Gothic horror as Frankenstein heads to Crawley

“I saw it was advertised and it was something that really took my fancy. I love the novel. I remember studying Frankenstein at school as part of my A levels and I just loved learning about it. I think it was the first thing of its kind in a way, a trailblazer in terms of sci-fi but also it's not often that you see something like that from female writers of that era.

“Mary Shelley was very much at the forefront but apart from the sci-fi aspect I think it’s a story that has got a real relevance in the context of our society as it is today.

“The monster just wants to be loved. He is an omni-benevolent character who is just born into this world and wants to be loved and accepted but because of the way he looks and because of his actual circumstances he becomes completely ostracised in this self-fulfilling prophecy. He comes to be what people have projected onto him, and that has always been the case since the dawn of time. It's like a reflection of our times, the way image is the be-all and end-all of everything in our society in the context of the rise of social media and the internet. It is all about the face.

“I am playing Elizabeth who is Victor’s childhood sweetheart. They grew up together and they know everything about each other. It is Elizabeth who holds the mirror up to him. She is the one that most deeply questions what it is that he is seeking.

“To her this world and this life have so much to offer and there's so much to be gained from it. She understands that we should be exploring the present but Victor’s problem is that he is not living in the present…”

Lydia grow up in Surrey and trained at Guildford School of Acting graduating in 2019, a year before the pandemic: “I got about six months in before it all hit the fan. I was lucky enough to get my first professional credit under my belt before March 2020. I had come off a tour of Macbeth with the Young Shakespeare Company. I played Lady Macbeth. It was a dream role and it was brilliant and I think I was still very much riding that when the pandemic started. We finished the tour in December and then Covid locked everyone down. When the pandemic started I think I was still recovering from drama school to be honest at that point and coming terms with it, but as the days and weeks and months went on, I was able to pick up the creative momentum again. Having had the headspace to think through it all, I do think everything clicked into place again. But also there wasn't the guilt. There was nothing happening so there wasn't a great sense of missing out but actually it was really nice to be able to make a connection with what I really wanted to do and I ended up creating my first short film and then I was able to make the connection again with the creative side of myself. Since then I have been working in theatre and doing some physical theatre and just working to get back.”