Nick Dear's Frankenstein - Sides

 

Side 1 - Klaus / Gustav

(Night. A beggar, Gustav, comes through the woods).

GUSTAV: Klaus? Where are you?

(Klaus, another beggar, is tending a fire).

KLAUS: Over here! Come and get warm.

GUSTAV: I will. ---What’s in the pot?

KLAUS: Nice bit of rabbit. Where’d you get to?

GUSTAV: Ingolstadt.

KLAUS: Any luck?

GUSTAV: No. They’re jittery as hell. The women and children are locked

indoors. The men go armed with cudgels. What’s going on?

KLAUS: Scared of their own shadows, they are, in Ingolstadt.

(They laugh and sit by the fire. Klaus stirs the stew in the billy-can).

GUSTAV: Tomorrow we’ll move on. Try and beg some bread.

KLAUS: This is all right, though, nice bit of rabbit.

GUSTAV: A man needs bread.

KLAUS: I met a woman in Augsburg once, her husband was a baker. I hung

around Augsburg for a very long time.

GUSTAV: Nice place, Augsburg.

KLAUS: Very nice place. Welcoming.

(The Creature approaches, drawn to the firelight).

CREATURE: Gnnah.

(The beggars leap to their feet. The Creature advances towards them. They pull

back, scared).

GUSTAV: What’s that? What is it?

KLAUS: I don’t know!

GUSTAV: Piss off! Bugger off!

KLAUS: Watch out!

CREATURE: Gnnah! Gnnah!

(The Creature points to the pan of food hanging over the fire).

KLAUS: Run! Quick!

GUSTAV: But the food---

KLAUS: Leave it, Gustav! Run!

GUSTAV: A monster! Piss off! Bugger off!

KLAUS: Look at the state of him!

GUSTAV: Run!

(The beggars run away)

 

Side 2 - Agatha / Felix

AGATHA: Felix! Felix!

FELIX: What is it?

AGATHA: Look, just look!

FELIX: But that’s—

AGATHA: It’s incredible! It’s a miracle!

FELIX: Or magic.

AGATHA: Every stone is gone! Every one!

FELIX: We can till the soil!

AGATHA: We can sow.

FELIX: Help me hitch up the plough! Wait, Agatha—look what I found!

AGATHA: And me—look what I found!

FELIX: It’s all chopped—ready for the fire! It was lying at the

foot of the fields.

AGATHA: These were left by the stove—the hares already gutted! Not a

mark on the birds.

FELIX: Then how were they caught?

AGATHA: It’s a mystery! Who is doing this, Felix?

FELIX: Somebody wants to help us.

AGATHA: But who? Who would do that? We are strangers here.

FELIX: (whispers) Faerie folk.

AGATHA: Faerie folk?

FELIX: Little people! Elves and sprites! (Calls.) Hello! Are you here?

AGATHA: (calls) Is anyone watching?

(Now we see that the Creature is indeed watching from a hiding place).

FELIX: Come out if you are! We’d like to thank you! Come out!

(The Creature is very tempted and almost steps out of cover. But

something holds him back. They won’t come out).

AGATHA: (laughs) There’s no one there, you fool. It’s just us. You see? We

stick together through thick and thin, and never stop loving each other—and

magical things happen!

(They smile and exit. The Creature smiles happily to himself).

 

Side 3 - William or Wendla/ Creature

(Creature sneaks up behind William. William does not turn around).

CREATURE: Guess who I am.

WILLIAM: Are you a friend of the family’s?

CREATURE : Yes.

WILLIAM: Then you’re a judge, or a minister, perhaps.

CREATURE: Don’t look!

WILLIAM: What?

CREATURE: Don’t look at me!

WILLIAM: I shan’t.

CREATURE: What’s your name?

WILLIAM: William. What’s yours, sir?

CREATURE: You can be my friend, William. We could go hiking. We could climb

those mountains

over there.

WILLIAM: Climb Mont Blanc?

CREATURE : Yes!

WILLIAM: Great!

CREATURE: Let’s go, friend!

WILLIAM: No, I’m not allowed. Sorry. Father would be angry.

CREATURE: Forget him. Come with me. Let’s climb Mont Blanc!

WILLIAM: I’d like to, but I can’t.

CREATURE : I seek a man called Frankenstein. Have you heard of him?

WILLIAM: That’s my name!

CREATURE: You? Frankenstein?

(Suddenly very curious, William turns around, and yells).

WILLIAM: Aargh! You’re ugly! Leave me alone!

(William tries to run, but the Creature stops him).

CREATURE: Victor Frankenstein? He is your father?

WILLIAM: No! Victor’s my brother!

CREATURE: Where is he?

WILLIAM: He’s at home, he’s always at home –

CREATURE: Can I see him?

WILLIAM: No, of course you can’t!

CREATURE: We must be friends, William. We’ll climb those mountains. Right to

the top. After you take me to Victor.

WILLIAM: No! You’re revolting!

CREATURE : What is he? What does he do?

WILLIAM: He’s a scholar, a genius!

CREATURE: Was he ever in Ingolstadt?

WILLIAM: Yes, he studied there, he’s come home to marry Elizabeth, but he’s

silly, he never leaves his room! He’s missing everything!

CREATURE: You will bring him to me. Come.

WILLIAM: My father’s a magistrate! He’ll punish you for this. You’ll go to

prison! Help!

  

Side 4 - Victor / Creature

VICTOR: What an achievement! Unsurpassed in scientific endeavor! God, the

madness of that night – the heat, the sweat, the infusions, the moment when I saw

it crawl towards me, and I – and I –

CREATURE: You ran away.

VICTOR: What?

CREATURE: You abandoned me.

VICTOR: It speaks!

CREATURE: Yes, Frankenstein. It speaks.

VICTOR: You know my name?

(The Creature hands Victor the tattered journal).

VICTOR: My journal!

CREATURE: Why did you abandon me?

VICTOR: I was terrified – what had I done?

CREATURE: Built a man, and given him life –

VICTOR: Well, now I have come to take it away –

CREATURE: Oh, have you?

VICTOR: I have come to kill you!

CREATURE: To kill me? Why then did you create me?

VICTOR: To prove that I could!

CREATURE: So you make sport with my life?

VICTOR: In the cause of science! You were my greatest experiment –

but an experiment that has gone wrong. An experiment that must be

curtailed!

CREATURE: Be still, genius! I have a request.

VICTOR: Damn you, you can’t have requests!

CREATURE: Oh, I can! Listen to me. It’s your duty.

VICTOR: I’ve no duty to a murderer.

CREATURE: If I’m a murderer, you made me one.

VICTOR: You killed my brother! You did it, not me! – I curse the day when

you drew breath. Since then I’ve lived in darkness.

CREATURE:

‘Is this the region, this the soil, the clime,

Said then the lost Archangel, this the seat

That we must change for Heaven, this mournful gloom

For that celestial light?’

VICTOR: That’s Paradise Lost! You’ve read Paradise Lost?

CREATURE: I liked it.

VICTOR: Why? You saw yourself as Adam?

CREATURE: I should be Adam. God was proud of Adam. But Satan’s the one I

sympathize with. For I was cast out, like Satan, though I did no wrong. And when

I see others content, I feel the bile rise in my throat, and it tastes like Satan’s bile.

VICTOR: But this is remarkable! You are educated! And you have memory!

CREATURE: Yes, I use it to remember being hunted like a rat, running from

human places, finding refuge in the woods. I use it to remember being beaten

and whipped. And I was good, I wanted to be good!

VICTOR: Then why did you kill William?

CREATURE: I wished to see you, and you came. Would you have come

otherwise? If I had killed half of Ingolstadt, would you have come?

VICTOR: Did no one show you kindness?

CREATURE: There was an old man. He taught me many things. But he was

blind, he never saw my face. He never knew I looked like this! After a year, after

he’d described to me the seasons, and I’d watched them go round, one, two, three,

four – when I was one year old, he said they’d take me in. The son, and his wife.

A beautiful wife.

VICTOR: What happened?

CREATURE: You know what happened.

 

Side 5 - Monsieur or Madame

Frankenstein / Victor

M. FRANKENSTEIN: Victor! Where have you been?

VICTOR: In the mountains, on the Sea of Ice.

M. FRANKENSTEIN: This is a house of death. It is no time

to go adventuring.

VICTOR: Father – I have to make a long journey. I leave

today.

M. FRANKENSTEIN: Today! But what about William?

VICTOR: He isn’t coming. I must travel to England. Goodbye.

M. FRANKENSTEIN: England? Why?

VICTOR: Work.

M. FRANKENSTEIN: What work? For a year I have not seen you work!

What is this work for which you must decamp to England?

VICTOR: Look, I don’t expect you to understand, but –

M. FRANKENSTEIN: No, I do not understand! I do not believe your

studies are so important, and I order you to remain here for the funeral!

VICTOR: I have no intention of obeying. I must go.

M. FRANKENSTEIN: And your wedding?

VICTOR: It will have to be postponed.

M. FRANKENSTEIN: But Elizabeth –

VICTOR: Elizabeth will wait. I was in Ingolstadt six years. A little longer

won’t make much difference.

M. FRANKENSTEIN: Victor, why are you so sad? When your

mother was dying –

VICTOR: Please don’t bring her into it –

M. FRANKENSTEIN: When your mother was dying, I gave a promise that I

would see you wed your cousin Elizabeth. That was my wife’s last wish – that

you might be happily married. You were such a sunny child, a carefree child, alert

and inquisitive, the joy of our days! I came to believe you would do great things,

and I would be proud of you! Instead we have this sullenness, this melancholy,

this low fog of gloom. You flout my authority; you do not respect the codes by

which we live. In short, you disappoint me. If you insist on leaving, I cannot stop

you. But you may tell your fiancée yourself. (Calls off.) Elizabeth? (He turns

back.) Where is the boy I remember? He had bright eyes and a ready smile.

Where is he, Victor? Where has he gone?

 

Side 6 - Elizabeth / Victor

ELIZABETH: Your father tells me you are leaving us. Why, Victor? Why must

you go to England?

VICTOR: Because in England they are at the forefront of electro-chemistry.

I’ve heard of real breakthroughs by vitalists, galvanists. I must go and see

myself!

ELIZABETH: And for that, you’ll put off our wedding?

VICTOR: Yes! It’s critical for my experiments.

ELIZABETH: What are your experiments?

VICTOR: I’d say they’re beyond a woman’s scope.

ELIZABETH: If you think I’m going to marry someone who talks to me

like that, you can think again. Which part might be beyond my scope?

VICTOR: All of it, actually.

ELIZABETH: Are you suggesting I’m less intelligent than you?

VICTOR: Yes. I mean – less educated.

ELIZABETH: That’s hardly my fault. I wasn’t allowed to go to school! But I

can learn. I could be your assistant.

VICTOR: What is a Voltaic pile? A Leyden jar? Electric eggs?

ELIZABETH: You know perfectly well I don’t know. What is a voltaic pile?

VICTOR: It’s for storing an electrostatic charge. You link several jars in

parallel, and with that you can –

ELIZABETH: Oh, please, take me with you! It sounds so exciting!

VICTOR: I will go first to Oxford, and spend several months at the University.

Believe me, there’s nothing exciting about that.

ELIZABETH: I don’t care! I’ll come.

VICTOR: I’ll be in the library all day.

ELIZABETH: I’ll be as quiet as a mouse. Let me come!

VICTOR: Subsequently I’ll travel to the islands of Scotland – barren rocks in a

barren ocean. It is, I am told, an awful place.

ELIZABETH: I don’t care! We’ll be together!

VICTOR: Elizabeth – it’s no situation for a woman –

ELIZABETH: What, and you think this is? The world is turning, and I’m

sitting in Switzerland, watching it! I know it’s picturesque, the mountains, the

lake, but it’s so quiet it’s oppressive, and the people are dull. I want to go to

Paris, Rome, America! I want to talk to you about your work, about the world,

about music, politics, everything!

VICTOR: I have no interest in music or politics.

ELIZABETH: Have you any interest in me? (Pause.) Victor, are you

hiding something?

VICTOR: No!

ELIZABETH: But you are constantly preoccupied, as if you are yearning

to be with someone else –

VICTOR: No, it’s you, Elizabeth, it’s always been you! There’s no one else. I

promise!

ELIZABETH: Oh, Victor! I’ve been so alone, I’ve been lonelier since you

returned than when you were away! I see a rainbow or a sunset and I long to share

it, but you’re not with me, you’re never with me, there’s only one where there

should be two. All I ask is to come with you, and be at the center of things. I want

your gravity, your volume, your mass – not an abstract – you.

VICTOR: I’m sorry. It’s impossible. I must go alone.

ELIZABETH: Victor, what do you think love is?

VICTOR: I’ll be back in six months.

 

Side 7 - Rab / Ewan

VICTOR: Is the weather always like this?

RAB: This is quite a nice day.

EWAN: It’s not much of a croft, sir. The roof is poor. Will you

be all right here?

VICTOR: For my needs, it’s fine. Your wife can bring me

some food?

EWAN: She can, sir, but it’s simple. Fish, mainly. We don’t touch meat,

do we, Rab? Unless it swims, we don’t eat it.

RAB: Eggs, we eat eggs.

EWAN: That’s the exception. Eggs.

RAB: Oatcakes. Turnips.

EWAN: All right! – Where do you want it, sir?

VICTOR: Set it down there. Thank you, gentleman. Here’s the price we

agreed. For the porterage and three months’ rent.

(Victor lays down money. Ewan goes to pick it up, but Victor stops him).

VICTOR: But I would be prepared to give you very much more, Ewan, if you

could perform another service for me. My field, you see, is human anatomy.

The human body. To progress my research, I require certain materials. This is

an unorthodox discipline, and somewhat disapproved of in academic circles.

But you have my word that it is for the public good.

RAB: I don’t like the sound of that.

EWAN: Quiet, Rab. We don’t move in academic circles. (To Victor.) Go on,

sir. It’s illegal, I take it?

VICTOR: We are a long way from any court of law. The nights are dark.

And in science we keep our secrets.

EWAN: What is it you want?

VICTOR: Body parts. Fresh.

RAB: He’s a surgeon! I knew it! That’s grave-robbing!

EWAN: We are Christians in the Orkneys, sir. We don’t rob the dead in their

graves.

VICTOR: But the dead are dead, aren’t they? They’re not coming back. I

don’t subscribe to the view that it’s unethical to use them for medical

research.

EWAN: No, nor do we.

VICTOR: What will be possible in the future, eh, Rab? Shall we gain the upper

hand over sickness and disease? Have you any idea what we shall be capable

of, if brilliant men are allowed to do our work?

RAB: Uncle Ewan, this is nor right –

EWAN: Quiet, Rab! – I’ll do nothing on my own island. But what is it

exactly that you’re after?

VICTOR: Have you heard of any young woman who has died very

recently?

EWAN: Aye. On Ronaldsay.

VICTOR: Not your kin?

EWAN: No, not my kin.

VICTOR: Not diseased?

EWAN: Drowned.

VICTOR: May God have mercy on her.

EWAN: A good-looking miss, she was. Rab liked her.

RAB: I did not.

EWAN: You did.

RAB: I liked her sister.

VICTOR: She was beautiful?

RAB: Not bad.

VICTOR: Good. Are you prepared to work to my exact specifications?

EWAN: Well, Rab, he can’t read, but –

RAB: I can read.

EWAN: Do him a drawing.

RAB: Uncle Ewan –

EWAN: You, be quiet, and do as the gentleman says!

 

Side 8 - Clarice / Elizabeth

CLARICE: Listen – you can still hear the bells ringing, over the water.

ELIZABETH: So you can.

CLARICE: Many congratulations, Mistress. It was a splendid day.

ELIZABETH: Thank you. Please get me ready for bed.

CLARICE : Yes, Mistress.

ELIZABETH: I want to look beautiful.

CLARICE: Yes, Mistress.

ELIZABETH: Perhaps then he’ll –

CLARICE: I’m sure he will.

(Elizabeth breaks down and sobs).

ELIZABETH: He never touches me! He never comes near! He barely spoke to

me after the service!

CLARICE: Well, he has always been peculiar.

ELIZABETH: But what have I done wrong, Clarice?

CLARICE: You’ve done nothing, Mistress. Men, you know –

they’re as nervous as we are on their wedding night. A lot of them

have no experience whatsoever.

ELIZABETH: I’m not nervous!

CLARICE: I know you’re not, Mistress. And yet you don’t know what to

expect, do you? None of us do, first time. It can come as quite a shock. Here

we are, Mistress – you’ll look as pretty as a picture.

(Clarice helps her into a long nightgown, and unpins her hair).

CLARICE: Some ladies never get used to it at all, to be perfectly honest. Oh,

but I’m sure you will.

ELIZABETH: Where is he?

CLARICE: He’ll be along shortly, Mistress. You wait and see. Having a glass

or two, probably, if he’s anything like my husband. He’d put a bag on my

head if he could. Come along now, let’s pop you into bed.

ELIZABETH: First I must pray. – That’s all.

CLARICE: Goodnight, Mistress. God bless.

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