As we enter the 'biotech' century, genetic engineering promises to transform the course of human evolution.

The word ‘Frankenstein’ conjures up several iconic pop culture images of a monster, an embodiment of science out of control, and of man punished for daring to challenge nature. This workshop performance re-considers this 1818 monster novel in terms of contemporary biotechnology, cloning, nanotech, and genetic engineering. Rapid advances in these areas pose uncomfortable ethical questions about the nature of human life, and the necessity of progress.

Taking the story and structure of the original novel, scientific articles, and pop cult horror versions of the monster, we are going to spend four weeks devising a performance working closely with a core group of visual, video and sound designers. We are interested in the novel’s explorations of the nature of beauty and ugliness, of man’s struggle with life and death, and the horror and ecstasy of the confrontation between a creator and his creation. We want to explore the fear of science run amok, and question the ethics of unnatural creation, and at the centre, a tortured creature who asks the question: “Why was I born?”

We are going to draw from performances such as Gatz, based on The Great Gatsby (Elevator Repair Service), and Waves, based on Virginia Woolf’s The Waves (Katie Mitchell), which re-imagined literary masterpieces as dynamic theatre performances.