At the library: Frankenstein on stage and screen
National Theatre Live is back with a Halloween favorite! This year marks the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s classic horror tale “Frankenstein,” and the library is celebrating by hosting a screening of the UK stage production at Waterman Auditorium on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available online or at the door ($15 general admission and $10 seniors/students). The show is rated R.
Captured live in 2011 from the National Theatre stage in London, this thrilling, sold-out production became an international sensation, experienced by almost half a million people in cinemas around the world. Directed by Academy Award-winner Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire), Frankenstein features Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternating between the roles of Victor Frankenstein and his creation. This screening casts Cumberbatch as the Creature.
Childlike in his innocence but grotesque in form, Frankenstein’s bewildered Creature is cast out into a hostile universe by his horror-struck maker. Met with cruelty wherever he goes, the increasingly desperate and vengeful Creature determines to track down his creator and strike a terrifying deal. Scientific responsibility, parental neglect, cognitive development and the nature of good and evil are explored in this thrilling and deeply disturbing story.
National Theatre Live launched in June 2009 with a broadcast of the National Theatre production of Phèdre with Helen Mirren. They’ve since broadcast more than 40 other productions, from both the National Theatre and from other theatres in the UK. Over 5.5 million people in over 2,000 venues around the world have experienced an NTL broadcast.
Though each NTL performance is filmed in front of a live audience in the theatre, cameras are carefully positioned throughout the auditorium to ensure that movie audiences get the “best seat in the house” view of the production. Where these cameras are placed is different for each broadcast, ensuring that audiences enjoy the best possible experience every time. Don’t miss this exiting event!
Upcoming Events:
Family Movie: Hocus Pocus
Thursday, Oct. 25 at 4 p.m.
After three centuries, three witch sisters are resurrected in Salem, Massachusetts on Halloween night, and it is up to two teenagers, a young girl and an immortal cat to put an end to their reign of terror once and for all. Rated PG; 1h 36min; 1993.
Guitar Concert: Jason Vieaux
Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church
Grammy-winner Jason Vieaux is “among the elite of today’s classical guitarists” (Gramophone). NPR describes Vieaux as “perhaps the most precise and soulful classical guitarist of his generation.” His most recent solo album, Play, won the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo and earned a place on NPR’s “50 Favorite Songs of 2014 (So Far)” for Vieaux’s recording of Zapateado.
