Mary Shelley - her story
- Ashley Hayward
- Oct 10
- 2 min read
Lanternfish Theatre Company presents Mary Shelley. A new one-woman play by Tony Peters.
Performed by Susannah Foy. Lighting and video projections by Simon Kemp. At the Bear Pit Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon on 9 and 10 October.
Review by Ashley Hayward.
Before watching this play the only thing I knew about Mary Shelley was that she wrote the novel ‘Frankenstein’ in the early 19th century. I must confess that I have never read the book but do recall being enthralled by two of the many movies based on the story with Dr Frankenstein’s monster played by both Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee.
In this one woman show Susannah Foy impressively portrays the 53 year old Mary as she was nearing the end of her life in 1851 and I left the theatre with a far greater awareness of the nature and scope of her work as well as the major influencers on her remarkable life and career.
Susannah Foy succeeded in holding the attention of the audience for the full 70 minutes and, aided by some imaginative lighting and video projections by Simon Kemp, it added up to a very atmospheric theatrical production.
Tony Peters’ well researched script gave us an interesting insight into Mary the writer and the person.
She was influenced and encouraged in her writing by her father William Godwin, a radical philosopher. Her mother too was a writer and feminist who sadly died when Mary was only 11 days old but Mary took a great interest in reading her work.
When only 16 Mary was swept off her feet by the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley with whom she eloped. She discovered that Percy was already married but they did eventually marry on the death of his wife and Mary lived with him and a step-sister with whom she endured a very difficult relationship.
In subsequent years Mary had to cope with a string of tragedies which are very sensitively and movingly portrayed by Susannah Foy including the death of several babies, the loss of her husband, living it relative poverty and her own declining health.
We also hear about her relationship with the poet Lord Byron and how he suggested that they should each write a ghost story. It was then that she first entertained the idea of bringing a corpse to life and went on to write her most famous novel when barely out of her teens.
It could be argued that Frankenstein was one of the first novels in the science fiction/horror genres but Mary wrote a range of other novels as well as numerous articles and biographies. It is incredible that she, as one of few female writers of her era, overcame many social barriers as well as mental and physical health problems to have such an immense output.
Perhaps the biggest compliment I can pay to this play is that it made me want to read some of her other work and perhaps actually read Frankenstein rather than wait for its next movie to be released!
For tickets (£14) contact The Bear Pit Theatre, https://www.thebearpit.org.uk/whats-on/mary-shelley/
Or via TicketSource: www.ticketsource.co.uk/lanternfish
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