Fringe 2024 James Whale: Beyond Frankenstein Zoo Southside 20th August Review
James Whale: Beyond Frankenstein, written and performed by Tim Larkfield, is as Zoo Southside – Studio and if you have any interest in vintage Hollywood films of the 1930s, particularly the horror ones, then this show is worth seeing.
Tim Larkfield has obviously done a lot of research into this production, and scripting the large number of people that he performs (around 25) into the time allowed for a Fringe production must have been a challenge. Some of these people you will probably be familiar with, some are more obscure, and some I have to admit I did not know, and that can from an audience perspective get a bit challenging to try and keep up with who everyone is at any given point in time. Overall though, Tim has written a tight enough script here for all these different people to flow in and out of the narrative easily, and that could not have been an easy task as some are in the form of memories of James Whale.
How did a working class boy from Dudley, Worcestershire, in the heart of the heavily industrialised “Black Country”, end up in Hollywood and become one of its most iconic directors, with a fan base that is still very much active today? That story is covered here in little detail, but time allows for no more, as we have a lot of post-Frankenstein films and story to tell here too (as you would guess from the title of the show).
I think it fair to say that if you are familiar with some of these iconic films – Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and The Old Dark House - then the little scenes performed from them will add a lot to your understanding of this show, but if you are not familiar with them then Tim gives good introductions.
There are more than a few moments where the dramatic approach to this show is what I would call a little bit “old dramatic theatre style”, but to be fair that is perfectly in keeping with how many of the films from this period were actually produced. Films came from the stage because so many actors were stage actors and they brought those performance skills with them from theatre stage to film sets. Talkies when they arrived also heavily depended on actors with spoken dialogue experience (from the stage). Films of this period were, for the most part, still struggling to realise that the skills required for theatre and stage film were closely related but very much two different performance approaches.
This production also sensitively deals with the subject of James Whale’s sexuality. This is something that he never kept a secret in his own life-time but, oddly, has often been glossed over in the years since his death by many writers and researchers. Should this even be an issue at all as what really matters is the legacy of films that he has left to the world? The answer to that is probably no, not today, but 90 years ago was a very different social and cultural landscape.
There are a few surprises in this show too. The range of films that James Whale directed is far wider than his most famous horror films and some of those films might be unexpected ones to many people.
James Whale: Beyond Frankenstein is an interesting work for solo theatre performance and if you like Tim Larkfield’s performance style, he has another show at Zoo too – The Signalman, a gothic horror story by Charles Dickens.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Tim Larkfield has obviously done a lot of research into this production, and scripting the large number of people that he performs (around 25) into the time allowed for a Fringe production must have been a challenge. Some of these people you will probably be familiar with, some are more obscure, and some I have to admit I did not know, and that can from an audience perspective get a bit challenging to try and keep up with who everyone is at any given point in time. Overall though, Tim has written a tight enough script here for all these different people to flow in and out of the narrative easily, and that could not have been an easy task as some are in the form of memories of James Whale.
How did a working class boy from Dudley, Worcestershire, in the heart of the heavily industrialised “Black Country”, end up in Hollywood and become one of its most iconic directors, with a fan base that is still very much active today? That story is covered here in little detail, but time allows for no more, as we have a lot of post-Frankenstein films and story to tell here too (as you would guess from the title of the show).
I think it fair to say that if you are familiar with some of these iconic films – Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and The Old Dark House - then the little scenes performed from them will add a lot to your understanding of this show, but if you are not familiar with them then Tim gives good introductions.
There are more than a few moments where the dramatic approach to this show is what I would call a little bit “old dramatic theatre style”, but to be fair that is perfectly in keeping with how many of the films from this period were actually produced. Films came from the stage because so many actors were stage actors and they brought those performance skills with them from theatre stage to film sets. Talkies when they arrived also heavily depended on actors with spoken dialogue experience (from the stage). Films of this period were, for the most part, still struggling to realise that the skills required for theatre and stage film were closely related but very much two different performance approaches.
This production also sensitively deals with the subject of James Whale’s sexuality. This is something that he never kept a secret in his own life-time but, oddly, has often been glossed over in the years since his death by many writers and researchers. Should this even be an issue at all as what really matters is the legacy of films that he has left to the world? The answer to that is probably no, not today, but 90 years ago was a very different social and cultural landscape.
There are a few surprises in this show too. The range of films that James Whale directed is far wider than his most famous horror films and some of those films might be unexpected ones to many people.
James Whale: Beyond Frankenstein is an interesting work for solo theatre performance and if you like Tim Larkfield’s performance style, he has another show at Zoo too – The Signalman, a gothic horror story by Charles Dickens.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com