Urban Safari: Manual Cinema’s Frankenstein

Animation, puppetry, live music, with a gothic twist

Posted on February 24, 2023 by Carolyn Donovan and Wan Chi Lau in RainyDayDestinations, Urban Safari // 0 Comments

We got opening night tickets for Manual Cinemas’ Frankenstein at the Emerson Paramount Center.

We might not have been paying attention to the description of the show, and so didn’t quite expect “500 handmade puppets, old school projectors, as well as live actors and musicians.”

Manual Cinema was not kidding when they said ”Animation, puppetry, live music, and a gothic twist that electrifies Mary Shelley’s classic novel for a new generation.” This show—if it hasn’t sold out yet—is well worth attending if you are looking for a COMPLETELY different live theater experience.

Our review (below) proves it.

Couldn’t miss the venue.

The Paramount – a 1930’s cinema paradise.

RainyDay Magazine’s review of Manual Cinema’s Frankenstein

Oh my.

Oh. My.

The Frankenstein story.

With puppets.

And people.

And overhead projectors.

And live, on-stage musicians.

And hand-held video cameras.

And not a word said.

“I can make life! A beautiful life!” Uh-huh.

Manual Cinema of Chicago has finally—FINALLY—been able to present their astounding, creative, inventive, version of the Frankenstein story (the pandemic initially got in the way), and it is…I can’t even…you can’t…just wow.

There have been many takes on the telling of the Frankenstein story throughout the years, but Manual Cinema’s version is the first one (that I know of) to include some of Mary Shelley’s story (Note: her husband, the oh my gosh he was brilliant poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, was really really terrible husband material).

Manual Cinema’s Frankenstein is so inventive, so old-school/mid-century/contemporary that it was a marvel to watch.

So much going on: on stage, above stage, stage right, stage left, just everywhere.

Some characters are puppets, some characters are humans, but after three minutes or so there’s no difference. This is a technically tough version to pull off, but wow did they ever: if you take your eyes off the screen above the stage and look at how much activity is happening behind-the-scenes-but-right-in-front-of-you on the stage you get a sense of the, choreography, that needed to happen in order to keep everyone healthy and upright (unless they were bent over, which some of them were)(sometimes).

If you can, snag a ticket and go see this marvel before it moves on. It is so, so, worth it.