Frankenstein’s Monster will make a return to his spiritual home of Dundee next month.
Dundee University is hosting a series of events celebrating Mary Shelley, whose time in Dundee as a teenager inspired her to become a writer.
Frankenstein Returns takes place at venues throughout Dundee from Friday 16 to Saturday 24 November as part of Being Human 2018, the national festival of the humanities that has this year expanded to include events in Australia, France, Italy, Singapore and the United States.
One of the flagship events will be a recreation of the wildly popular Gothic shows that thrilled huge crowds around the time Shelley was writing Frankenstein.
“The Frankenstein Phantasmagoria” promises a hair-raising, eye-popping performance using Victorian projection equipment and live musical accompaniment that will allow the audience to experience Frankenstein in a whole new way.
A special Dundee edition of Frankenstein will be launched, while other events focus on comics, theatre, film and science relevant to Mary Shelley’s masterpiece.
Entry to all events is free.
Dr Daniel Cook, event programmer and a lecturer at the University’s English department, said: “This year the world has been celebrating the 200th anniversary of the first publication of Frankenstein and it is important we mark this event in Dundee, Mary Shelley’s home during her teenage years.
“This year’s events are largely interactive but we are also pleased to host a screening of one of the most iconic filmic responses to the novel, The Bride of Frankenstein, at Dundee Contemporary Arts while Frankenstein Re-membered, an experimental film produced in Dundee that stitches together 200 other movies inspired by Shelley’s work, will be premiered.”
Mary Shelley spent part of her teenage years in Dundee’s South Baffin Street after her father William Godwin sent her to live with the wealthy jute baron Baxter family.
This spell would profoundly influence Shelley.
She later wrote: “It was beneath the trees of the grounds belonging to our house, or on the bleak sides of the woodless mountains near, that my true compositions, the airy flights of my imagination, were born and fostered.”
Being Human 2018 will see events take place at universities and other organisations across the November 15 to 24.
To find out more about Frankenstein Returns, or buy tickets for any of the events, please visit www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/being-human-dundee-17920127913
To celebrate Frankenstein Returns and Hallow, The Courier sent Frankenstein’s Monster out for a tour of the city, where he visited the City Square, Tickety Boos and Waterstones.
The costume was borrowed from Yvonne’s Fancy Dress in the Seagate.
