Mark Bruce Company, Frankenstein Review ★★★★★

Few dance makers have the ability so completely to draw audiences into dark, nightmarish universes as Mark Bruce. His award-winning 2013 work Dracula, for example, plunged deeply and horrifyingly into the souls of the undead; his 2018 Macbeth delved into the murderous darkness that envelops the anti-heroes of Shakespeare’s play.

This deep immersion into complex states of being is a constant throughout Bruce’s work; it’s no wonder, then, that he felt attracted to Frankenstein.

Since its publication in 1818 Mary Shelley’s novel, subtitled The Modern Prometheus, has proved a magnet to all manner of creatives, including dance makers; but no other dance piece has perhaps distilled its themes so compellingly and comprehensively within a short, tension-filled 50 minutes as Mark Bruce’s Frankenstein.

At its centre, of course, is the Monster, the being stitched together from parts of dead bodies by Dr Frankenstein playing god. In Jonathan Goddard, a dancer of rare power and magnetism, and a veteran of Mark Bruce Company, we have a Monster of tremendous complexity, trying to come to terms with his disjointed body, seeking acceptance, yet unaware of the effect he has on others, incomprehension inevitably leading to violence. Goddard’s haunting performance elicits all manner of feelings from horror and revulsion to deep compassion.

Bruce introduces the figure of Prometheus, bringer of the fire of life, danced with great presence by a black-winged Eleanor Duval.

Jonathan Godard and Eleanor Duval in Mark Bruce's Frankenstein. Photo: Mark Bruce
A constant observer of the action, it’s Prometheus, rather than Frankenstein’s basic machinery, that brings the Monster to life and who, in a finale of serene sadness, draws the breath of life out of him and slowly leads him away into unfathomable distance.

A seamless collage of music ranging from Chopin through Arvo Pärt and Penderecki anchors the action; but it’s Guy Hoare's magisterial lighting that goes furthest in building up the work’s gripping atmosphere, from the flashes of lightning that break the absolute darkness of the stormy opening scene to the pools of milky light that bring a brief illusion of normality to the duets between Doctor Frankenstein (Dominic Rocca) and Elizabeth (Anna Daly), in glaring contrast to the oppressive penumbra in which the Monster exists.

Bruce’s cast of six – a slightly confusing Narcissus figure is danced by Carina Howard – are terrific.

In this double bill, Frankenstein is preceded by a short work of pure dance, Liberation Day, performed to six songs by Mark Bruce himself the tone of which puts you in mind of all manner of desolate landscapes, both physical and spiritual. It serves as an introduction to his excellent dancers and works as a kind of amuse bouche for the meaty main course to come.

Age Guidance: 11+