PLAYHOUSE OF THE DAMNED

"Frankenstein"

                                    by Richard Nathan 

The spotlight is up on our host, GUS THE GHOUL, while the set for the next story is prepared.  This is the story of Victor Frankenstein, and it takes place in his laboratory.  There should be a table with several beakers full of chemical solutions.  There should also be a bed or a slab upon which the Monster will lie.  The story takes place in the early Eighteenth Century, and the set and costumes should suggest that era.  

GUS

You all have probably heard of the old plantation master. 
Here's the story of the old transplantation master; that
famous doctor who had not patients, so he built himself one. 
Yes, he built a man from scratch.  And you know what
you get when you build a man from scratch, don't you? 
You get a son of an itch.  So let's join our hero in his
laboratory.  Let's join Dr. Frankenstein.

 

Gus exits.  The spotlight goes out, and during the blackout, DR. FRANKENSTEIN and the MONSTER take their places on the set.  The Monster lies on the bed, completely covered by a sheet.  As the lights come up, Dr. Frankenstein is checking his beakers.  After a moment, there is a loud, insistent knocking on the door.

 

                                                            DR. FRANKENSTEIN
                                    Is that you, Wolfgang?

 

                                                            ELIZABETH
                                                (off-stage)
                                    Victor?

 

                                                            DR. FRANKENSTEIN
                                    Damn!

 

                                                            ELIZABETH
                                                (off-stage)

                                    Victor, it's me, Elizabeth!

 

                                                            DR. FRANKENSTEIN
                                    Would you mind coming back tomorrow?  I'm 
                                    very busy.

 

                                                            ELIZABETH  
                                                (off-stage)
                                    Victor, I must see you!

 

                                                            DR. FRANKENSTEIN  
                                    I don't have time now!

 

ELIZABETH

(off-stage)

But I'm your fiancee!  I haven't seen you for weeks!

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

I promise we'll be together soon.  My experiment is almost
finished.

 

                                                            ELIZABETH
                                                    (off-stage)

I will not leave this door until I see you!!!

 

Dr. Frankenstein angrily inspect to lab to make sure the Monster is well-covered, then he strides to the door and flings it open.  ELIZABETH, his beautiful young fiancee, enters.

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

You've just torn me away from the most important
experiment in the history of mankind.  Does that
make you happy?

 

ELIZABETH

Ecstatically!

 

She kisses him on the cheek, but he refuses to respond.

 

ELIZABETH

Oh Victor!  What has come over you?  You've broken
your poor father's heart.  Where were you yesterday?

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

Here in my laboratory, of course.

 

ELIZABETH

Why weren't you at your mother's funeral?

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

I don't like funerals.

 

ELIZABETH

Victor!

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

All those weeping old women and their ceremonies
of submission to death!

 

ELIZABETH

What are you talking about?

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

My work does more to honor my mother than all
of the funerals in history!

 

ELIZABETH

How can working on the day of your mother's
funeral honor her death?

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

No her death!  I will never honor death!  I honor life!!!

 

He is raving like a madman, scaring Elizabeth.

 

ELIZABETH

Victor, you've changed.

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

Yes!  I am about to accomplish a miracle!  Soon my
name shall be celebrated throughout Europe:  Victor
Frankenstein, the man who defeated death!

 

ELIZABETH

But death is part of God's plan.

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

Then it is time God was taught a new plan.

 

ELIZABETH

This is blasphemy!  You work has corrupted you! 
It has made you evil!  I'm going to tell your father
that I am breaking off our engagement!

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

Good!  Go ahead!  You do not have the courage
to be a Frankenstein!

 

Elizabeth runs out in tears.  Dr. Frankenstein goes back to his chemicals.  A few seconds later, his assistant WOLFGANG comes through the door.  Wolfgang carries a large jar which contains a human brain.

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

Wolfgang!  I see you have purchased the brain!

 

WOLFGANG

Yes.  The graverobber says I am his very best
customer.  He asked me if I wanted to buy any
other organs, but I told him, "Not today."

 

Dr. Frankenstein takes the jar and examines the brain.

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

It looks fresh enough.  I think we are ready for
the final stages of our experiment.

 

Dr. Frankenstein goes over to the Monster.  He lifts the upstage part of the sheet, so that the Monster remains hidden from the audience.  Wolfgang brings over the necessary chemicals, as Dr. Frankenstein begins to operate behind the sheet..

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

First we slip the brain into the cranial cavity.  There!

 

WOLFGANG

Will he live now, Doctor?

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

No, not yet.  First we must pour on my serum which
heals the deceased brain, which was badly damaged
due to the lack of fresh blood and oxygen.  Death is
a very unhealthy state for the brain.  See how the serum
heals all the damage death has done!  Look!  The brain
is attaching itself to the spinal cord!

 

WOLFGANG

Doctor, it is spectacular!

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

Now I put back the top of the skull...  fasten it down
right here...  push back the flap of the scalp like this... 
sew it together...  and we are done!

 

WOLFGANG

But Doctor, he's still dead!

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

That's why we need the second serum, to start the
heart!  Let me pour it down his throat...

 

Behind the sheet, Dr. Frankenstein pours the second serum down the Monster's throat.  The Monster groans.

 

WOLFGANG

Doctor!  Did you hear that?

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

He's alive!  I have defeated death!  I am the greatest
doctor of all time!

 

The Monster sits up.  He is a huge, horrible, ugly brute.

 

MONSTER

A great doctor you may be, but as a housekeeper
you've got a lot to learn.

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

What?

 

MONSTER

Look at this dust!  Is this how you keep your room clean?

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

Wolfgang!  Where did that brain come from?

 

WOLFGANG

From the graverobber!  I didn't ask him where he got it!

 

MONSTER

So, Victor, this is where you spend so much of your time,
you can't ever see your family?  You should get out more. 
Get some sun!

 

Dr. Frankenstein is enraged!  He's ready to kill Wolfgang!

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

Do you realize what you've done?

 

The Monster looks down and notices its huge ugly body for the first time.

 

MONSTER

Wait a minute!  Is this me?  I could use some sun myself! 
Maybe lately I haven't been feeling so good, but this
bad I never felt!  Victor, have you been up to your
old tricks again?

 

DR. FRANKENSTEIN

I'm sorry!  I didn't know!  It was only an experiment!

 

MONSTER

Some experiment!  My son, the doctor!!!

 

Blackout!  The cast exits in the darkness.  GUS THE GHOUL enters, and a spotlight picks him up.

 

GUS

I've often heard of inheriting your parent's brains, but
I think Dr. Frankenstein could have at least waited for
the reading of the will.  Perhaps a better title for this
story would have been "Son of Frankenstein."

 

 

THE END