Frankenstein: relationships between performers and audience

Connection with the Audience

Direct Address: Frequent monologues and asides allow characters to speak directly to the audience, fostering a sense of intimacy and engagement.
Audience Empathy: The creature’s poignant tale of loneliness and rejection can stir empathy, prompting the audience to reconsider initial perceptions.
Challenging Expectations: The narrative’s moral ambiguity and challenging themes force the audience to reflect and question, engaging their critical faculties.

Suspense Creation: The Gothic elements of horror and suspense, enhanced by effective stagecraft, can keep the audience on edge.
Conflict Presentation: Friction between Victor and the creature, projected through dialogue and physicality, incites dramatic tension that captivates the audience.
Foreshadowing: The use of foreshadowing hints at impending tragedy, creating a sense of foreboding that heightens audience involvement.

Active Reception: The audience isn’t a passive receiver, but an active participant, interpreting the performance based on their own perspectives and experiences.
Variety of Responses: The complex characterisation and moral quandaries allow for multiple valid interpretations, encouraging audience discourse and engagement post-performance.
Emotional Impact: The portrayal of catastrophic consequences of unchecked ambition and unethical experimentation can elicit strong emotional reactions, leaving a lasting impression.

Effective Use of Space: Strategic use of stage space can draw the audience’s attention, controlling their focus and direction of thought.
Lighting and Sound: The thoughtful layering of lighting and sound effects can enhance the narrative’s emotional undertone, manipulating the audience’s sensory experience.
Visual Aesthetics: The visual aesthetics, including the creature’s appearance and the set design, can leave a strong visual impact, reinforcing the narrative’s themes and motifs.