Local Theatre Stages Horrific Chills With Monstrous Depth

Despite being a classic horror story, an emotional Frankenstein is being unleashed on Windsor.

Hosted by Korda Artistic Productions, Dr. Frankenstein’s iconic monster will soon make his on-stage debut. Starting his run of terror at the Kordazone Theatre (located at 2025 Seminole Street) on Friday, October 25th, the play will continue into November. It also marks the first time Frankenstein is presented in the area.

Despite opening close to Halloween, the adaptation still provides more than scares.

“I have always loved Halloween and old monster movies,” said director Jeff Marontate. “Last year, I directed the Rocky Horror Show at Korda, and all that combined got me thinking about the Frankenstein story. No one around here has produced one — there have been lots of Draculas, which I had also considered, but no Frankensteins. I liked that this adaptation moved fast, retained elements of horror along with the big questions about life and death and focused very tightly on the love ‘quadrangle’ of Victor, Elizabeth, Henry and the Creature.”

In an attempt to defy death, a young Victor Frankenstein creates a living man from reanimated dead tissue. Lacking the ability to love or control him, however, the scientist soon decides to destroy his creation instead. Unfortunately, the newly conscious being has a mind of his own and escapes Frankenstein’s wrath before eventually returning to take his revenge.

Using Mary Wollstonecraft’s original story as a template, the adaptation presents many complicated layers.

“Most people think of Frankenstein as a horror story, which of course it is,” said Marontate. “It’s also a story of tragic ambition and unendurable loss. Audiences will enjoy the story’s special effects and gruesome aspects, but I think they’ll also debate Victor Frankenstein as a tragic protagonist. Does he deserve his fate?”

When auditions began last spring, the director wanted a mostly younger cast that was energetic and physically uninhibited. With the script emphasizing that all leading characters were under 25, it dictated the necessity for a group of youthful actors.

Rehearsing three times a week since June, the cast then fleshed out their characters. With plenty of time until opening night, everyone eased into their roles and explored different choices. As progress continued from there, several collaborative discussions with the director benefitted the play further.

Mirroring these roles, other aspects of the production were also adapted. As one example, a limited budget meant that Frankenstein’s lab is understandably less elaborate than in old movies.
Still, it didn’t mean the mood couldn’t be set through creative use of effects and other resources.

“Those aspects have been introduced as they’ve become available,” said Marontate. “Some were early, and some are still in progress. The elements of the lab have certainly excited us all! The play is a memory play with multiple locations so instead of a dozen or so sets, we use a unit set of 2 staircases and a revolve bisected by a wall.”

Resulting in a scary show that fits the Halloween season, it still comes back to the other surprising emotions the play evokes. Working from a script that has elements of humour and hints of unexplored love interests, even the director ran into things he didn’t expect.

Focusing on the show’s main themes and referring to the human body though, Marontate maintains its main questions are, “What makes the machine go” and “are body and soul separate?”

It’s these issues that will give people a lot to consider upon seeing Frankenstein for themselves.

“I want the audience to be shocked, startled and scared, but I also want them to explore the themes of the play,” he said. “Ambition, fathers and sons, the inability to love and most of all, the deep need for companionship.”

Frankenstein will be performed at the Kordazone Theatre on October 25th, 26th, 28th, 31st, November 1st, 2nd, 7th, 8th and 9th. All shows start at 8:00pm except for the 2:00pm Sunday matinee on October 27th.

Tickets are $25 each for general admission and $20 each for students and seniors. They can be purchased online by calling 226-674-1002 or at the door (cash and debit only). October 31st will be a pay-what-you-can performance, and November 7th will be a scent-free performance.

After Frankenstein’s run, Korda will continue a festive tradition. Staging their annual Holiday Panto in December, this year’s edition will be Hansel und Gretel: Behind the Gingerbread. As for 2025, the company will celebrate their 22nd season with three musicals, an Oscar Wilde classic, another spooky Halloween show and co-presentation with the Walkerville Centre for the Creative Arts.

Providing unique ways to look at theatre, keeping people engaged and surprised is something the current production hopes to do as well.
“Audiences might not know that the old Boris Karloff movies Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein only tell the slightest bit of the novel,” said Marontate. “Hopefully, they’ll leave surprised and satisfied by the depth of the relationship between Victor and his Creature.”