REVIEW: Gods and Monsters, Southwark Playhouse ✭✭✭✭

Will Austin and Ian Gelder in Gods And Monsters. Photo: Annabel Vere Gods And Monsters

Southwark Playhouse

4 Stars

It’s the mid fifties and British born film director James Whale - director of Show Boat, Journey’s End and classic horror films Frankenstein and Bride Of Frankenstein hasn’t made a movie in years.

Living in Los Angeles with housekeeper Maria, Whale is in isolation, his health failing following a stroke, he is reduced to a sexually tormented dotage, pursuing in his old age his artistic passions and his sexual desires. Not the life for a creative brain like Whale’s.

Life changes when Whale contrives to befriend his gardener Clayton Boone, a muscular all-American type. Boone is impressed by the film director and flattered when Whales asks to paint his portrait. Little does he know what lies in store.

Gods and Monsters is based on Christopher Bram’s novel Father Of Frankenstein, which was later made into the movie starring Ian McKellen. It’s a haunting tale showing the frustration of old age and the devastation that stroke can bring. Whale is constantly complaining of a mental fog and not wanting to take medication lest it impinge on his mental acuities.

Whale is constantly visited by flashbacks to significant moments in his youth with Barnet and Tozer, young infatuations both in his hometown of Dudley and in the trenches of World War 1.

Russell Labey has not only adapted the novel, but has undertaken the direction in this world-premiere production. Not an easy feat in anyone’s book, but Labey’s production is assured, giving his actors a chance to shine in this well staged adaptation. A simple stage design by Jason Denvir, lighting by Mike Robertson and projections by Louise Rhodes-Brown seamlessly integrate to show Whale’s flash-backs and the lightning storm inside his head as his mind deteriorates following his stroke.

Ian Gelder’s performance as James Whale is a stunning achievement. Stoic bravado shines through the frailty of an old-man’s body. You can literally see him struggle to stay in control as mind and body give way.

Gelder’s scenes with Maria played by Lachele Carl, show his razor sharp wit as she pushes him to relax and be careful, mindful that he is a ‘bugger”, and that Whale’s dalliances must be tolerated even if she disapproves.

Will Austin plays Clayton Boone, a muscular lunk, with a soft-heart inside a he-man shell. His relationship with Whale is masculine, but yet develops in a caring and compassionate way as he gains understanding of the man who created the monster. At times physically, you can’t help comparing Austin’s physicality and look to Whale’s monster and perhaps that is part of the attraction. Boone has to come to terms with Whale’s homosexuality juxtaposed with his friendship to Whale and his discomfort at times is palpable.

It’s the relationship triangle between these three characters that makes Gods and Monsters so fascinating. The relationship between Whale and Boone is a dynamic one, constantly developing with different twists and turns along the way. Whale finds a compassionate compatriot in Boone, who grows to understand the terrors that must haunt Whale as his faculties diminish.

Will Rastell and Joey Phillips create not only film student Kay and Whale’s doctor, but bring to life the flash-backs in Whales life with ease switching to Dudley dialects as if by flicking a switch. Their performances are assured and make Whale’s decline all the more heart-breaking as he stands on misty eyed.

Don’t come to Gods and Monsters expecting a re-telling of the making of Frankenstein. It’s far more than that. This is a well-told tale full of humour, emotion and well constructed characters. Gods and Monsters is a great evenings entertainment and a unique window into the mind of a creative genius. Gods and Monsters runs until March 7, 2015 at Southwark Playhouse