Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...The production elements mesh beautifully to capture this world of harsh nihilism, from Joe Schermoly’s gray geometric minimalist set with a jagged lightning bolt across the rear wall, to Mike Durst’s dreary winter-day lighting to Christopher Kriz’s jarring sound design."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Anderson's Dr. Frankenstein will make you shiver, and not from cold. He's obsessive, monomaniacal and fueled by raving ego. When he celebrates his ability to create life from the putrefying flesh of the dead, his eyes go feverish, wild. When an agonized Creature demands answers ("Why did you create me?") Dr. Frankenstein's answer is chilling in its utter lack of humanity. ("Because I could.")"
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Remy Bumppo Theatre Company presents Nick Dear's stunning minimalist reimagining of Mary Shelley's classic fable about male hubris. From the opening pantomimed vignettes of the monster's birth to his chilly arctic duel with his maker at the end, this production has forged a brand-new Frankenstein."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...A narrative inverted a full 180 degrees isn't an easy proposition for audiences to accept-especially when they suspect that they are being cast as the villains-but the Remy Bumppo Company, departing from its trademark drawing-room repertoire to take full advantage of the intimate new quarters at Theater Wit, embarks on a harrowing visceral journey conducted within a stark-white minimalist environment augmented by a soundscape invoking the surface of a cold and lonely planet. Its protagonist's isolation is further anchored by the conceptual device of two actors-company members Nick Sandys and Greg Matthew Anderson-alternating in the roles of the Creature and his Creator, the better to illustrate the connection between those who venture recklessly into the unknown and those whose revenge is to follow their would-be masters back out of its murky realms."
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...Mrs. Shelley's admonition returns, powerfully and cleanly, in Remy Bumppo's Frankenstein, fueled by Nick Dear's trenchantly faithful adaptation (one of three versions of the legend to play Chicago theaters this scary fall). In 105 potent minutes we encounter the story in mid-passage - no laboratory folderol here with flashing electric coils and lightning strikes. As much as the source allows, Dear tells it from the supposed monster's point of view. To emphasize that flexibility, in Ian Frank's staging, Frankenstein and his creation are played alternatively by Remy Bumppo artistic director Nick Sandys and esteemed company member Greg Matthew Anderson."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...This is truly a must-see production, especially arriving so close to Halloween. Ian Frank’s exquisite, expressionistic interpretation features award-worthy performances by two of Chicago’s leading actors who alternate playing the main roles. The production is a feast for the senses, not only sporting incredible scenic, lighting and sound designs, but accented by Kristy Leigh Hall’s wonderful period costumes. If this show doesn’t move you to tears and haunt your dreams, consider consulting a doctor to check your pulse. You may not be alive."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Recommended
"...The story is a cautionary tale that warns against overbearing individuals trying to play god with human lives. The narrative also suggests that the human race could stand a large dose of understanding and compassion for the outsider instead of closing ranks against anyone who is perceived to be different. But that's for after-theater conversation. The Remy Bumppo contribution to the "Frankenstein" bicentennial is admirable in the force of the Sandys performance, which may be matched when Anderson takes his turn. Right now the story sags when the creature isn't active on stage, but when he is, viewers get a satisfyingly large bang for their buck."
Buzznews.net - Highly Recommended
"...Sandys performance as the Creature is more tragic than scary. Though, Kristy Leigh Hall's special effect makeup makes Sandys unrecognizable and very menacing. The Creature, like a baby, begins naked and ignorant of the world around. Over the course of the 90-minute play, we watch a cruel world educate the outcast Creature into becoming a monster bent on revenge. Sandys eventual monologues about the desire for love are as haunting as the murder scenes. The script intellectualizes the Creature in a way that makes the audience pity him instead of fear him."
Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended
"...Frankenstein opens with an exquisitely staged birthing scene. The Creature is shrouded in a sheer fabric sac, a metaphoric womb. He struggles to free himself and emerges naked, covered in scars and suture marks. He strains to stand, to crawl, to walk, and has no language. The Creature is born as innocent as an infant. Does he become a monster, as the Frankenstein legend would have us believe? This 105-minute production addresses the question imaginatively."
Chicago On Stage - Somewhat Recommended
"...In this year, the 200th anniversary of the novel Frankenstein, Chicago is blessed to have multiple theatre companies taking on the iconic work from many different perspectives. This week marks the opening of Remy Bumppo’s take on the Mary Shelley masterwork. Using a script written by Nick Dear, this Frankenstein focuses its attention almost entirely on the journey of the Creature. This is both a strength and a weakness of the show."
Picture This Post - Recommended
"...The symphony of visual and aural elements Frankenstein presents is truly stunning, and had this artist satisfyingly shocked for the duration of the production. The costume design by Kristy Leigh Hall on the Creature is a feat, covering the actor's entire body, and bald head, with scars, stitching, peeling flesh, and sunken eyes, all a ghostly white."
NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...The script is half of a good idea. Almost entirely told from the Creature's perspective, the play shows his struggle to understand humanity and to assimilate into it, ultimately failing and seeking revenge, not because it's the monstrous thing to do but because it's what a human would do. The play succeeds beautifully at this until about three-quarters of the way through, when it switches to Dr. Frankenstein's perspective in what seems to be an effort to make him relatable, which fails."
