AN exciting partnership has been formed between the Theatre Royal Bath Theatre School and Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein in the city. The students and the museum will be producing a new production to explore the life and writing of Mary Shelley, the creator of the gothic horror story, Frankenstein.

Around 20 young people, aged between 16 to 18, will work alongside locally-based award-winning writer and director Stephanie Kempson and theatre maker Alice Lamb on the project.

The Creator is an immersive theatre experience, devised and performed by members of youth company, with performances, from Wednesday 10th to Friday 12th April at the House of Frankenstein. The young theatre makers will lead small audience groups around the museum. Each room will reveal fascinating insights into Mary Shelley’s remarkable life, and how she came to write Frankenstein.

The Creator is one of three plays featured as part of Danse Macabre: The Art of Darkness, a festival of gothic fantasy and horror created by Theatre Royal Bath’s Theatre School, running from 10th to 13th April. The three productions will explore gothic writers and the monsters they created. As well as The Creator, the festival also features Evermore, a devised play based on the writing of Edgar Alan Poe, in the Roper Room at The Egg on 11th and 12th April, and The Monstrum by Kellie Smith appearing at The Egg on 12th and 13th April.

Opened in July 2021, Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein is an award winning, multi-sensory museum where visitors can discover Shelley’s unconventionally tragic life and the lasting legacy of her infamous creation. The attraction features unusual artefacts, ominous soundtracks, bespoke smells and effects.