What must it be like to reach a stage of life when you have nothing left but your past?
James Whale — director of such 1930s films as “Frankenstein,” “Bride of Frankenstein,” “Show Boat,” and more — finds himself in that moment in the aptly titled “Gods & Monsters,” onstage at New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco.
He is 67, faced with very bad news from his doctor, struggling to keep his mind and body intact, living mid-century as a boldly uncloseted gay man in his mansion with only his devoted housekeeper.
Visions of his past — his Hollywood heyday, his movies, a tragedy from his memorable stint in the trenches during World War I — fill his destabilized mind, haunting him.
Tom Mullen’s stage adaptation based on Christopher Bram’s 1995 novel “Father of Frankenstein” about Whale, who was found dead in his swimming pool in 1957, dramatizes Whale’s last hurrah by pulling out all the theatrical stops. (The story is also the basis of the 1998 movie starring Ian McKellen and Brendan Fraser.)
Director M. Graham Smith festoons NCTC’s small stage with clips of scenes from “Frankenstein.” The set design, with impressive projections, is by Maya Linke. The immersive, spine-tingling soundscape of horror-flick effects is by designer Lana Palmer. There also are occasional appearances of famous stars from Whale’s movies: Elsa Lanchester with her fright wig, and Boris Karloff, for example.
The sound and fury are often too much for the small space to effectively contain, although they do mirror Whale’s internal thoughts and visions. A special treat is a short clip of Paul Robeson singing “Old Man River” in “Show Boat.”
Along with the effects, the cleverly adaptable set design and the accompanying razzle-dazzle, this is also a play that explores themes of contemporary concern. When Whale hires his gardener, Clayton, a Black man (played with great dignity by Jason M. Blackwell), to pose for him in his sudden artistic fervor, a bond develops between the two men, both of whom know what it is to feel like outsiders.
As the play continues, the Mexican housekeeper, Maria (Francine Torres, wry and tough in the role), becomes a complex character. Her own life struggles, like Clayton’s and Whale’s, deepen and elevate the play into much more than a biographical look at the last days of a famed figure on an inevitable downhill slide.
Still, just as the set and sound can seem overdone, hokey at times, in the confined space, the many scenes and various threads of the plot feel like overload. So do the various minor characters, some of whom are trying way too hard to be funny and, in any case, dilute a plot that crams in too much — well, theatricality.
When, near the end of the play, Whale finally has an emotional, raging fit (Donald Currie is heartbreaking as the once-celebrated man), it’s a relief, after all the theatrics, to finally get to the core of the central character’s pain.
“Gods and Monsters” continues through April 5 at New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco. Tickets are $35.50-$72 at nctcfs.org.
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