The Real Review

After a couple of short successful runs at the Intimate, young actors, Nic Pauling and Adrian Collins, have transferred their comic two-hander Frank ’n Stein to the Kalk Bay Theatre. Charm goes a long way in making this light-hearted, dinner theatre entertainment work. It is foremost a worthwhile reminder of the vital role independent theatres can play, not only in providing desperately needed space for new work, but as in this case, giving actors the opportunity to mature early in their careers. Frank ’n Stein is a suitable piece, demonstrating how physical theatre can transpose a movie, and be as entertaining. Young director Greg Karvellas successfully keeps Collins and Pauling from hamming it up, as they enact – virtually cut for cut – the unforgettable classic 1931 Frankenstein film directed by James Whale – himself immortalised in Gods and Monsters. A weakness in the original film, and problematic here too, is that the subplot involving the rival love of Victor Moritz for Dr Frankenstein’s sweetheart, Elizabeth, is unsustainable. A similar spoof seen earlier this year in Cape Town was The Sinking of the Titanic by the veteran British comic duo Kesselofski and Fiske. It would be instructive for Karvellas and his players to see. The British script was more ambitious –commenting on the Titanic tragedy in its political and social dimensions, just as Gods and Monsters dissects the personal meaning of the monster. Pauling and Collins are also less successful in differentiating their natures as performers from one another. They are too similar, though the attempt is made to stooge Collins. It doesn’t quite work, as he clearly possesses an original performance intelligence that makes him the more interesting of the two to watch in this context. Audiences should look out for both actors when they appear soon in Romeo and Juliet, the next annual Shakespeare at Maynardville.

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