Abstract:
Mary Shelley's book Frankenstein is quite hard to read today; not because of its length or language, but because it is hard to shake the many images that fill our minds when we hear the word "Frankenstein." There have been many versions of the book, in movie and play form, and it is often referred to in pop culture. In the original novel, Frankenstein the scientist is simply a man on a quest to try to bring someone back to life who then turns his back on his creation. The relationship between Frankenstein and his Creature is complex, not unlike that of a romantic relationship. The people we love change us, whether we want to change or not. What happens when we change for someone and then blame him or her for "creating" the person we become? As Victor says in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, "we are unfashioned creatures, but half made up." Who makes up the rest of us? Using the metaphor of Frankenstein and his Creature, my play Unfashioned Creatures explores these questions through one relationship that is long over and one that has hardly begun.
