Dundee’s connection with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein will re-ignite through a multi-sensory rock concert heading to the Gardyne Theatre.
The Science Fiction Experience will see an eight-piece professional rock band perform a variety of songs on Friday 14 and Saturday April 15.
Produced by science writer David Darling, the show will journey through the cosmos with 18 distinct pieces of music themed around science and science fiction.
The music, ranging from rock to classical, will include a piece by Darling based on the story of Frankenstein which was written by Shelley who spent her formative years living with 19th century Dundee jute barons, the Baxter family.
The track will be complemented by video footage and narrative provided by The Mary Shelley Heritage Trust (Dundee).
The Trust will also host a pop-up exhibition in the foyer of the Gardyne Theatre on the opening night of the show, offering a glimpse of material relating to the author of Frankenstein.
Special anniversary celebrations
The show coincides with the 200th anniversary of the second English edition of the iconic novel, the first edition published in the UK to attribute Shelley as the author.
Shelley’s tale of Baron Frankenstein, who created a destructive monster from parts of corpses, has become one of the most influential science fiction books of all time.
It was mused that Shelley, born into an academic and influential family to mother Mary Wollstonecraft and father William Godwin, went to Dundee for reasons of education and health.
It is even suggested Shelley, who lived in a house near what is now South Baffin Street, took her inspiration from the whalers and the ships coming back into port.
Darling said: “With The Science Fiction Experience making its debut in Dundee, we were keen to give a nod to one of the city’s strongest and most compelling historical connections.
“After re-reading the novel to refresh my imagination, I built the song around it, creating a powerful, menacing, almost intimidating song that would create a heavy, unsettling atmosphere, leaving the audience on edge, just like the book.
“It’s a doom-laden track with some serious shredding in the intro, which then leads into the story through the lyrics.
“We always wanted to immerse the audience and wider city in an experience, not just host a concert, and to really celebrate the interface between music, science and literature. Frankenstein allows us to do that and to reignite this captivating local connection in the process.”
Was story conceived on banks of Tay?
It wasn’t just the industry of Dundee that had an impact on Shelley, but the morbid, darker side of the city, too.
Arriving in Dundee shortly after plague and the Battle of Culloden scarred a generation, Shelley also heard stories of witch-burning and grave-robbing in Scotland.
In the introduction to the later 1831 edition, Shelley wrote: “I lived principally in the country as a girl, and passed a considerable time in Scotland.
“I made occasional visits to the more picturesque parts; but my habitual residence was on the blank and dreary northern shores of the Tay near Dundee.
“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.”
Photoshoot for the band tomorrow, publicity starts later this month. The Science Fiction Experience is rolling out to the launchpad 🚀🔭🎸 pic.twitter.com/KLuMZSdBPp
— David Darling (@drdaviddarling) January 6, 2023
Frankenstein will sit alongside the wider collection of songs performed at the Gardyne Theatre which range in style from prog-rock to classical.
From The Blue Danube and Rocket Man to the theme from Star Trek Enterprise, plus originals such as When Worlds Collide and Princess of Mars, the concert will be further enhanced by dancers, a choir, a vast video wall featuring custom-made footage and spectacular sound and visual effects.
After its Dundee debut, the show is expected to move on to various larger Scottish venues and, ultimately, tour across the UK.
Story would haunt and define her
Dr Daniel Cook, Reader in English Literature and Associate Dean at the University of Dundee, as well as chair of The Mary Shelley Heritage Trust (Dundee), added: “Frankenstein is arguably the most impactful novel ever written.
“Think of the many movie and theatre adaptations, comics and cartoons, and even cereals, candies and fancy dress costumes, let alone the fact it has become a reference point for scientists, politicians and countless others.
“The Science Fiction Experience brings this rich material back to life through heavy metal – a perfect blend, when we consider the hauntingly beautiful nature of the Creation scene.
“This new collaboration also brings Frankenstein home, to Dundee and the surrounding areas that inspired a young Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (later Shelley).”
Tickets for The Science Fiction Experience, which cost £22, are available from Dundee Box Office at www.dundeebox.co.uk while more information about The Mary Shelley Heritage Trust (Dundee) can be found on Facebook.
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