Frankenstein – The Creature comes alive (The Royal Ballet)

A suitably spooky clip from The Royal Ballet’s Frankenstein, featuring Steven McRae as The Creature and Federico Bonelli as Victor Frankenstein. Available on DVD here: Liam Scarlett’s Frankenstein, his first full-length ballet for the Royal Opera House main stage, is an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic Gothic novel written in 1818. The score, composed for the ballet by Lowell Liebermann, sweeps the dramatic action towards its devastating end, while the detailed and chilling designs by John Macfarlane bring the Creature and the anatomy lab to terrifying life. Scarlett’s choreography is highly expressive and dramatic as it explores the grief and desperation felt by Victor and the Creature’s childlike need for acceptance. The ballet’s momentum is sustained by the whole Company, with fellow students pushing Victor further into isolation and obsession, couples swirling around the stage in a dark waltz at his wedding, and the inevitable, tragic end.