when love turns into hatred

ナショナル・シアターの演目の中でも人気のあった作品を映画館で観れるという、ナショナル•シアター ライブ。
週末限定で日本でも公開となった、ダニー・ボイル監督による「フランケンシュタイン」を鑑賞しに、二週連続して仕事終わりにダッシュで劇場へ。
なぜ二週連続かというと、この演目の目玉でもあった主役二人の入れ替わりを楽しむため。
フランケンシュタイン博士と、彼の創造物。
己の欲望のために愛を遠ざけ、神の技を得ようとした男と、その男によって生命を与えられ、見た目のおぞましさ故に孤独の淵に追いやられ、それでもなお愛されようと戦う怪物。
この難役を、ベネディクト・カンバーバッチとジョニー・リー・ミラーの二人が交代で演じる。

まず舞台装置が素晴らしい。
無数に天井から吊り下げられた電球は、命のほとばしりや星の輝き、そして文明の光まで多様に見せてくれる。
フランケンシュタイン家のセットは、土台が斜めに歪んでいるのか、もしくは歪んで見えるように目の錯覚を利用しているのか、この一家の不運を暗示させるように頼りなく不吉だ。

そして怪物のメイクは、この作品のデザインの中でも最も重要な物だったと言える。
怪物の見た目が恐ろしければ恐ろしいほど、彼の中に芽生える人間としての心の美しさが悲壮に際立つ。
産まれたての赤子と同じに四肢の動かし方を覚え、言葉を覚え、記憶し、考え、感情を持つ。彼が学ぶほどに次々に生まれる純粋な疑問に、世界が与える答えは矛盾や混乱を招くばかり。

印象深いシーンはいくつもある。
産まれてすぐに拒絶と暴力の洗礼を受けた後、初めてあたたかい太陽の光に包まれ、そこに身体をあずけ、鳥の声に歓び、雨に喉を潤す怪物。
涙が出るほど美しく、生命のよろこびに溢れるシーンだった。

産業革命の時代を象徴するような、蒸気機関の乗り物や、鉄や歯車の回る音。
スチーム・パンク！な印象の一団が舞台に登場した瞬間の高揚感。
訳が分からず怯える怪物の戸惑いが良く伝わるシーンである。

優しくしてくれた盲目の老人から、裏切られたと叫ぶ怪物の哀しさ。
どんなに努力しても、受け入れてもらえない悲痛な叫び。
なぜ、生まれたのか？この世の何処かに仲間や家族はいるのか？
孤独な自分をなぐさめてくれる友達が欲しいだけなのに。

フランケンシュタイン博士と怪物との対話。
己の成した業に感動を禁じ得ない、唯一無二の創造主でありながら、その自らの創造物を無かったものにしたい葛藤。
しかし更なる魅力的な科学的探究に心を奪われて、新たに自ら危険な領域に足を踏み入れて行く。彼の心はプライドと道理との狭間で揺れ動く。
一方でまっすぐな心で、フランケンシュタイン博士を論破していく怪物。
ただ愛する対象を持つこと、そして愛されることのみを願う。
そこには生きるということの永遠のテーマがある。

ジョニー・リー・ミラーの演じる怪物の力強さ。太く深く響く声は怪物の生命力を感じさせ、大きく開かれた瞳は哀しみを宿している。生まれてきた哀しさ、怒り、やり場のない葛藤が背中から火炎のようにゆらめくのが目に見えるようだった。剥き出しの縫合糸が、強靭な肉体を強調するデザインになっていて、それとは対照的な、怪物の魂の繊細さが際立ち、私は何度も涙した。頑健な身体を怒りと困惑に震わせて必死で生きる道を切り開こうとする姿に悲痛さがある。
ベネディクト・カンバーバッチの怪物は、軽やかで、妖精のようなはかなさがある。ミラーとほぼ同じメイクを施しても、細身のカンバーバッチが纏う縫合跡は、ミラーのものよりも痛々しい。カンバーバッチの怪物は、言葉を得た後も幼な子の無邪気さを残したまま、怯えや哀しみを不安定な足取りや一所に落ち着かない指先で見せてくれる。自分の居場所が分からず、いじらしくシャツの裾を持て余すさまは、駆け寄って抱きしめてあげたくなるほどだった。かわいらしさとユーモアに溢れ、怒りに燃えつつも魂の根底では生命の歓びに満ちていた。だからこそ、怪物の困惑や葛藤がやるせなく際立つ。カンバーバッチは、これまでの怪物のイメージを一新してくれた。
両者の怪物、フランケンシュタイン博士を観られることの贅沢。
素晴らしい舞台だった。

なによりも、脚本と演出の質の高さがすごい。
深いテーマを扱いながら、随所にユーモアや皮肉が溢れ、笑いが生まれる。
そして、ふっと和んだシーンの直後に一転して、背筋が凍りつくような恐怖が訪れる演出。

私にとっては懐かしいイギリスの舞台に出会えて心が元気になり、原作を読みたくなった。

愛とはなんだろう？
愛が憎しみに変わる時、哀しみが生まれる。
強すぎる愛は、欲望と呼ばれるのだろうか？
プライドやエゴを捨てることはできるのか？
生きる目的や生きる心の支えがプライドなら？憎しみなら？愛なら...？

心に残った台詞がいつくか。
ここに引用したものは、メアリー・シェリーの原作をニック・ディアが脚本にした『フランケンシュタイン』より。

*
ビクター:　(『失楽園』の引用をした怪物に驚き) 『失楽園』？おまえが『失楽園』を読んだのか？
怪物:　気に入ったよ。
ビクター:　何故だ？自分をアダムに重ねたのか？
怪物:　私はアダムのはずなんだ。神はアダムを誇りに思っていた。しかし私が共感するのはサタンだ。何故なら私はサタンのように追放されたからだ、なにも悪いことをしていないのにも関わらず。そして幸せな他人を見ると、喉の奥に怒りがせり上がる。それはサタンの持つ怒りだ。

*
ビクター:　愛するとは、どういう気持ちだ？
怪物:　愛は、身体の中の命がグラグラと湧いて口からあふれだすような気持ちだ。自分の肺が燃え盛り、心臓は鉄槌のように叩き付け、この世で自分にできないものなど何もないと感じるんだ！なんだってできると！

*
ビクター(フランケンシュタイン博士):　お前が自ら招いた結果だ。
怪物:　私が？どう？どうやって？私が創ってくれと頼んだか？私があなたに袋に詰められた汚物から私を創ってくださいと頼んだというのか？私は異形だ。私は自分が他人とは違うってことをわかっている。同じになろうと努力したが、でもやはり私は違うのだ。どうして私は私のままでいられないのか？どうして人間は私をひどく嫌うのだ？・・・

******

National Theatre Live is a project to broadcast the fine productions which gained great popularity of the audience on screen.
I hurried my way to the cinema as soon as my work had finished two weeks in a row to watch Frankenstein by Danny Boyle, which they decided to show only in the two weekends in Japan.
The reason why I went to see the same play two weeks in a row was because I wanted to enjoy the swapping of the two main characters by the two main actors which was the feature of the production.
Frankenstein and his creation.
One is a man who kept love at a distance for his own desire and tried to gain the act of God. And the other was a creature which was brought to life by the man but was casted away to the edge of solitude due to his hideous appearance. And yet to fight his way to be loved.
Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternated in playing those two challenging roles.

For a start, the set was amazingly beautiful.
The coutless light bulbs express from a spout of life and a flicker of stars to light of civilization.
The house set of the Frankenstein looked like its base was slanted slightly, or maybe using an optical illusion to make it looks like it's slanted. So it's unstable as if it's suggesting the family's adverse fortune.

And the makeup design of the creature was one of the key elements of the whole production designs.
The more horrifying and ugly the creature looks, the beauty of his humane soul grows inside of him becomes more clear and tragically stands out.
As a new born baby, the creature learnt how to use his limbs, studied the language, built up his memory, think by himself, and nurture various feelings. The more he learns, the more and more pure questions he has, but the answers given by the world bring him contradiction and confusion.

There were several unforgettable scenes.
One of them was the scene when the creature was rejected by public and received the baptism of violence. And then he met the sun for the first time. He let it embrace him with its warm light and he cried for tweet of birds for joy and quenched his thirst with rain.
The scene was filled with rapture of life and I almost cried for the beauty of it.

The steam engine vehicle and the sound of iron and turning gear wheels were symbolising the time of industrialisation.
When a gang dressed in steam punk-ish costume came upon the stage, my heart got so excited.
It was very convincing that the creature was perplexed and ran around in horror.

Sorrowful moment when the blind old man's kindness turned out to be a betrayal to the creature, and he cries for distress.
No matter how hard he tries his best, he's never accepted by anyone in the world.
Why? Why was he born? Is there anyone who is his kind or a member of his family?
All he wants is a friend who can console his solitary.

A dialogue between Frankenstein and his creation.
Frankenstein struggles between the feeling of being a proud, original creator who's done an incredible work and the feeling of an urge to destroy his own creation as if it's never happened.
But he was tempted by yet another challenging scientific pursuit, and he steps into a newly dangerous realm. His heart is torn between his pride and morality.
On the other hand, the creature refutes Frankenstein by its ingenuous heart.
He just wishes to have an object to love and to be loved in return.
There is an eternal theme of life.

The creature by Jonny Lee Miller had strength. His thick, deep voice expressed the creature's force of life, and his widely opened eyes reflect his sorrow. It was as if I could see, on his back, lambent flame of sadness, anger of being born, and a riptide he could never be able to let it out. The design of crude stitches were emphasising his tough body, and I shed my tears many times to see his contrastingly delicate and fragile soul. It's heartbreaking to see that he shakes his sturdy body with rage and perplexity, but still he tries hard to find his own way to live.
The creature by Benedict Cumberbatch was light and ephemeral like a fairy. Even though he had the almost same make-up as Miller did, the stitches on slim Cumberbatche's body were more painful to behold than the ones on Miller's body. The creature he played kept innocence of an infant even after the character had learnt how to speak. He expressed his fear and sadness by his wobbling footsteps and awkwardly restless fingers. His gesture, fiddling about the hem of his shirt when he doesn't know where he should belongs to, was so dear and made me want to run to him and hold him tight. He was full of adorableness and a sense of humor. Even when he was raged, at the very bottom of his heart, there was joy of life, wherefore his perplexity and conflict disconsolately stand out. Cumberbatch renewed the image of the creature so far.
Such a luxury I could have, to be able to see the two great actors playing the both roles.
It was an incredible production.

Above all else, the quality of the playwright and direction was superb.
It was dealing with deep theme, but had irony and humor everywhere and made the audience laugh.
And as soon as our hearts were warmed, there came a sudden turn and the scene becomes horror and it froze our blood.

For me, the British palys are something I'm familiar with. They give my heart energy. This one made me want to read the original novel by Mary Shelly.

What is love?
When love turns into hatred, it brings sorrow to our hearts.
Is too strong love called desire?
Can we throw away pride and ego?
What if the reason you live or you anchor were pride? Or hatred? Or love...?

There are many lines remain in my heart.

The belows are from Frankenstein by Nick Dear, based on the novel by Mary Shelly.

*

Creature:"Is this the region, this the soil, the clime,/Said then the lost Archangel, this the seat/That we must change for Heaven, this mournful gloom/For that celestial fire."

Victor:(astonished) That's Paradise Lost! You've read Paradise Lost?

Creature:I liked it.

Victor:Why? You saw yourself as Adam?

Creature:I should be Adam. God was proud of Adam. But Satan's the one I sympathise with. For I was cast out, like Satan, though I did no wrong. And when I see others content, I feel the bile rise in my throat, and it tastes like Satan's bile.

*

Victor:How does it feel, to be in love?

Creature:It feels like all the life is bubbling up in me and spilling from my mouth, it feels like my lungs are on fire and my heart is a hammer, it feels like I can do anything in the world! Anything in the world!

*

Victor You have brought this upon yourself.

Creature Have I? How? How did I? Did I ask to be created? Did I ask you to make me from some muck in a sack? I am different, I know I am different! I have tried to be the same but I’m different! Why can I not be who I am? Why does humanity detest me? ....