Shake & Stir’s most ambitious undertaking to date is a staggering new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s gothic horror novel. Adapted by Nelle Lee and directed by Nick Skubij, it tells the quintessential tale of a scientist and his “monster” on a large scale, and with no shortage of spectacle.

Shake & Stir’s Frankenstein. Photo © Joel Devereux

Written by Shelley when she was 18, Frankenstein is considered by many to be the first work of modern science fiction and the originator of the mad scientist archetype. Set in the changing world of the 18th century, this classic monster story has little to do with monsters and everything to do with love, loss, human connection and existential fears.

Shelley’s novel contains stories within stories – the tale is narrated by Captain Robert Walton in letters to his sister, after his crew find Frankenstein adrift on the arctic ice – and Shake & Stir maintains this framing for the stage. The exploits of Frankenstein’s creature are recounted to him by the creature itself in a similar way but the staging conflates this into linear time to improve the narrative flow. Lee’s script maintains...