Title: The monstrous and the human : puppetry in Budapest Puppet Theatre's Frankenstein
Source document: Theatralia. 2026, vol. 29, iss. 1, pp. 13-32
Extent
13-32
-
ISSN1803-845X (print)2336-4548 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/TY2026-1-2
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/digilib.84146
Type: Article
Language
English
License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International
Rights access
open access
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
Budapest Puppet Theatre's production of Nick Dear's play Frankenstein, directed by Tamás Keresztes, foregrounds the eponymous protagonist's emotional detachment from the living as a direct motive for the hubris that brings about a series of tragedies enacted and embodied by the creature. The use of various puppetry mediates the dehumanising aspects and consequences of Frankenstein's performance as an unnatural God, the larger-than-human consequences of violating nature's law, as well as the fragmentated identity of both the creator and the creature. The analysed techniques include the modified bunraku technique using a giant puppet, the varied use of masks, video projection and shadow theatre.
References
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[35] WILLIAMS, Margaret. 2014. The Death of 'the Puppet'? In Dassia N. Posner, Claudia Orenstein, and John Bell (eds.). The Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 2014: 18–29. | DOI 10.1353/tsu.2016.a982733
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[37] WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY, Mary. 2018. Frankenstein. Planet e-book, 2018.
[2] AMES, Melissa. 2010. Vamping up Sex: Audience, Age, & Portrayals of Sexuality in Vampire Narratives. Journal of Dracula Studies 12: (2010): 1: Article 5. DOI: 10.70013/83z5a6b7. | DOI 10.70013/83z5a6b7
[3] BETTELHEIM, Bruno. 1962. Symbolic Wounds, Puberty Rites, and the Envious Male. New York: Collier Books, 1962.
[4] BOYLE, Danny. 2011. Frankenstein. Performed London: National Theatre. Performance: Theatre.
[5] BUDAPEST BÁBSZÍNHÁZ. s.a. Types of Puppets [online]. Budapest Bábszínház. [accessed on 1. 4. 2025]. Available online at https://budapestbabszinhaz.hu/en/puppet_types.
[6] CARROLL, Noël. 1990. The Philosophy of Horror or the Paradox of the Heart. New York and London: Routledge, 1990.
[7] CLARIDGE, Laura P. 1985. Parent-Child relationship in Frankenstein: A Search for Communion. Studies in the Novel 17 (1985): 1: 14–26.
[8] COHEN, Jeffrey Jerome. 1996. Monster Culture. (Seven Theses). In Jeffrey Jerome Cohen (ed.). Monster Theory: Reading Culture, Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 1996: 3–25. | DOI 10.1017/s0038713400107894
[9] CONNELLY, Frances. S. 2003. Introduction. In Frances. S. Connelly (ed.). Modern Art and the Grotesque. Cambridge: CUP, 2003: 1–19.
[10] DEAR, Nick. 2011. Frankenstein. London: Faber and Faber, 2011.
[11] DEAR, Nick and Anne K. MELLOR. 2020. Adapting the Unthinkable. Huntington Library Quarterly 83 (2020): 4: 789–798. | DOI 10.1353/hlq.2020.0027
[12] FINGESTEN, Peter. 1984. Delimitating the Concept of the Grotesque. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 42 (1984): 4: 419–426. | DOI 10.1111/1540_6245.jaac42.4.0419
[13] GERGICS, Enikő. 2022. Magasan fejlett szervezetek [Highly Evolved Organisms] [online]. Revizoronline (11. 3. 2022). [accessed on 1. 4. 2025]. Available online at https://revizoronline.com/nick-dear-frankenstein-budapest-babszinhaz/.
[14] GODA, Móni. Erőforgások/erőforrások [Rotational Forces/Resources]. Színház.net (30. 3. 2022). [accessed on 1. 4. 2025]. Available online at https://szinhaz.net/2022/03/30/goda-moni-erofor-r-gasok/.
[15] GROSS, Kenneth. 2012. Prologue: The Madness of Puppets [online]. In Puppet: An Essay on Uncanny Life. U of Chicago P, 2012: 1–10. [accessed on 1. 4. 2025]. Available online at https://press.uchicago.edu/books/excerpt/2012/gross_puppet.html.
[16] HOGLE, Jerrold E. Abjection as Gothic and the Gothic as Abjection. In Jerrold E. Hogle and Robert Miles (eds.). The Gothic and Theory: An Edinburgh Companion. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2019: 108–125. | DOI 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474427777.003.0006
[17] IAȚEȘEN, Cosmin-Mihai. 2018. Styles, Techniques and Interpretations in the Creation of Bunraku Puppets. In Ioana Petcu and Anca Doina Ciobotaru (eds.). 1918–2018: 100 Years of Theater Research in Iași. International Conference of Doctoral School for Theater and Performing Arts and the Research Center of The Faculty of Theater at the George Enescu National University of Arts. The Gruyter, 2018: 78–88. | DOI 10.2478/9783110653823-010
[18] JOHNSON, Barbara. 1982. My Mother, My Self. Diacritics 12 (1982): 2: 2–10. | DOI 10.2307/464674
[19] JUNG, C. G. 1966. The Collected Works of C. G. Jung, Vol. 16: Practice of Psychotherapy. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. E-book.
[20] JURKOWSKI, Henryk. 1988. Aspects of Puppet Theatre: A Collection of Essays. Edited by Penny Francis. London: Puppet Centre Trust, 1988. | DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-33845-7
[21] KERESZTES, Tamás. 2022. Frankenstein. Performed Budapest: Budapest Puppet Theatre. Performance: Theatre.
[22] KÉRCHY, Anna. 2015. Dilemmák a társadalmi nemek tudománya és a fogyatékosságtudomány metszéspontjain [Dilemmas at the Intersection of Gender Studies and Disability Studies]. In Ilona Hernádi and György Könczei (eds). A felelet kérdései között: Fogyatékosságtudomány Magyarországon [Among the Questions of Responses: Disability Studies in Hungary]. Budapest: Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem Bárczi Gusztáv Gyógypedagógiai Kar, 2015: 32–47.
[23] LACAN, Jacques. 2005. The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the / As Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience. In Écrits: A selection. Routledge: London and New York, 2005. E-book. | DOI 10.4324/9781003209140-1
[24] LEHMAN, Steven. 1992. The Motherless Child in Science Fiction: Frankenstein and Moreau. Science Fiction Studies 19 (1992): 1: 49–58. | DOI 10.1525/sfs.19.1.049
[25] LOKODI, Anna-Aletta. 2023. A poszthumán színterek bábszínházi formában való megelevenedése Keresztes Tamás Frankenstein-rendezésében [The Animation of the Posthuman Theatrical Space as Puppet Theatre Space in Frankenstein Directed by Tamás Keresztes] [online]. Theatron 17 (2023): 2. Available online at https://theatron.hu/theatron_cikkek/a-poszthuman-szinterek-babszinhazi-formaban-valo-megelevenedese-keresztes-tamasfrankenstein-rendezeseben/. | DOI 10.55502/the.2023.2.133
[26] MAUBERT, Oriane. 2019. Puppet and Dancer, Choreography of Object-body: Meeting, Control and Vertigo. In Marzenna Wiśniewska and Karol Suszczyński (eds.). Puppetry In The 21st Century: Reflections and Challenges. Bialystok: The Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw, Branch Campus In Bialystok, Puppet Theatre Art Department, Białystok 2019: 38–53.
[27] MOERS, Ellen. 1976. Female Gothic. In Ellen Moers. Literary Women: The Great Writers. New York, NY: Doubleday, 1976: 90–110.
[28] PIRIS, Paul. 2014. The Co-Presence and Ontological Ambiguity of the Puppet. In Dassia N. Posner, Claudia Orenstein, and John Bell (eds.). The Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 2014: 30–42. | DOI 10.4324/9781315850115.ch2
[29] POSNER, Dassnia N, Claudia ORENSTEIN and John BELL. 2014. Introduction. In Dassia N. Posner, Claudia Orenstein, and John Bell (eds.). The Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 2014: 1–12. | DOI 10.1353/tsu.2016.a982733
[30] SCOTT, Walter. 1818. [Review of Frankenstein.] Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine 2 (March 1818): 613–620.
[31] SHERWIN, Paul. 1981. Frankenstein: Creation as Catastrophe. PMLA 96 (1981): 5: 883–903. | DOI 10.2307/462130
[32] SHOWALTER, Elaine. 1985. Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness. In Elaine Showalter (ed.), The New Feminist Criticism. New York: Pantheon (1985): 243–270.
[33] THE BRITISH CRITIC. 1818. [Review of Frankenstein.] The British Critic, N.S., 9 (April 1818): 432–438.
[34] WASZKIEL, Marek. 2019. Puppeteer: Craftsman, Actor or Creator? In Marzenna Wiśniewska and Karol Suszczyński (eds.). Puppetry In The 21st Century: Reflections and Challenges. Bialystok: The Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw, Branch Campus In Bialystok, Puppet Theatre Art Department, Białystok 2019: 13–16.
[35] WILLIAMS, Margaret. 2014. The Death of 'the Puppet'? In Dassia N. Posner, Claudia Orenstein, and John Bell (eds.). The Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance. Florence, KY, USA: Routledge, 2014: 18–29. | DOI 10.1353/tsu.2016.a982733
[36] WIŚNIEWSKA, Marzenna. 2019. Performers in Polish Puppet Theatre. In Marzenna Wiśniewska and Karol Suszczyński (eds.). Puppetry In The 21st Century: Reflections and Challenges. Bialystok: The Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art in Warsaw, Branch Campus In Bialystok, Puppet Theatre Art Department, Białystok 2019: 19–31.
[37] WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY, Mary. 2018. Frankenstein. Planet e-book, 2018.