BWW Reviews: Lots of Laughs, but DOCTOR GODENSTEIN'S MAN Needs More Tinkering in the Lab

For half of the almost two centuries that have passed since the publication of Mary Shelley's horror fiction classic, FRANKENSTEIN, the trials and tribulations of Victor Frankenstein and his creature have been translated into other media, including film, television, theatre, radio, music, graphic novels, books, toys and games. A considerable percentage of the infiltration of Shelley's concepts into the popular culture consciousness has been through parody and satire. Everyone from Warner Brothers, who pitted Frankenstein's creature against the Tasmanian Devil and Bugs Bunny in DR. DEVIL AND MR. HARE, to Mel Brooks, who adapted his 1974 comedy hit YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN into a rather less funny musical comedy in 2007, has had a go at the tale. There's been THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW (1973), FRANKENWEENIE (1984) and even - lamentably - FRANKENHOOKER (1990). The latest entry in this tradition is local theatre-maker Callum Tilbury's DOCTOR GODENSTEIN'S MAN, the playwright's first solo effort following a 2014 debut with UHM..., which he co-wrote with Alex McCarthy.

Set in a spaceship that orbits the earth, DOCTOR GODENSTEIN'S MAN is the tale of an unhinged scientist, Dr Arceus Godenstein, who hopes to create and bring to life the perfect man. Realising that he needs an extra pair of hands to animate his creation, he enlists the aid of his manservant, Butler. As Butler attempts to enlighten his master on the obvious flaws in his master plan, Butler's own secret past comes to light, setting in motion a chaotic series of farcical events.

Taken at face value, DOCTOR GODENSTEIN'S MAN might simply be read as a comic romp through various FRANKENSTEIN tropes. Tilbury shows some skill in playing with and subverting these conventions, but his script also introduces ideas that push the piece beyond the boundaries of parody towards - as articulated in the publicity materials for the play - a comic exploration of 'the politics of sex and gender, and the label of "man"'. Tilbury's script handles its comic aspects well and there are plenty of laughs to be had in DOCTOR GODENSTEIN'S MAN. Disappointingly, his handling of sex and gender is fairly superficial, less an exploration than an acknowledgement of these constructs. There is some engaging play with the conventions of camp and drag, and more than a little witty repartee, but the takeaway is a little 'doughnuts for dinner'.

The direction, by Byron Bure, contributes to this sense of superficiality. His work on DOCTOR GODENSTEIN'S MAN is frenetic, employing farce, slapstick, deadpan humour and satire without fully getting to grips with any of these styles. What appears to be deliberate camp on the page becomes naïve camp, even kitsch, on the stage. The clearest example of the disjuncture between script, staging, performance and style comes in the final moments of the play. The playwright plants a seed of tragedy in the writing, one consistent with the way in which camp frames tragedy, the germination of which he halts with a punchline. The actor reaches for the tragedy; the director for the punchline - and both are lost in the process.

Bure's staging of DOCTOR GODENSTEIN'S MAN also chooses to ignore the popular culture history with which the play connects by its very nature as a FRANKENSTEIN parody. While the text toys with a number of Frankenstein tropes, the translation of these onto the stage seems unwilling to play with the imagery that has been deposited into the collective consciousness by various iterations of the Frankenstein narrative. This choice seems to be consistent with the uncredited scenic design, which is a sincere attempt at creating a rudimentary scenic environment on a shoestring budget. The lighting design is a textbook example on the pitfalls of working with LED lights: there is too little use of shadow and the brightness strips the set of any atmosphere. The balance between the sound effects and the dialogue also needs work, with the effects overwhelming the world they are attempting to create. Thanks to a freewheeling giddiness, however, the costumes work fantastically well, matching perfectly the needs of the storytelling with the style of the play.

The most successful aspect of DOCTOR GODENSTEIN'S MAN is Wessel Pretorius's turn as the titular doctor. Pretorius transcends the limitations placed on the production by its direction and delivers a high camp performance that fleshes out the skeleton provided to him by the script. His work is so good that it gives the impression of a depth of conceptual engagement in the writing and staging that is simply not there. Ameera Conrad valiantly attempts to bring Butler to life, her obstacle being the very superficiality over which Pretorius is able to play. Her challenge is the more difficult one, as Butler really has to drive the action of the piece, the direction of which fails to grapple with the high stakes for Butler in manipulating Dr Godenstein's plan to the character's own ends.

In this debut presentation of the play, DOCTOR GODENSTEIN'S MAN seems to be caught between two worlds: pure farce and social commentary. Part of that conflict seems to reside in a lack of clarity as to whether Tilbury wants the play to be one or the other, or a rich combination of the two. This identity crisis is emphasised in the direction of the play, which needs a surer hand and a keener insight into the sex and gender politics broached in the script. With more work, DOCTOR GODENSTEIN'S MAN might yet emerge as a piece capable of standing alongside other popular culture derivatives of the original FRANKENSTEIN story. Although there are plenty of laughs to be had, a little more time in the laboratory is required.

DOCTOR GODENSTEIN'S MAN runs at the Galloway Theatre on Wednesdays through Saturdays until 20 February at 20:00. Tickets, costing R90-R120, can be booked through the theatre's online portal.

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