It's fair to say that the eighteen year-old girl, Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, truly understood the nuts and bolts of an enduring horror yarn.

Two centuries on, her monster is still on the rampage, having been rejected by humanity, and now a stage production of the classic Gothic adventure is coming to Malvern Theatres in the New Year.

A spokesman said: "Mary dreams up a monster whose tragic story will capture the imaginations of generations to come."

But what exactly is her vision?

The spokesman added: "A young scientist by the name of Frankenstein breathes life into a gruesome body. Banished into an indifferent world, Frankenstein’s creature desperately seeks out his true identity, but the agony of rejection and a broken promise push him into darkness.

"Dangerous and vengeful, the creature threatens to obliterate Frankenstein and everyone he loves, in a ferocious and bloodthirsty hunt for his maker.

"Rona Munro’s brilliant new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Gothic masterpiece places the writer herself amongst the action as she wrestles with her creation and with the stark realities facing revolutionary young women, then and now."

It's almost fair to say that a Swiss holiday with bad weather led to the creation of the great novel.

Staying in a villa on the shores of Lake Geneva in 1816, where a growing friendship between Mary and Percy Shelley and Lord Byron was well and truly cemented, the talented group decided to deal with stormy days and nights by writing ghost stories.

Mary Shelley's creation is the one tale from that time which is still being talked about.

Her monster was not a square-headed fiend with neck bolts but a hodge-potch of body parts - "imperfect animation" with "yellow, watery but speculative eyes".

At first he has an impulse to be kind, but unkindness alters his nature.

The run at Malvern Theatres will be from January 13 to January 18.

Tickets: 01684 892277.