As this May weather turns cold and grey we perhaps glimpse the Year Without Summer where the world’s most famous writers of 1816 gather in boredom and frustration at Lake Geneva and ignite a creative spark felt across time to this day. Whether you are aware of the story or not, you’d have to have been living under a rock not to have heard of Frankenstein: this tells of the origins, the competition between them, to tell a ghost story, which resulted in the birth of a new genre: Science Fiction. Perhaps not everybody knows that the person who created this was a woman: Mary Shelley.
Yes, we have John Polidori’s diary here inspiring this musical, he himself the narrator, the glue holding the story: and the characters within it, together. A doctor and aspiring writer, here enamoured perhaps or at least in awe of Byron, caught up in his powerful glow. Wilf Offord gives a beautiful, heartfelt, truthful and sensitive performance of the man trying to learn from and yet break free from someone who he was enthralled by. Polidori is our confidant, the fourth wall breaker, Offord giving such a grounded and real portrayal we are instantly hooked.
And hooked indeed we are, in thrall to Oliver Kingston’s Lord Byron. He oozes sexual power right from the start without even saying a word, instantly recognisable as Byron in attitude, in the glances to the others, to the power he holds whenever he is in the room. A complex creation, here made to look easy. This power is quiet at first yet builds and builds until there is a crescendo of anger and arrogance: aspects of narcissism that we would label today, yet with such vulnerability and beauty that you actually feel compassion for him.
Perhaps the object of our fascination with this time is Mary Shelley herself, here played by Kate Woodman with multi-layering it’s a joy to watch. She is at once vulnerable yet strong enough to pick up the pieces of the child men throwing tantrums around her, and deal with her own grief, and creative endeavours to boot. She sings about picking up the pieces after them all yet, with gorgeous ironic foreshadowing, sings that their names are the ones that will be remembered. Kaitlin Pryce is equally believable as Mary’s more naive step-sister Clair Clairmont, another totally enthralled and besotted by Byron, being the instigator of them all following Byron to Geneva in the first place.
The final cast member is Danny Andrews as Shelley, here portrayed with believable mental health challenges including a Laudanum addiction, and leaning on his new 18 year old wife with vulnerability. His physicality as a startling resemblance to Jim Morrison of the Doors absolutely helps his believability as someone Mary fell in love with. Byron and Shelley both ooze sexual appeal, effortlessly, as if the energy and the pheromones come off them in waves. The clever lyric “trying to break free of his spell to feel my own narrative again” is one that women will connect with throughout the ages.
Each of the characters in this are given room to breathe and feel fully fleshed out and real, yet this could happily be a full length musical given more scenes and more detail. The vocal landscape and songs are gorgeous, the trio of musicians on stage: keyboard, violin and cello are stunning and welcome from the start. The tight space means there is an occasional imbalance in singing volume and instrument volume when the lyrics are so clever we really want to hear them. This is countered when all five sing together, sometimes this is in canon, sometimes in the most incredible harmonies: simply sublime to hear. The voices are all so different: Pryce and Woodman’s harmonies in one song are so profoundly beautiful they brought tears to some.
There is everything to love about this production. The movement work is clean and crisp and the spacing is gorgeous. They give natural, grounded and real performances of these historical greats that have turned into legend. The direction by Gina Stock and the story telling by co-writers Nat Riches and Natasha Atkinson, including the music and lyrics: everything is on point. A slightly bigger space, a longer length: all would be gloriously welcome. “Would you not light yourself ablaze for one chance at greatness?” asks Byron – this team don’t need to, this is greatness already. An absolute five star worthy show: don’t miss it.
The Lantern Theatre, 18 May 2026
1816: The Year Without a Summer
Photos credit: Charlotte Conybeare
