I will be on tour in May with a vampire slaying kit. First stop UCL on 23rd May and then on to the Bath Literary Festival. Do put the dates in your diary it is going to be such a fantastic, theatrical event for romanticists and goths alike. It is essentially an epic thriller brought to life through immersive performances, talks, workshops and activities. Welcome to the world of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein!
Listen to chilling ghost stories by candlelight read by the feminist performance troupe Scary Little Girls, as Gothic Professor, Nick Groom (University of Exeter), sets the scene of that night in the ‘year without a summer’ at the Villa Diodati, where the first version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was created. Tread carefully through Victor Frankenstein’s rooms in Ingolstadt, hear about Polidori’s The Vampyre (the other creature created at the Villa Diodati) with Dr Sam George (University of Hertfordshire) and play with a historical vampire slaying kit.
Relive the birth of the monster and learn about the scientific and medical innovations of the period with the Old Operating Theatre Museum. Listen to an original score inspired by the iconic 1931 creation scene from James Whale’s famous film adaptation, and hear Dr Sarah Artt (Edinburgh Napier University) introduce you to some of Frankenstein’s more unusual on-screen mutations. A must for fans of dodgy science and messed up gender politics. Listen to a modern beatbox retelling of Shelley’s classic novel brought to you by the Battersea Arts Centre’s BAC Beatbox Academy. Using nothing but their mouths, they will present a poetic and political interpretation inspired by the original monstrous tale of power and persecution.
Talk to literature expert Professor Richard Marggraf Turley (Aberystwyth University) and explore his Vortex by reading Mary Shelley’s novel while your biometric measurements are analysed in real time. Make your own monsters at our creation table, led by the Digital Humanities team at the School of Advanced Study, and join Professor Barry Smith (School of Advanced Study, University of London) as he experiments with your ability to distinguish the odour of fear from that of excitement.
There will be talks and activities led by Gothic experts, workshops, performers and much more!
23 May 2018 | After hours | Senate House, London
Price: £20 Standard | £10 Concessions
Booking site https://london.ac.uk/events/living-frankenstein
Contact sas.events@sas.ac.uk
020 7862 8833
Interesting. Who is supplying the vampire kit?