Marcus Nance breathes new life into The Creature in “Frankenstein Revived”

The world-premiere production of Morris Panych’s movement-based play Frankenstein Revived is now on stage at the Stratford Festival’s Avon Theatre.  Frankenstein Revived tells the story of the celebrated work’s original storyteller: the 18-year old Mary Shelley. As she writes Frankenstein – which remains the most celebrated horror novella in English literature since its publication in 1818 – the beating heart of her efforts is the question, “what does it mean to be human?”

A big part of the unique production’s success – not to mention its answer to this question – hinges on Marcus Nance’s compelling portrayal of The Creature. Its depth and authenticity spring directly from Nance’s personal experiences and a career which originated off the stage. A student of music, he majored in clarinet during university until a pivotal moment in his third year when he began private voice lessons, in order to improve his church singing. “Something clicked in those lessons, and I fell in love with opera and art song,” Nance recounts. At that moment, he decided that he wanted to be “on the stage, not under it”.  The following year, he auditioned for –  and landed – the lead role in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury. And this turning point set him firmly on the path of performance art: “I never looked back.” Since then he has performed on screen and stages across Canada and the US, including Broadway.

Nance’s embodiment of the Creature in Frankenstein Revived draws deeply on personal experience. “As a gay black man, I know what it’s like to be an ‘other’,” he shares. “I have been called all sorts of names, and have been in situations where I felt unsafe. I have been hurt in ways that made me lash out.” Isolation, judgment and marginalization are concepts he intimately understands. These personal experiences resonate deeply with the anguish of the Creature, who longs for acceptance and happiness. 

“He wants nothing more but to live a happy life like the rest of the world. He didn’t ask to be created, but once he was, he wasn’t given a chance to have a life. It’s very sad, actually,” Nance muses empathetically . . . and then, for a moment, he is lost in memory: “I remember bursting into tears in the toy aisle of Walmart at Christmas while shopping for Christmas presents for children whose parents didn’t allow me in their home because I was gay. I felt rejected and abandoned amongst all those toys. I get it.”

Frankenstein Revived is not just another rendition of the classic story, which has been retold so many times already – in film, on stage, in prose and in comics. Frankenstein Revived offers a unique perspective in several ways. First, through the inclusion of Mary Shelley as a character, the audience can peek into her creative process “to see how she puts the story together, and how she may have related to each character in her book. Also,” notes Nance, “having a Person of Colour playing the creature is unique, and adds an authentic perspective to the story.”

Finally, the cherry on top for Nance is the production’s break from traditional text-based storytelling. Panych directs Frankenstein Revived with Movement Choreographer Wendy Gorling and Dance Choreographer Stephen Cota, bringing thrills and terror to the stage through a fusion of theatre and dance that is unaccompanied by any text whatsoever. The lack of words requires Nance to identify and excavate the true emotional core of his character: “As an actor, I feel like I am allowed to go deeper than I would if there was text. The acting is real,” he explains, “but it’s also heightened. Everything is bigger and sustained.” And given his musical training, he can source – and harness – the passion and emotion within the music: “It’s like hearing a beautiful cello solo and bursting into tears . . . even though there are no words. It all comes from the power of the music. We feed off of that with our actions in this production!” 

In addition to Nance, the cast features Charlie Gallant as Doctor Victor Frankenstein, Laura Condlln as Mary Shelley, and an accomplished ensemble.

The hushed attention of the audience during their performances, where “not a cough is heard,” is a testament to the production’s ability to captivate through purely sensory storytelling: “The fact that everything is visual captures their attention in a new and immersive way.”

Nance loves inhabiting the role of the Creature right now . . . but his artistic evolution continues, as mapped in the breadth and diversity of his evolving, ever-expanding resumé: “I started out as a clarinetist, moved into opera, moved into musical theatre, learned to sing jazz, explored TV and film, and started teaching voice at Sheridan College.” And following Frankenstein Revived, audiences can see him as Andrey/Old Prince Bolkonsky in the Canadian premiere of Dave Malloy’s Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 in Toronto, a multi-award-winning musical interpretation of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, co-produced by Crow’s Theatre and Musical Stage Company in December. And starting in March, he will perform the role of Noah “Horse” T. Simmons in the Tony-Award nominated musical The Full Monty at Neptune Theatre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 

“Can’t wait to see what I do next!” Nance smiles, in closing. 

Neither can we.

Frankenstein Revived is on stage until October 28, 2023. The show runs one hour and 43 minutes, including one 20-minute intermission. Reserve tickets online at stratfordfestival.ca.

© Arpita Ghosal, Sesayarts Magazine, 2023