First Folio's 'Gravedigger' poses provocative questions
Can a terrible act be forgiven? Can a despicable creature redeem himself?
Those are the questions Joseph Zettelmaier raises in "The Gravedigger," his "Frankenstein"-inspired drama - in its world premiere at First Folio Theatre in Oak Brook - which imagines events Mary Shelley did not include in her 1818 novel.
Zettelmaier sets the play during the months after the Creature, which Dr. Victor Frankenstein created, murders the doctor's bride and flees, pursued by his vengeful "father" whose quest ends when a North Pole-bound captain and his crew rescue him from an Artic ice floe.
But the power of "The Gravedigger" comes not from the filling of narrative gaps, but from Zettelmaier's provocative examination of guilt, penance, compassion and redemption, through the stories of four spiritually and physically exiled souls atoning for their sins.
Among the outcasts is Kurt, the gravedigger sage compassionately played by Craig Spidle. A onetime cleric who left the priesthood after falling in love with a woman, he works as a caretaker in a Bavarian cemetery. There's gypsy girl Nadya (the spirited Simina Contras). Cast out for falling in love with a man not of her clan, she seeks solace in the graveyard. Also seeking solace is the Creature (newcomer Josh Carroll), who desperately wants to make amends for his transgressions. Finally, there is the relentless Victor (Doug MacKechnie), whose hubris, disruption of the natural order and rejection of the being he created has cost him everyone he holds dear and set in motion the tragic events that make up this horror tale.
Set during the late 18th century, the play begins with a meeting between MacKechnie's dapper, arrogant Victor - whose surname is never mentioned - and Spidle's hobbled Kurt, whom Victor hires to procure body parts from corpses. The action then flashes forward a year to Kurt's encounter with the Creature - a hulking man with a scarred and bandaged face - whom he finds huddling in an open grave, begging for death.
Recognizing a fellow penitent, Kurt takes pity on the stranger, who calls himself Anton, and offers him a place to stay and a job digging graves. For Anton, who has been denied any human contact, it marks the first time he has experienced kindness and companionship. His second experience comes courtesy of Nadya, with whom Anton develops a tentative friendship. A kind of rehabilitation ensues as Anton embraces (literally) his inherent humanity. But it's cut short by the arrival of Victor, who is determined to kill the "abomination" he made.
Helming First Folio's premiere is the sure-handed Alison C. Vesely, who has crafted some gripping, even shocking, moments, particularly in the play's superior second act.
Carroll brings an earnest innocence to Anton, the rejected child desperate for his father's affection. But his performance could benefit from more subtlety, like that evidenced by Spidle and MacKechnie.
There is a focused fury and tightly reined menace to MacKechnie's Victor, who seems unable to fully acknowledge his culpability in his own suffering. As for Spidle, he brings to the quietly self-aware Kurt a world-weary compassion that is quite affecting.
Also worth noting is Angela Weber Miller's eerie, isolated graveyard. Michael McNamara's shadowy lighting suggests perpetual midnight in the cemetery, where stately decay is reflected in the weathered headstones and overgrown foliage.
Not everything works. Some of the language and humor feels out of place in this 18th-century tale. That said, the success of "The Gravedigger" rests with the weighty questions it poses.
For both Anton and Victor, a reckoning awaits. But whose sin is greater? The Creature, who lashes out violently because his "father" failed to provide him moral instruction? Or Victor, who disregards moral and natural law to satisfy his ego? And who is more worthy of redemption? The repentant killer, now a changed man? Or the man who would be God?
“The Gravedigger”
★ ★ ★
Location: Mayslake Peabody Estate, 1717 W. 31st St., Oak Brook, (630) 986-8067,
Showtimes: 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday through Nov. 2. Also 4 p.m. Oct. 25. No show Oct. 16. In place of an 8 p.m. show Oct. 31, doors open at 8:30 p.m. for “Mayhem at the Mansion,” which includes refreshments, a mansion tour, a costume contest and an 11 p.m. performance.
Running time: About two hours, including intermission
Tickets: $25-$39
Parking: Free lot adjacent to the estate
Rating: For teens and older