Philadelphia Weekly

In the past few seasons Luna Theater Company's annual Halloween show has rejected simple scares in favor of plays that combine a modicum of frights with plenty of food for thought. This year's Monster is no exception.

Adapted by Neal Bell from Mary Shelly's classic novel Frankenstein, Monster is a 19th-century horror story told from a contemporary perspective.

Set in Austria and the Arctic, Bell's narrative not only jumps between locations, but also moves back and forth in time.

The story begins in a frozen wasteland where an omnipotent ship's Captain Walton (Christopher Bohan) has taken his crew on a search into the unknown. Ignoring the worsening weather, Walton recklessly puts the lives of his crew in danger in order to satisfy his own ambition. It is in the arctic the Captain encounters Victor (Dan Hodge), a doctor whose own ambitions will likewise place those nearest to him in peril.

Structured by Bell primarily as a series of flashbacks, Victor's story (although undoubtedly familiar to most in the audience) is nevertheless involving.

Son to an emotionally and physically fragile mother and a stern but supportive father, death makes an early impression on Victor as numerous family members succumb to an early death. As a young man he studies alchemy, a fascination that will lead him on a search to create life from death. However from the moment his creation (John Lopes) draws his first tortured breath, Victor realizes he's made a dreadful mistake. Instead of caring for his "child" he rejects the creature and abandons him on an isolated hillside.

In an effectively restrained performance Lopes' creature is far from a walking corpse. After Victor's rejection the creature becomes vindictive, ruthless and terrifying; in other words human. Yet as a human being he is also painfully lonely. We fear this horrifyingly disfigured man/corpse, but we also pity him as we would a loveless child.

Hodge's Victor likewise inspires a range of reactions. We detest him for rejecting his creation but we pity him as well. Hodge communicates all the contradictions in this brilliant man who is so driven and emotionally cold that at times he seems far more monstrous than the deformed, homicidal being he has created.

Director Gregory Scott Campbell's swiftly moving production is entertaining, but Monster is not a great play. Bell spends an unnecessary amount of time on Victor's various romantic entanglements, which serve no purpose other than to prime us for his inevitable fall.

The play is far more successful in demonstrating the dangers of scientific ambition. In the 21st century where genetic engineering and cloning are becoming increasingly commonplace, Victor's quest to simultaneously create life and cheat death has renewed relevance. Like Prometheus Victor too suffers the consequences of obtaining a power reserved solely for the gods.

Monster

Through November 2. � $20-$35.

Walnut Street Theatre Independence Studio on 3.
825 Walnut St. 866.811.4111. www.lunatheater.org

2008 Barrymore Awards

The Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia handed out the 14th annual Barrymore Awards for excellence in Philadelphia area theater and the big winner was the Arden Theatre Company which led with a total of six awards. Unlike past seasons when one or two productions have garnered the lion's share of the awards, no production garnered more than three awards and overall 11 companies captured at least one Barrymore. The Walnut Street Theatre's powerful staging of Les Miserables won for outstanding production of a musical, as well as an for lead actor Hugh Panaro while Kim Carson won lead actress in a musical for her performance in Azuka Theatre's blistering production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. People's Light & Theatre Company won outstanding production of a play for their sterling production of Six Characters in Search of an Author. Jeb Kreager was recognized as best actor in a play for his startling portrayal of a serial killer in InterAct Theater Company's production of Frozen and Genevieve Perrier grabbed the lead actress in a play award for her performance in the politicized domestic drama Skylight at Lantern Theater Company. It's unlikely however that any of the winners were happier than actor/director Matt Pfeiffer who took home a $10,000 cash prize as the winner of the F. Otto Haas Award for emerging Philadelphia theatre artist. (J.C.R.)