Park Slope’s “feminist Frankenstein” trilogy has finally reached its climax.
Rabbit Hole Ensemble’s year-long exploration of Mary Shelley’s classic concludes this month with “The Tale of Frankenstein’s Daughter” — an interpretation the explores the feminine side of Frankenstein.
So in Stanton Wood’s play, our mad scientist is an infertile doctor who, in her desperation to have a child, creates an impassioned, yet misunderstood, man-killing monster.
“It’s much more a story about a mother and a child, about parenting, loss, rejection and isolation,” said director Edward Elefterion. “It’s less scientific, and more emotional.”
This gender-bending trilogy kicked off last fall with “The Tragic Story of Dr. Frankenstein,” which explored Shelley’s thriller from the doctor’s perspective. The trilogy switched gears this past spring with “Doctor Frankenstein’s Magical Creature,” this time told from the monster’s point of view. This third and final piece blends both plays together for a more fully realized, emotional story, running in a minimal, Kabuki theater-inspired production at Park Slope’s BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange starting Oct. 13.
“It’s much deeper, much richer, much more emotional,” said Elefterion. “It’s a whole new beast.”
Rabbit Hole is no stranger to revisiting classic, macabre works through multiple productions. Throughout 2007, the company produced works inspired by German vampire Nosferatu. And as we speak, Wood is writing a play based on one of the “Grimms’ Fairy Tales,” “The Three Snake-Leaves,” that the company will spend some time with over the course of next year. That’s the one about a woman so good-looking a man agrees to marry her on the condition that if she dies first, he’ll be buried alive with her (you can guess what happens). We can’t wait.
“The Tale of Frankenstein’s Daughter” at Brooklyn Arts Exchange [421 Fifth Ave. at Eighth Street in Park Slope, (718) 832-0018], Oct. 13-29. Tickets, $18. For info, visit www.rabbitholeensemble.com.
