Frankenstein’s Mary Shelley

by Rachel Atkins

Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein is one of the most known and retold stories in the world. Frankenstein’s Mary Shelley tells the equally compelling true story of Frankenstein’s young author alongside her original tale of horror. An unmarried, ostracized, pregnant teenage mother when she wrote her first novel, Mary Shelley faced as much death, drama, romantic and family problems during its writing as her...

Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein is one of the most known and retold stories in the world. Frankenstein’s Mary Shelley tells the equally compelling true story of Frankenstein’s young author alongside her original tale of horror. An unmarried, ostracized, pregnant teenage mother when she wrote her first novel, Mary Shelley faced as much death, drama, romantic and family problems during its writing as her characters do. The ways her life informed her creative choices sheds new light and offers a new point of view about this classic horror story. Moving back and forth between the layered worlds of the book and the world in which Mary Shelley was writing (and sometimes blending the two), Frankenstein’s Mary Shelley is a dark, gothic drama about an extraordinary young woman, the strange times she lived in, and all her many monsters.

Ideal for university, high school and youth productions. Two 30-minute, competition-length versions of this script are also available (for larger and smaller casts): https://newplayexchange.org/plays/208033/frankenstein%E2%80%99s-mary-sh…

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Frankenstein’s Mary Shelley

Recommended by

  • Lydia Coats: Frankenstein’s Mary Shelley by Rachel Atkins
    “

    We were delighted to present this play for the Texas UIL One Act Play competition in 2025. The roles for women are beautifully textured and all roles provide actors with nuanced opportunities for development. Audiences responded particularly well to the interweaving of scenes from Mary Shelley's life and scenes from the novel Frankenstein. Recommend collaborating with English Lit teachers who read Frankenstein in their curriculum! Plus Ms. Atkins was a pleasure to work with for obtaining rights.

    We were delighted to present this play for the Texas UIL One Act Play competition in 2025. The roles for women are beautifully textured and all roles provide actors with nuanced opportunities for development. Audiences responded particularly well to the interweaving of scenes from Mary Shelley's life and scenes from the novel Frankenstein. Recommend collaborating with English Lit teachers who read Frankenstein in their curriculum! Plus Ms. Atkins was a pleasure to work with for obtaining rights.

    ”
  • John Rutherford: Frankenstein’s Mary Shelley by Rachel Atkins
    “

    The script is very engaging and the way Atkins blends the real life of Mary Shelley with the fiction of the novel she is most famous for writing is quite interesting. The size of the cast and number of roles is very helpful. Definitely a "find!"

    The script is very engaging and the way Atkins blends the real life of Mary Shelley with the fiction of the novel she is most famous for writing is quite interesting. The size of the cast and number of roles is very helpful. Definitely a "find!"

    ”
  • Brittany McDaniel: Frankenstein’s Mary Shelley by Rachel Atkins
    “

    I was on the lookout for a show for a competition one act and was really struggling to find something that resonated with me and that would fit with the students I have this coming year. I wasn't even done with the prologue and had the "Say Yes to the Dress" moment I was looking for. If you are looking for a different twist to this classic story, I would 100% recommend this read.

    Update: We were so incredibly successful this season. It was loved by everyone!

    I was on the lookout for a show for a competition one act and was really struggling to find something that resonated with me and that would fit with the students I have this coming year. I wasn't even done with the prologue and had the "Say Yes to the Dress" moment I was looking for. If you are looking for a different twist to this classic story, I would 100% recommend this read.

    Update: We were so incredibly successful this season. It was loved by everyone!

    ”
9-25+ actors, depending on double casting

Please consider inclusive, gender-expansive and racially conscious casting choices. All actors do not need to be white. Male or female characters may be played by actors of any gender.

A 10 character, one-act version (30 minute) of this play is also available.

Characters:

Mary Shelley, young author of the novel Frankenstein
Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet, Mary’s lover/husband
Claire (Jane) Clairmont, Mary’s stepsister
Fanny Godwin, Mary’s older sister
Harriet Shelley, Percy’s first wife
Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary and Fanny’s mother, feminist writer and political activist
William Godwin, Mary and Fanny’s father, author and political activist
Byron, poet, father of Claire’s baby

Victor Frankenstein, young scientist
Creature, Victor’s creation
Father, Victor’s father
Elizabeth, Victor’s adopted sister and later wife
Henry, Victor’s best friend
Ernest, Victor’s younger brother
William, Victor’s youngest brother
Justine, Victor’s adopted sister
Agatha, daughter of the family the Creature watches
Felix, Agatha’s brother
Delacey, blind father of Agatha & Felix
Safie, daughter of the man Felix rescues from prison, later Felix’s wife
Captain Walton, explorer, Victor’s friend
Lab 1-4, assistants in Victor’s laboratory (actual or nonrealistic)
Servants 1 & 2, workers in the Frankenstein household
Witness
Judge
Crowd 1-4
Kirwin
Villagers 1 & 2
Nurse

Development History

  • Commission, Seattle Public Theater, 2015

Production History

  • University, Barnard College, 2024
  • Fringe, Barebones Theatre Productions, Groves Performing Arts Company and The Oakland Theatre Project, 2023
  • High School, Roosevelt High School, Seattle, WA, 2021
  • Professional, Seattle Public Theater youth program, 2016