Cumberbatch and Miller Frankenstein live-stream
In case you missed this production of Frankenstein, here is a recap on the background and what is going to happen. In 2011, the legendary Danny Boyle directed a theatre version of Frankenstein starring Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch. Apart from being a brilliant adaptation of the book, it had a further twist – the two actors swapped roles every night. So one night would be Cumberbatch as Dr Frankenstein with Miller as his monster. The next night, they would swap.
Obviously, not everyone was lucky enough to be in London on the nights the play went out. I was, but tickets were impossible to get. Happily, the National Theatre (that’s a link to the YouTube page) filmed the event, (well, both events,) and then played them in arty cinemas across the UK. Maybe elsewhere, I don’t know. I was lucky enough to catch that and it was absolutely brilliant. Like the play, Dr Frankstein was played by each actor on alternate nights. When I saw it, Miller was Frankenstein and Cumberbatch the monster. Here was my review at the time. tl;dr – it was absolutely brilliant.
Well, there is some good news. The National Theatre is streaming both versions of Frankenstein on its YouTube channel on the 30th April and 1st May at 7 pm GMT. You don’t even have to go to an arty cinema. I really can’t recommend this production enough. It is one of the versions of Frankenstein that is closest to the Mary Shelley book, which is also superb and worth a read. If you have the time, and we all know that you do, you should definitely check it out. One final time: this is the National Theatre YouTube page. Here is a trailer:
