the ship and discovers Victor’s body. He lifts his lifeless creator: Victor once gave the Creature life; now the Creature holds Victor in death.

Reflecting on all that has brought him here, the Creature recognizes that his longing for love and companionship became consumed by anger and revenge. Though Victor’s abandonment shaped his suffering, he acknowledges that he chose to kill innocent people. In the end, both creator and creation are destroyed by the consequences of their obsessions.

The Creature: You gave me life, but not a place in the world. I learned your language. I admired your kindness from afar. I reached for friendship and found only fear. Every face turned away. Every hand became a weapon. Tell me — what made me a monster? Was it my face…or your refusal to see my soul? I was born innocent. Your hatred taught me revenge.

American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation will be available for the pre-show talks and curtain speeches for all performances. Audio description is available upon request. Wheelchair seating is available at The Kentucky Center and The Brown Theatre. Contact info@louisvilleballet.org for more information on accessibility.

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