The Frankenstein Summer

  • Marc Geller
    Photos courtesy of The Red Light District Theatre

  • Abby Royle, Tracey Gilbert, Marc Geller, Brad Malow, Brendan McMahon, & Bill Roulet
    Photos courtesy of The Red Light District Theatre

  • Brendan McMahon & Abby Royle
    Photos courtesy of The Red Light District Theatre

  • Marc Geller, Abby Royle, & Brad Malow
    Photos courtesy of The Red Light District Theatre

  • Abby Royle & Brendan McMahon
    Photos courtesy of The Red Light District Theatre

  • Abby Royle
    Photos courtesy of The Red Light District Theatre

  • Abby Royle & Marc Geller
    Photos courtesy of The Red Light District Theatre

Synopsis

Lord Byron, England’s most famous exiled poet, wants to go sailing, but his plans are foiled when a violent storm rocks the shores of Lake Geneva. Frustrated, virtually trapped inside the Villa Diodoti, Byron finds relief when his new friend and neighbor, Percy Shelley, arrives seeking shelter. Accompanying Shelley are his mistress, Mary Godwin, and Mary’s stepsister, Claire. As the rain continues to pour, the friendly gathering of neighbors turns into a weekend fraught with secrets, scandals, ghost stories and musical beds. In other words… things get complicated.

Two Acts

Cast

Byron most famous poet of the Romantic Age
Polidori Byron’s personal physician
Shelley poet and advocate of “free love”
Mary Shelley’s mistress
Claire Mary’s stepsister and Byron’s former lover
Fletcher Byron’s butler/valet and faithful confidante

Specs

Cast Size: 6 (4m, 2w)
Approximate Run Time: 1h 40m
Number of Acts: Two
Script Sample
Request Rights


Production History

Winner, 2004 Hudson River Classics New Play Competition, New York

Winner, 2004 Southwest Theatre Association New Play Prize

Winner, 2004 Theatre Conspiracy’s New Play Prize, Florida

The Frankenstein Summer was first produced in 2005 by The Red Light District Theatre (New York, NY), Red Light District, Producer



Reviews

“…a literary candy dish of sexually charged hijinks…”
Michael Dale, BroadwayWorld.com
“…an entertaining play, which retells this episode of literary history with sophistication and wit.”
Martin Denton, nytheatre.com
“More to the point, there is thunder and lightning in the dialogue as these literary giants singe each other with language that sparks and burns.”
Barbara & Scott Siegel, Theatremania.com
“Bush’s dialogue is witty with an overlay of the conversational brilliance credited to the dandified British Regency era.”
Frederick M. Winship, UPI
Cast Size: 6 (4m, 2w)
Approximate Run Time: 1h 40m
Number of Acts: Two
Script Sample
Request Rights

Synopsis

Lord Byron, England’s most famous exiled poet, wants to go sailing, but his plans are foiled when a violent storm rocks the shores of Lake Geneva. Frustrated, virtually trapped inside the Villa Diodoti, Byron finds relief when his new friend and neighbor, Percy Shelley, arrives seeking shelter. Accompanying Shelley are his mistress, Mary Godwin, and Mary’s stepsister, Claire. As the rain continues to pour, the friendly gathering of neighbors turns into a weekend fraught with secrets, scandals, ghost stories and musical beds. In other words… things get complicated.

Two Acts

Cast

Byron
most famous poet of the Romantic Age
Polidori
Byron’s personal physician
Shelley
poet and advocate of “free love”
Mary
Shelley’s mistress
Claire
Mary’s stepsister and Byron’s former lover
Fletcher
Byron’s butler/valet and faithful confidante

Reviews

“…a literary candy dish of sexually charged hijinks…”
Michael Dale, BroadwayWorld.com
“…an entertaining play, which retells this episode of literary history with sophistication and wit.”
Martin Denton, nytheatre.com
“More to the point, there is thunder and lightning in the dialogue as these literary giants singe each other with language that sparks and burns.”
Barbara & Scott Siegel, Theatremania.com
“Bush’s dialogue is witty with an overlay of the conversational brilliance credited to the dandified British Regency era.”
Frederick M. Winship, UPI

Production History

Winner, 2004 Hudson River Classics New Play Competition, New York

Winner, 2004 Southwest Theatre Association New Play Prize

Winner, 2004 Theatre Conspiracy’s New Play Prize, Florida

The Frankenstein Summer was first produced in 2005 by The Red Light District Theatre (New York, NY), Red Light District, Producer

Script Sample
Request Rights