« 'More Fun that Bowling’ puzzles and delights | Theatre | Fairy tales go haywire in ‘Pillowman’ »

One-man 'Frankenstein’ at Shakespeare Company

Go! feature

In addition to nine years as a key ensemble player for the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, Giles Davies has also been the resident solo-show specialist.

He did his first solo show during his senior year at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., a Charles Dickens program that he worked up with a professor there, which he later performed at the Hong Kong Fringe Festival in the city of his birth, and also for the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company when he joined.

“As an independent actor, it’s sometimes hard to find work” he said. “But as a solo performer, I could perform at schools, bars or any venue I could get in.”

He later followed the Dickens with “Turgid Tales of Turmoil, Terror and Tortured Souls,” a Gothic anthology, but it was at the urging of CSC artistic director Brian Isaac Phillips that he took on “Frankenstein.”

“Brian is very interested in horror stories and Halloween in general,” Davies said. “In our nine years together, we’ve had a very good working relationship, and this plays to my sweet spot, so I jumped at the opportunity.”

The script was compiled by the director of the Orlando Shakespeare Company, “so we know the script had worked,” Davies said. “It’s an incredibly compelling story with a large amount of suspense. But also the universality of some of the themes really struck a chord with me, about our relationship with a higher power.

“The question in the modern world is about our responsibility to all of the power science has given us. It’s very relevant today and is something every human needs to grapple with,” he said.

The story is told by the ship’s captain that finds Victor Frankenstein floating on an iceberg. The first act is told from Victor’s point of view and the second from the monster’s, Davies said.

  • WHAT: “Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus” by Jim Helsinger adapted from the novel by Mary Shelley
  • WHERE: Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, 719 Race St., Cincinnati
  • WHEN: Seven performances through Nov. 7
  • COST: $20 adults; $15 students
  • MORE INFO: (513) 381-2273; www.cincyshakes.com

 

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://richardojones.com/blog-mt2/mt-tb.fcgi/863


Hosting by Yahoo!