Mary Shelley is a bold exploration of the radical beliefs and relationships that led the author of Frankenstein to write one of the greatest novels in history when she was just 19-years-old. Following a national tour, Mary Shelley will run at the Tricycle Theatre from 12 June to 7 July 2012.

Having lost her mother, feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, at an early age, young Mary finds comfort in reading the family memoir written by her father, the radical philosopher William Godwin. However, his free-thinking account of her mother’s suicide attempt, extra-marital affair and birth of her illegitimate elder daughter are regarded by society as shocking. Sharing her father’s controversially liberal outlook, Mary is herself drawn into scandal when she falls in love with Percy Bysshe Shelley, a married poet, and elopes at 16.

Delving into Mary Shelley’s turbulent personal history this striking production sheds light on the life of a bold young woman who came to write a novel so radical in its ideology, she changed the literary landscape forever.

Mary Shelley is written by award-winning playwright Helen Edmundson, and directed by Shared Experience’s Artistic Director Polly Teale.