The Best Players were supposed to put on a musical this year.
But because of the late restriction lift, Dr. Charles Best Secondary wasn’t going to take the risk to put on a major song and dance production this spring.
Instead, the drama teacher dipped into his stack of scripts and found a play that previous students had done on the Coquitlam school stage more than two decades ago: Frankenstein 1930.
“It’s a dynamic show,” teacher Brad Case told the Tri-City News during a rehearsal on Pro-D Day last Friday. “It speaks to a more innocent time when you could identify who the monsters really are.”
Based on the original 1931 film of Mary Shelley’s 19th century thriller — and adapted by Fred Carmichael — the two-act play follows the scientist Victor Frankenstein (Ethan Wingrove) as he creates a monster (Luka McGowan).
The crazed Frankenstein is eager to turn death into life in his stone-walled laboratory, but his monster terrorizes the village people and “plays with things that he shouldn’t play with. He has no boundaries,” Case said.
Case said the narrative has parallels to today’s deadly battle in Ukraine, where Russia’s Putin is mounting a brutal invasion. And the consequences of Putin’s obsession has resulted in a reign of terror on civilians in the neighbouring country.
Co-directed by Jessica O’Brien–Visbisky, Frankenstein 1930 involves a cast of 21 and a crew of 25.
Other leads include Joe Porter as Dr. Hellstrom, Aaron Tripp as Harry Lovitz, Laura Calabresi as Aunt Frederica, Kate Gilby as Elizabeth, Nick Skaric as Gorgo and Daisy Logue as Berta.
Tickets for Frankenstein 1930 are $12/$10 via Dr. Charles Best Secondary (2525 Como Lake Ave., Coquitlam) by calling 604-461-5581. The show runs May 5–7 and May 12–14 at 7:30 p.m. The box office opens at 6:30 p.m., while the doors open at 7 p.m.
