At Platte Valley, Jeffrey Parker gives a shocking performance of a creature on the run.

Nick Dear’s stage adaptation of Frankenstein is a darker, more complex and violent version of Mary Shelley’s novel told from The Creature’s point of view. Like Wicked, Grendel, The Penguin and others, it’s an intriguing alt-plot that acknowledges that the path of the villain is often packed with dramatic possibility.

It’s a bold move by Platte Valley Theatre Arts to present such a dark show for the small community, but Director Kelly Van Oosbree pulls it off with the help of a startling and raw performance by Jeffrey Parker as The Creature. Much effort was also spent on the technical aspects of the show, with sound, lighting and scenic/visual design all contributing to a vivid sensory experience alongside the grim plot.

It’s all there at the very top of the show. Dear’s dispensed with any of the leadup and details about how Victor Frankenstein builds his creature and skips right to the birth scene. There’s Parker, looking oddly Christ-like on an elevated platform, a simple wrap around his middle being crucified into existence with a series of light flashes and electric-shock stings.

Victor (Bill Diggle) is horrified by the appearance of his creation and immediately abandons it, leaving The Creature flailing about trying to make sense of the world it’s been forced into. He’s crawling, falling, figuring out how to stand, how to walk. It’s fascinating to see the erudite Parker, a theatre professor and dialect coach, work through a series of moans and grunts before he learns to speak.

Other than a shaggy mane of hair, Parker has no prosthetics or makeup. As Van Oosbree says in her director’s note, it was a deliberate decision to allow how people react to him to illustrate his appearance — asking the audience to “see The Creature not as a monster, but as a mirror. What makes him horrifying is not how he looks, but how he is treated.”

It’s the right call, and Parker’s performance, along with the rest of the cast that interacts with him, perfectly portrays what’s going on. There are a great many human-relations questions raised by the play, but how we treat “the other” is at the center — and The Creature is always on the receiving end of hatred and derision.

Except, of course, in his dealings with the character De Lacey, a blind man left alone in a cabin by his son and daughter-in-law. Played beautifully by Vern Moody, it’s an oasis of the better side of humanity as The Creature is taught by De Lacey how to read. That all comes crashing down with the return of his family — casting The Creature out despite the old man’s protestations — yet another reminder that prejudice often knows no logic or reason.

Enraged, The Creature before he torches the cabin, killing all within in a striking scene augmented by projections that realistically depict the fire consuming all. Scenic Designer Jeff Rusnak also designed the video visuals, many of which are projected onto large tiles hanging down on either side of the main playing area. Sound Designer Erin Kubat and Lighting Designer Brett Maughan also deserve a lot of credit for creating such an impactful audio-visual experience.

Jeffrey Parker, left, as The Creature and Bill Diggle as Victor Frankenstein. | Photo: RDGPhotography

While The Creature — armed with Victor’s diary he found in his rags and has since learned to read — sets out to find his creator, we learn a lot more about the weasely scientist who’s run from his greatest creation. Diggle convincingly portrays Victor as an insufferable prig, who treats his fiancée Elizabeth (Jordann Zbylski) like a doormat while hiding the truth from her at every step.

Nearly every scene in Frankenstein is disturbing in one way or another. Whether it’s the depictions of rape and murder or in the mob mentality aimed at The Creature before people even know what it is, the play is as gritty as it gets. While it’s certainly a strong entry for spooky season, it transcends the usual scare tactics of other horror stories because of how close it mirrors real society. Sure, the stitched-together remains of dead people into a murderous golem is terrifying, but what it brings out in those around it is what really cuts to the bone emotionally. (A dream sequence about The Creature meeting a mate, played by Rachel Graham, is also a striking part of the show.)

Van Oosbree, highly skilled at directing lighthearted musicals, shows her interest in plumbing the depths of the dark side along with Parker and Diggle. With an excellent supporting cast portraying townspeople, family members and authorities, this Frankenstein transcends the iconography of the original lumbering giant and has audiences leaving the theatre feeling deeply unsettled. If that’s what you’re looking for in an October play, this is a tough one to beat. But hurry — there’s only one weekend left to see it.

Jordann Zbylski and Bill Diggle in ‘Frankenstein.’ | Photo: RDGPhotography

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