Frankenstein
It’s a sad fact of life that, even though I’m writing up this review of the BYMT’s Frankenstein on Saturday morning, referring to the production I attended last night, by the time you actually read it, it will be nothing but a memory of an event past.
You are therefore going to have to take my word for it that, among the talent so clearly on view last night, there are not only actors who will make a decent life in the West End and beyond, but names that, in the coming years, will become known to us all. And here is where they will have started.
So, before I dig in, a huge Bravo! to this extremely talented cast, all aged between 11 and 21. No matter how large or small your part, you shone. I am consciously not going to name names. That wouldn’t be fair to what is a wonderfully unified company.
But to the show.
This version of Mary Shelley’s gothic classic first graced the BYMT stage in 2006–08, with the original cast featuring a young Ed Sheeran, now a Patron of BYMT, and with music by Jimmy Jewell and lyrics by Nick Stimson. For this reworking, they have been joined by writer Victoria Gimby – more of which later.
The production features a cast of 36, with principals drawn from the ensemble, and the whole thing has a flow and directorial clarity that belies its short rehearsal period. I believe they pulled all this together in a frenetic two weeks, which is nothing short of miraculous.
Director Dean Johnson, together with choreographer Sam Wilson-Freeman, has conjured up a series of West-End-worthy tableaux. At times, the ensemble seems to work as one, almost like a field of wheat waving in the wind. At others, a disparate cacophony of bodies morphs into a parting river of subjugation, melting away to reveal a featured performer, be it one of Frankenstein’s siblings or the creature, back to wreak his revenge. The effect is magical and, with Danny Vavrecka’s atmospheric lighting, beautiful to watch.
Jewell’s score is varied and, for the most part, appropriately gothic. The opening number and the use of the ensemble throughout draw heavily on Sondheim’s masterpiece Sweeney Todd, though I spotted other references as diverse as Jim Steinman and even something that sounded very like an homage to the Act Two opener of Stiles and Drewe’s Betty Blue Eyes.
Stimson’s lyrics are often deftly handled. Frankenstein’s ‘I Want’ song, ‘Let the Secret of Life Be the Making of Me’, is a case in point.
That being said, there are a couple of places where the music seemed to be saying something different from the lyrics, or where the tone of the music and lyrics sat uneasily with the overall thrust of the show.
I’m thinking particularly of the court scene in which a servant of the Frankenstein household is tried for murdering Victor Frankenstein’s little sister – an act that has actually been committed by the creature.
If the work is to have a life beyond this production, I’d urge the writers to go back to the drawing board, as the scene strikes a very jarring note, tonally.
I think the arc of the creature also needs rethinking. As things stand, he goes from baby to fully literate in the blink of an eye, which I think is a mistake and takes away some of our sympathy for him. He should remain naïve and unworldly until he finally realises that he needs to seek vengeance on his creator.
Still, these are minor points in what is, after all, a vehicle in which this talented cast can shine. And shine they do.
Director: Dean Johnson
Book: Victoria Gimby
Music: Jimmy Jewell
Lyrics: Nick Stimson
Cast includes: British Youth Music Theatre
Dates: 28th August to 30th August 2026
Running time: 90 minutes, No interval
Date Seen: Friday 28th August 2026
Photography credit Charlie Flint