BeatRoute Magazine AB Edition - October 2019

YYC
10.19
A Modern Frankenstein: Alberta
Ballet Goes Super High-Tech
and Cinematic By BRAD SIMM
O
ften hailed as the grandmaster
of gothic literature and
the first real piece of science
fiction, Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein resonates with its feminist’s
foundation and the earth-shaking
probe that questions the origins and
creation of life. Written when Shelley
was only 18, it’s a complex tale etched
deep into our psychology for more than
200 years that continues to fascinate.
Jean Grand-Maître, Alberta Ballet’s
Artistic Director, is eager to bring his
own adaptation of Shelley’s novel to the
stage. Knowing Frankenstein is full of
exotic interpretations, he too has reinvented
the gothic fantasy as a dance
production within a modern context.
“I was reading about the great
director, Stanley Kubrick,” says Grand-
Maître. “He was completely daring and
not afraid to tackle different styles
of cinema and lighting, from science
fiction and horror to war and period
pieces, and of course the ground-breaking
A Clockwork Orange. All that was
something I found interesting as a
challenge for myself.”
In his daring new version of Frankenstein,
Grand-Maître, in collaboration
with his group of set and costume
designers, transport the Frankenstein
family from its secluded Germany
castle to an upscale West Palm Beach
playground (Trump territory), young
Victor goes to medical school at
Harvard where he creates the monster
in Boston, and the chase ends at a
fully-functional meteorological station
in the Yukon instead of a lonely ship
abandoned in the Arctic.
In working with a new aesthetic,
Grand-Maître also employs a contemporary
soundtrack featuring a mix of
young, fresh composers, lively rock
bands along with some classical music.
He notes, “A soundtrack enables you
to use all sounds, not just an orchestral
sound. It becomes almost cinematic,
more a film than it is a ballet.”
And for the first time he will use
“subtitles,” as they do in operas, where
dialogue runs across video screens
mounted above the stage. Because
Frankenstein in based in literature,
Grand-Maître reveals it will be a “super
high-tech production using narrative
through video so the audience will understand
everything that’s happening.”
Finally, the look and development of
the characters receives particular attention,
especially the monster inspired
by the original writings of Shelley.
“It will have nothing to do with the
ones we have already seen,” says
Grand-Maître, referring to the incarnations
found in many movies. “The monster
she describes is a ‘discombobulated
panther’ who moves swift and fast,
but everything seems broken, which
is interesting for a choreographer. But
as the ballet progresses, the monster’s
movements become more and more
refined, almost human.”
There are many subjects and powerful
themes embedded in Shelley’s fictional
work that Grand-Maître strives to capture.
“There’s a woman-created monster,
the usurpation of a woman’s procreative
power, and the world without God. If you
can give life to matter, then there is no
God. And when written during the Industrial
Revolution, science was exploding,
there were no ethics. It was a scary time.
And here we are again.”
AB Ballet’s Frankenstein runs Oct. 23 to
26 in Calgary and Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 in Edmonton.
Tix $50-150.
CALGARY’S ESSENTIAL OCTOBER HAPPENINGSk
OCTOBER 2019 BEATROUTE 39