Whether it was dark and stormy in the late 1970s, when Chris and Tim Britton formed Forkbeard Fantasy, I cannot say. Nor does it matter much, really. The point is that it is this production company who are currently at the Old Vic with their piece based around the Frankenstein story as told by Mrs Shelley, and some of the myths which surround its creation and creator (that's Shelley again for the slower ones). Forkbeard pride themselves on their innovative and interesting form of presentation - combining moving images (that is, films) with moving people (real actors), seamlessly and in as clever a way as possible. The result is a piece which, if nothing else, looks truly spectacular.

Here, however, lies the problem. We live in a high-tech age, an age where a team of mad men can run one of Bristol's most popular website's and where we can send man to the moon (er... mankind can, that is, not the Nowt2Do team, although money is being taken on how long it will be before Chris tries...). I do realise that it may be a little-old fashioned, therefore, to expect all the technical brilliance that Forkbeard undoubtedly bring, and to have a plot with it as well. But there you go. In trying to open theatre up for more people to enjoy, they have lost track of that most vital element of anyone's enjoyment of theatre - a storyline.

The first Act was totally bereft of anything approaching one. At times it looked frightfully like a piece thought up to educate GCSE students about the book - statistics on how many plays, films, other books have been written around Shelley's orginal and so on - and at only one point in the first Act - the amusing interchange between Shelley, Byron and her lover, did it really raise a laugh. The effects were very clever indeed, no question, but they were used to frequently, which fragmented the first half and ruined the continuation utterly. It seemed unsure of where it was going, and what it was trying to put across - what, in short, was the purpose of this piece?

The second Act answered this last question at a stroke - there is no point to this play. It is simply there to amuse, and there, at last, I have found a slice of the good old-fashioned theatre that I know and love. Once the script and plot had agreed that the sole purpose was to entertain, the educational side went out the window, as did the more irritating aspects of the first Act, and the fun began. The second Act does not use the film so much, which makes it far easier to follow the action, and it is utter comedy right through. It drops a little in the middle, but the start and end are true genius, some fantastic gags and many truly ironic moments that the audience sadly did not always pick up on.

The cast are always what the audience sees most obviously, but rarely are they also the people who work backstage and produce the show as well. The brothers Britton are, as has already been mentioned, the heads of the company, and as such they get the choicest roles, which they do competently enough. Most of the other characters are done fairly decently as well, no performances really standing out, apart from Jonathan Priest as Igor, who injects many of the play's funniest moments, not least when he appears in a suit mid way through the second Act (you have to see the Igor costume to fully appreciate why exactly that is funny, but trust me, it is).

Overall, the first Act can safely be said to be possibly the worst hour of theatre I have ever sat through, especially after such a promising start with the curtains opening slowly as the scene goes on, but the second Act is by contrast one of the funniest I have ever sat through, worth the entrance fee alone. In fact I almost recommended buying tickets and then turning up at half time, but aside from annoying the theatre people immensely this would leave you in the dark when many of the jokes came out in the second Act, and would also leave you thinking you had missed something, even though you hadn't. All I shall say, then, is stick with it - buy a ticket, don't walk out, and stay to watch the second Act - you shall get your money's worth eventually.

Sadly though, the true dreadfulness of the first Act doesn't allow me to give it more than three out of five. But don't fret, if I could rate them seperately I'd give the second six. Go and see it, if only to say you have done so.

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