Frankenstein

by Philip Pullman (Adapter), Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (Original Novelist)

Frankenstein is the famous story of a young man who thinks he can change the world by making better human beings. Instead he creates a living monster with a mind of its own...

Oxford Playscripts is a powerful series of engaging plays especially selected for 11 to 14 year-olds.

This series features:
-Exciting adaptations of modern and classic novels, and a range of original plays
-Motivating activities focusing on peformance, close text analysis, language and structure, together with varied creative tasks
-Insights into the plays by authors and adapters
-Notes on props and staging

Genres: Plays, School, Classics, Victor Frankenstein, Teaching, Drama, Science Fiction

80 pages, Paperback

First published May 24, 1990

About the author

Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman is an English writer. His books include the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials and The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, a fictionalised biography of Jesus. In 2008, The Times named Pullman one of the "50 greatest British writers since 1945". In a 2004 BBC poll, he was named the eleventh most influential person in British culture. He was knighted in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to literature.
Northern Lights, the first volume in His Dark Materials, won the 1995 Carnegie Medal of the Library Association as the year's outstanding English-language children's book. For the Carnegie's 70th anniversary, it was named in the top ten by a panel tasked with compiling a shortlist for a public vote for an all-time favourite. It won that public vote and was named all-time "Carnegie of Carnegies" in June 2007. It was filmed under the book's US title, The Golden Compass. In 2003, His Dark Materials trilogy ranked third in the BBC's The Big Read, a poll of 200 top novels voted by the British public.

Reviews

[Emaan ♡]

Read it for school. This was boring bye

[Jane]

Y8 text - we enjoyed reading this a lot and it gave us the opportunity to explore the Gothic genre and Victorian lit in a really accessible way.

[meka ౨ৎ˖°]

read it for school and it makes reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein more easy imo

[Wesley]

Super short, nice enjoyable read, does make me want to go read the book for the full experience 100%.

[Natalie Fowler]

Great play that is easy to understand for younger readers. Accessible plot and great adaptation of a classic.

[Sarah Carter]

“There is love in me the likes of which you’ve never seen. There is rage in me the likes of which should never escape. If I am not satisfied in the one, I will indulge the other.”

As a young man, Frankenstein happens to study the wrong science books. He is fascinated with the research and is captivated with the idea of how life is created. When he goes away to college, he is told he is on the wrong track and needs to read and study different authors. Instead of taking correction, he resolves to prove the theories he’s been studying by working on creating a man and bringing him to life. However, he doesn’t stop and think what will happen if he succeeds.

My husband and I are reading some classic books together and we started with Frankenstein this year. I’ve never read it or watched any of the movies, so I went into it without prejudice except that I thought the monster was named Frankenstein. He’s not.

After Frankenstein brings his man to life, he quickly realizes he created a monster. The book never describes the monster, but does say Frankenstein is created with parts found in crypts. Frankenstein flees, but the monster tracks him down and wants him to create a spouse for him. If he doesn’t, the monster promises to make Frankenstein’s life a nightmare.

I am glad that I have finally read this classic story. It was different than what I expected. The book is very descriptive and slow in parts, but it brings to mind many topics that created some good discussion with my husband. I can see why it would be a good read in a classroom setting. I’m looking forward to watching a movie or two based on the book to see how it was brought to the screen.

Read more here: https://sarahannecarter.com/frankenst...

[Gemma (Passion for Novels)]

As a ks3 playscript adapted by Phillip Pullman this is really great for y7 and y8 to get to grips with the themes of humanity

[Dawn Quixote]

I bought this for my daughter studying from home during the lockdown. I read Frankenstein when I was not much older than her and was interested to see how Pullman adapted it for the stage.
The play seemed short, it took little more than an hour to read the entire thing (and that includes coffee breaks). I liked that he introduced another female character as they were sorely missing from the novel. Mostly it just made me want to read Shelley's book again, I probably will soon!
The best thing in the book was not the play or the activities for school children to work through (although they were very interesting) but the addition of Dylan Thomas's 'The Hunchback in the Park'. I've never actually read any of his poetry before but I'm off to buy a book right now!

[Willow Stevenson]

Frankenstein is a concept that so many have heard of, yet so little know. The story of a scientist creating a monster he'd never anticipated would turn out the way it did, and the story of the monster spending it's entire life feeling threatened and hated for something outside of its control. Although this was the playscript, it left me yearning to read the novel to get a more in-depth understanding into the mind of Frankenstein, and the life of the 'monster' he created.

[Tasya]

The playscript is very interesting to read and some acts/scenes are very enjoyable but one particular scene is quite boring and it was not very entertaining but I still like the original book by Mary Shelley and it's more different then from the book. Playscript is still amusing but maybe it would be better if there is more tension into it.

[Abigail]

i think it is a very ok book , because i read it for school last year . and i found it quite interesting ( i think this is a good book id you like science fiction ) P.S it is a play . so i guess you could invent different voices for the characters . but i do not think my review counts because i did not read it willingly but if you dont care it is an ok book as i said before

[Anna]

This is a fun, short rewriting of Mary Shelley's classic novel. I worked through it with a S1 pupil (about 12 years old) and the level was good (possibly a little too easy) for her. Because I love Frankenstein, I was frustrated by how much it had been changed and how much had been omitted, but the changes have made it more accessible for young people and the storyline did make sense.

[ella ⁠]

Good!!
I read this for school but it was interesting to have a summarised version of the real story. It didn't have the ending I expected, but I guess that's good. You don't want things to be so predictable that they're boring, right?

[Matthew Trearty]

A really rushed adaptation that loses a lot of the tension and suspense of the original. I was not a fan, my students were not fans, they even said it needed to be longer to be effective (unbelievable; children actually wanting to read more)

[Charlie]

good

[Becky]

Read this as I am going to be teaching it to my year 7 students next term. Makes a classic text very accessible.

[isla 🦞]

izzy ate with those screams though frfr
so many lessons and concepts makes me wanna read the actual one

[Amelia Percy]

Had to read it with school. Really didn’t like it, thought that it was really boring. Don’t know if that was because of the actual plot or if it was because it was written as a play.

[G128T]

Love Shelley's Frankenstein but they changed the best parts :(

(read this couple months ago)

[Ashlee]

I don't like reading playscripts, but I like Phillip Pullman, and we had to read this for English. I honestly don't know why we cuoldn't just read the actual book. Anyway, it's okay. Classics, as I said, usually bore me. With the exception of Dracula. Frankenstein is a good story. Enough pain in there to enjoy it.

[Alina]

This is a friendly play script-adaptation of the book. It has annexes for developing related activities and further reflections on the concepts of outcasts, science ethics and literary composition.

I thought it was an effective condensation of the story, enough detail, and intense moments.

[Jasmine]

1st read 16th December 2021 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I really enjoyed it, simple and fun.
I may read the original text now

2nd read 17th june 2022 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I enjoyed this alot, I am defiwntly going to read thw original if I can get my hands on it.

[Charlotte]

Questing for texts for future pupils. Not that familiar with reading plays but this seemed accessible to young readers.

[lannah casey]

it was for school so it was obviously not great. however it could have been worse

[Ava]

A bit of a let down if I'm being honest. I won't judge Mary Shelley's novel by this. But damn I was expecting more.

[Sarath Babu]

They give it a fresh enough vibe to support its existence.

[Amarpal]

Definitely makes this tragic tale very accessible.