Playing
With Fire
(After Frankenstein)

By Barbara Field
Based on the novel by
Mary Shelley

presented at BoHo Theatre @ Heartland Studio
March 6 — April 12, 2009

Directed by
Peter Marston Sullivan

Produced by
Thomas J. Samorian

Cast: Kevin Cox, Adam Kander, Laura Rook, Clay Stamper, Jeremy Young, and Buck Zachary

An exhausted and dying Victor Frankenstein has finally tracked down his Creature in the lonely, frozen tundra of the North Pole. Determined to right the wrong he has committed by, at last, destroying the malignant evil he believes he has created, Frankenstein finds that he must first deal with his own responsibility and guilt-for, as their fascinating confrontation develops, it is evident that the Creature has become a pathetic, lonely and even sensitive being who wants only to find love and that he, Frankenstein, by intruding into the very secrets of life, is truly the evil one.

Ultimately the exchange between Frankenstein and the Creature becomes a confrontation between parent and child, scientist and experiment, rejection and love, and even good and evil-culminating in the Creature's agonizing question, "Why did you make me?" It is a question the exhausted Frankenstein cannot answer and, as the play ends, the Monster lives on, condemned to pass his remaining days in the awful loneliness he has so desperately sought to escape.

Rave reviews for Playing With Fire:

"On every level is succeeds with riveting story telling and enthralling ambiance."
- Venus Zarris, Chicago Stage Review - (Highly Recommended)

"Sullivan's superb ensemble stirs wonder and dread through the power of language."
- Albert Williams, The Chicago Reader (Highly Recommended)

"Kevin Cox and Adam Kander shine as The Creature's present and past."
- Lisa Buscani, New City Chicago (Highly Recommended)

"Sullivan's fine cast make it all click."
- Web Behrens, Chicago Free Press (Highly Recommended)