Monster
by Neal Bell, from the novel by Mary Shelley

“MONSTER, a slick and streamlined new stage adaptation of the Frankenstein saga written by Neal Bell...is faithful to Shelley, if not in all the exhaustive details, then at least insofar as it seizes on its thematic highlights.

Mr Bell’s adaptation plucks the major events from the narrative, and his language treads a colorful path: a mixture of fanciful poetics, glib wisecrackery and an occasional Anglo-Saxon obscenity that lends a contemporary tint to things.”Bruce Weber, The New York Times “...a lean literate version of Shelley’s often much-embroidered classic.

Exploring Shelley’s psychosexual undertones, Bell’s version is more creepy than shocking in effect.

He also provides a viable new conclusion for the novel’s open-ended narrative.”Michael Sommers, The Star-Ledger “Starting from Shelley’s original, but with a sharp eye for cogency and a sharp ear for the turn of a phrase, [Neal Bell] has managed to locate the philosophic germ inside each of the horror myth’s iconic scenes.

The scare is still there, but it now has other functions than merely frightening your inner child with fantasies of impotence, rape and castration on a dark and stormy night.

If you really want to frighten yourself, there’s always today’s paper; if you want a dramatic story that makes you think about the meaning and purpose of life, you should probably go and see MONSTER.”Michael Feingold, Village Voice