Slowly I learnt the ways of humans: how to ruin, how to hate, how to debase, how to humiliate. And at the feet of my master I learnt the highest of human skills, the skill no other creature owns: I finally learnt how to lie. Childlike in his innocence but grotesque in form, Frankenstein’s bewildered creature is cast out into a hostile universe by his horror-struck maker. Meeting with cruelty wherever he goes, the friendless Creature, increasingly desperate and vengeful, determines to track down his creator and strike a terrifying deal. Urgent concerns of scientific responsibility, parental neglect, cognitive development and the nature of good and evil are embedded within this thrilling and deeply disturbing classic gothic tale. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, adapted for the stage by Nick Dear, premiered at the National Theatre, London, in February 2011.

Nick Dear’s plays include Lunch in Venice (NT Connections, 2005); Power (NT, 2003); The Villains’ Opera (NT, 2000); Zenobia (RSC, 1995); In the Ruins (Bristol Old Vic, 1990); Food of Love (Théâtre de Complicité, Almeida, 1988); The Art of Success (RSC, 1986); Pure Science (RSC, 1986); and Temptation (RSC, 1984). He also collaborated with Peter Brook on the development of Qui est là? (Bouffes du Nord, 1996). His adaptations include The Promise (after Arbuzov, Tricycle, 2002); Summerfolk (after Gorky, NT, 1999); Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (after Molière, NT, 1992); The Last Days of Don Juan (after Tirso de Molina, RSC ,1990); and A Family Affair (after Ostrovsky, Cheek by Jowl, 1988). His screenplays include Persuasion, The Turn of the Screw, Cinderella, The Gambler, Byron, Eroica and Agatha Christie’s Poirot. Opera libretti include The Palace in the Sky (ENO / Hackney Empire, 2001); and Siren Song (Almeida Opera Festival, 1994). He has also written extensively for BBC Radio, beginning with his first play, Matter Permitted (1980).