Love, Identity and Human Connection, Frankenstein by SF Ballet
It has been 9 years from the world premiere of Liam Scarlett’s Frankenstein by the Royal Ballet in London in 2016, and 8 years since the North America premiere by the San Francisco Ballet in 2017. Highly anticipated, the season opening night’s Frankenstein on March 20 at the War Memorial Opera House was undaunted, striking and sensational.
Considered one of the earliest science fiction, Frankenstein was written at the age of 18 by Mary Shelley (1797-1851) and published on January 1, 1818 when she was 20. A prominent English writer who had rich literary heritage, Shelley left a lasting legacy on Gothic literature with her novels, short stories and essays.
Based on Shelley’s novel, Scarlett’s fascinating choreography follows the dramatic storyline of a brilliant but reckless scientist Victor Frankenstein’s obsession with creating life; his creation and immediate abandonment of a humanoid creature from dead tissue, The Creature, out of horrification and disgust; The Creature seeking love and acceptance by Frankenstein and the society but only meeting rejection and fear; and eventually The Creature’s despair and revenge by killing Frankenstein’s loved ones and leading to his own despair and suicide.
Far beyond a disturbing and horror tale, Frankenstein depicts the themes of curiosity, love, desire, betrayal and loss. What is your favorite quote from Frankenstein? There are so many of mine, expressing the most profound desire for love, identity and human connection interwoven with themes of loss, guilt and devastating consequences of defying nature. “I had desired it with an ardor that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” How to manifest such profound feelings without the vehicle of words, but through the movement of dance, has been intriguing to me, to say the very least.
Scarlett developed the characters’ movements through the storyline combing classic technique with contemporary qualities while maintaining a distinct theme such as a signature step or movement quality that repeats throughout the entire work that is emphasized as the motifs in dance. For example, the primal and awkward contemporary movements at the Creature’s birth transform to much cleaner technique as the Creature learns language and social interactions, but the jerks and twitches remain since he is ultimately pieced together of mismatched dead human parts. Other motifs such as folded leg closely against standing leg and movement stopped short forcing reversed direction are all examples showcasing the emotional and physical repression of the general characters. Wei Wang as The Creature had an outstanding presence on stage with his strong and dominating physique yet profound emotional vulnerability via powerful executions of these dance motifs.
The dramatic narrative is accompanied by Lowell Liebermann’s haunting, disturbing yet romantic and melodic original score which the composer compared to writing a “two-and-a-half-hour symphony” that focused on the emotional flow of the storyline.
Various other design elements contribute to the success of the production. Scenic and costume designer John Macfarlane hand created models and did most of the painting from rough to finish. The Creature’s makeup that brings out the soul of his innocence, longing, despair and loss is an extensive process that takes two hours.
An ambitious production based on a monumental literature, SF Ballet’s Frankenstein depicts profound themes of love, identity and human connection via powerful artistic expressions of dance, music and designs. An encore of SF Ballet’s second season under Artistic Director Tamara Rojo, April 24 to May 4 at the War Memorial Opera House.