Official Frankenstein with Benedict Cumberbatch as the creature | Free National Theatre Full Play

D:
De Lacey

C:
Creature

F:
Frankenstein

E:
Elizabeth

De Lacey:
When people are not oppressed, they are full of brotherly love, but when times are hard, well…Then you find out who your friends are, don't you?

De Lacey:
But I have taught you how to speak, how to read! There is hope. Who knows what you may accomplish?

De Lacey:
Do you see the moon?

Creature:
There. There it is.

D:
Describe it to me.

C:
Solitary.

D:
That's a good word. Good.

C:
And sad, like me.

D:
why is it sad?

C:
Because it is solitary.

D:
Why are you sad?

C:
Because with all that I read, all that I learn, I discover how much I do not know. Ideas batter me like hailstones. Questions but no answers. Who am I? Where am I from? Do I have a family?

C:
I cannot imagine a city. The numbers are too great.

D:
We band together to help one another and do good.

C:
But then you massacre each other.

D:
Yes. It's inconsistent.

C:
All the time you say you do not know, but you do! Why do you grasp everything and I nothing? Why must I learn it all, when it flies to you on the wind? I am the one who stands outside the door. I see inside, but I daren't go in.

D:
What is it exactly that frightens you?

C:
Everything! Everything!

D:
One day, though, you will find someone who makes you the wealthiest man in creation.

C:
Will I?

D:
Yes! A good man deserves it. You are a good man. Someone will love you, whoever you are.

C:
What is love?

C:
I ran from a building. It was dark. I was frightened.

D:
Is that all you can remember?

C:
I do not know how to remember.

F:
Muscular co-ordination - hand and eye. Perfect balance! Excellent tissue and the sutures have held! I failed to make it handsome, but I have its strength and grace. What an achievement! Unsurpassed in scientific endeavour! My God, the madness of that night! The heat, the sweat, the infusions! The moment I saw it crawl towards me, and I …

C:
So you make sports with my life?

F:
In the cause of science! You are my greatest experiment, but an experiment that has gone wrong. An experiment that must be curtailed!

C:
Yes, I use it to remember being hunted like a rat, running from human places, finding refuge in the woods. I use it to remember being beaten and whipped. And I was good. I wanted to be good!

C:
I am not a slave! I am free! If you deny my request I will make you my enemy. I will work at your destructions. I will dedicate myself. I will not rest until I desolate your heart! I apologise. I did intend to reason. I am capable of logic. I do not think what I ask is immoderate.

C:
A moment ago you were amazed at my intellect, but now you harden your heart. Please, do not be inconsistent. I find it infuriating. All I ask is the possibility of love.

F:
You were an equation! A theorem. I confess it! A puzzle to be solved.

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

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

C:
And all the memory of hell will melt like snow!

E:
Why? Why did you do that?

F:
Because I had a vision. A vision of perfection. I followed Nature into her lair, and I stipped her of her secrets. I did it. I have brought torrents of light into a darkening world.

E:
You are talking about pride. You've been trying God's work. Is that what you're telling me? And it has gone awry.

E:
He must learn to take responsibility for his actions and that we must always stand up for the disadvantaged.

C:
Absolutely! Give voice to the oppresses. Will you put my case?

E:
What did you want?

C:
I did not ask to be born, but once born, I will fight to live. All life is precious - even mine.

C:
Perhaps I am a genius, too?

E:
Perhaps you are. What are you good at?

C:
I am good at the art of assimilation. I have watched, listened and learnt. At first, I knew nothing, but I studied the ways of men and slowly I learnt how to ruin, how to hate, how to debase, how to humiliate. And at the feet of my master, I learnt the highest of human skills, the skill no other creature owns. I finally learnt how to lie.

C:
My heart is black. It stinks. My mind, once filled with dreams of beauty, is a furnace of revenge! Three years ago, when I was born, I laughed for joy at the heat of the sun, I cried at the call of the birds. The world was a cornucopia to me! Now, it is a waste of frost and snow.

C:
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 am different! Why can I not be who I am? Why does humanity detest me?

C:
We can only go forward, we can never go back.

F:
Every chance I had of love, I threw away. Every shred of human warmth, I cut to pieces. Hatred is what I understand. Only you give me purpose. You, I desire.