Mary Shelley by Helen Edmundson

Directed by Martin Lewton

With Pedro Chicau, Elena Franquesa Villalba, Gabriel Gomez, Anouk Heijnen, Meshe Koncsos, Ari Moreno & Eva Politakis

Helen Edmundson's Mary Shelley is a play that explores the extraordinary life of the author of Frankenstein. It was first performed in a co-production between Shared Experience, Nottingham Playhouse and West Yorkshire Playhouse, at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, on 16 March 2012.

The play centres on a crucial episode in Mary's early life. Her parents, radical feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft and political philosopher William Godwin, are struggling under the weight of heavy debts. When young poet Percy Bysshe Shelley becomes a regular visitor to the house, his financial stability and dangerous charisma charms the family, especially Godwin’s three young daughters. But it is feisty young Mary who becomes the object of his affections. The play details their scandalous elopement when Mary was just sixteen and the impact it has upon her stepmother, her sisters and above all, her troubled father. Three years after this life-changing event, Mary would write one of the greatest novels in the English language, Frankenstein, which changed the literary landscape forever.

Important Information:

This play contains suicide and infant death scenes 

Running Time: 2 hours 30 minutes with intermission

Age Recommendation: Not recommended for under 16

Entry Policy: No entry once the show begins