STAGE REVIEWS : COLLEGE OFFERS SHAKY ‘FRANKENSTEIN’

“Frankenstein� at Golden West College is neither man nor beast. This version is not really a thriller, although there are some spine-tingling moments. It’s certainly not a spoof, although there is humor. And it’s not exactly a psychological drama, although those overtones are definitely present. More than anything else, it resembles a crazy quilt stitched together by some very broad melodrama.

The problems start with the script. Tim Kelly’s stage adaptation of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel plays fast and loose with the original story line, diluting its emotional impact in favor of shivers, shocks, romance and a shoot-’em-up ending.

The play opens on Victor Frankenstein’s wedding night, then immediately flashes back to his realization that the pieced-together human he created in a university laboratory has followed him to Lake Geneva and has killed his brother.

In a major deviation from the book, Frankenstein confides in his friend Henry, and together they decide to concoct a bride for the monster to get him off their backs.

Meanwhile, back at the chateau, the lukewarm romance between Victor and his intended, Elizabeth, gradually heats up under the watchful eye of his meddling mother (long dead in the book). Frau Frankenstein comes across as sort of a Swiss Dolly Levi, dispensing upbeat advice despite the fact that her youngest son has just been brutally slaughtered and her surviving son is just about to lose his mind.

The performances mirror the schizophrenia in the script, to uneasy effect. The intriguing relationship between the creator and his creation--the retribution, torment and despair--that lies at the core of Shelley’s book is diluted here by the presence of Henry as co-conspirator.

Victor Frankenstein, played by Steve Silva, is introduced here as on the verge of a nervous breakdown, having just learned that his creature has killed his brother. Consequently, the audience never gets to know the idealistic young student whose vision has turned into a nightmare, seeing instead only wild-eyed torment as he confronts one horror after another in numbing succession.

Other performances take contemporary or even comedic approaches that play off-key against the omnipresent Gothic gloom. But Mike Owens as Frankenstein’s creature manages to capture the imagination. His moving performance finds the anguish and human hungers under the monstrous exterior. The motivations are clear; the monster casts an icy chill of foreshadowed doom in his heartfelt plea: “Pity me, Frankenstein; pity me.� And Owens’ creature becomes the most sympathetic character of the bunch.

Director Stewart Rogers nicely cranks up the suspense for a genuinely spooky climax, followed by a tidy new ending. The gloomy atmosphere is established by Charles Davis’ lighting design and Steven Wolff Craig’s interesting set of molded wire that conveys high ceilings and lake-front dankness.

“Frankenstein� will play through Sunday at Golden West College, 15744 Golden West St., Huntington Beach. For information, call (714) 895-8378.