Frankenstein | De Veenfabriek

In a laboratory filled with cables, synthesizers and organ pipes, absent-minded professors overturn the laws of nature. Death must be conquered - though the question remains whether that is a good idea.

De Veenfabriek takes Mary Shelley's 1818 gothic novel as a starting point for a steampunk-horror journey about creative ambition and its dangers. Director Joeri Vos poses questions that are just as urgent now as in Shelley's time: are we helping new monsters into the saddle, and are we at the tipping point of our own ambition?

The musicians are guided by Romantic composers, Shelley's contemporaries. Their goal: finally completing Schubert's Unfinished Symphony. The music moves between industrial horror, synthpop and ritual ecstasy. Designer John van Oostrum builds the set around a dissected pipe organ, transforming it into a full-fledged music installation.

"Our Frankenstein is about the belief that we must create something that takes control. Yet that very desire leads us astray. It is recognizable and human, but also dangerous and deceptive." - Joeri Vos

"The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters." - Antonio Gramsci

Direction | Joeri Vos
Text | Teun Smits & Joeri Vos
Performance and music | Jacobien Elffers, Milena Haverkamp, Niki Verkaar, John van Oostrum, Bastiaan Woltjer & Yonga Sun
Set design | John van Oostrum
Composition | Bastiaan Woltjer
Image | Lin Woldendorp
Acquisition & tour planning | Bureau Berbee & Jansen