Frankenstein (Dramatized)

By: Mary Shelley, Jonathan Barnes

Narrated by: Arthur Darvill, Nicholas Briggs, Geoffrey Beevers, Georgia Moffett, Terry Molloy, Alex Jordan, Geoffrey Breton

When the crew of the Oceanus rescued a man close to death, its captain could barely have guessed at the incredible story that man would come to share. This is the story of Victor Frankenstein: a man obsessed with discovering the secret of life and cheating death; a man who brings to life to a body built from corpses; and a man who rejects this would-be child....

Soon Victor and his creature are entangled in a dangerous game of cat and mouse across Europe. But who is truly the monster?

Arthur Darvill stars in this gripping audiobook adaptation of Mary Shelley’s chilling tale, dramatised by Jonathan Barnes. This release also features a bonus documentary - Behind the Screams - examining the worlds of horror in audio drama, and the full music suite, composed by James Dunlop.

©2014 Big Finish Productions (P)2014 Big Finish Productions

Critic reviews

"Jonathan Barnes and everyone involved deserve to be congratulated for the quality of this story that does full justice to the original." (Cultbox.co.uk)

"Intense, horrifying and brilliantly realised – more like this please, Big Finish." ( Sci-Fi Bulletin)

"It’s a brilliant and probably in its own terms an undervalued story, and this is a fascinating, absorbing reading of it. Highly recommended." ( Starburst Magazine)

Excellent Adaptation

Well done, you!

Well, that is supposed to be high praise for an Englishman, but since it is not long enough for submission I will say this was an enjoyable listen and worth the price.

Hopefully that will suffice.

Great dramatization, albeit not fully faithful to the original, and not as long as it looks.

This adaptation is well dramatized and performed, so if you don't care much for adherence to the original story, you'll likely enjoy it as much as I did. Otherwise, know in advance that it has a couple of meaningful deviations from the original that came out unexpectedly, which were not required for creating the audiobook.

The book itself actually covers about 3 hours of the total audio record, from chapter 1 to chapter 36 in Audible. Starting with the actors having a good time, chatting and laughing together in chapter 37, from then on until the finl, 79th chapter, you'll have extra material.

Interpretation of the Creature's voice came out perfect. Background sound, sound effects and music make the production really attractive.

should not be considered unabridged

very entertaining and good interpretation. this did leave out some parts that I were important and interpreted some other parts way differed than I had envisioned.

This interruption is pretty good

I liked the performances, this version of the story Victor is more arrogant, it's a small change but still works. The monster had a speech impediment, which still works, I always imagined it similarly when he would be starting to learn it at first, but later that it would change to normal, with a deep voice, as he is a huge begin. I didn't realize it at first but by the end I thought the monster still can't speak correctly. It works though, they also add a bit more depth to the framing device, and give Walter a bit more character. I think this might be my favorite interruption, they add some parts that also give you a bit more closure, the parts with Victors father, Justine and Victor was interesting, here he isn't really in love with Elizabeth, which I thought was a it odd but fitted this version of the character. The sound effects works well with everything, Frankenstein was always one of those rare books that I could read more than once, that and Dracula, are those that I would reread every few years, and they hold up. Just get this, it's really good, and some of the changes are a bit refreshing considering I've read this some many times.

Dramatic and chilling but some odd choices

This dramatization of Mary Shelley's novel follows the outline of the novel's action pretty closely. But some odd choices are made about the details. Victor Frankenstein, for example, is a womanizer and a murderer. (The tragedy of the servant Justine is heightened by portraying her as Victor's mistress; and as the last step in building his creature, Victor kills his colleague Waldman and takes his brain.) It's an example of how one story can fit another's template and yet be completely different in tone and meaning.

It's all well acted, of course. Allowing for the differences, Darvill is a great Victor. The music is superb, and the download includes what appears to be the complete score as an appendix. Also (as usual) includes interviews with participants in the production.