Offspring (A Modern Frankenstein) Emily Terndrup

"In Offspring, everything is touched by genius" The Arts Review

"Mixes an easy-going presence with expressive physicality and on-the-beat comic timing" The Irish Times

In this visceral reimagining of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Emily Terndrup fuses explosive choreography with razor-sharp story-telling into a fierce, funny and fearless meditation on creation and consequence.

Part gothic horror, part personal reckoning, Offspring is a pulse-racing collision of theatre and dance that grabs its audience by the throat and the heart. At its centre is a woman in her mid-to-late 30s, grappling with desire and dread as she contemplates the closing window to biological creation.

Offspring is riotously funny, breathtakingly physical and unexpectedly devastating.

As she plunges into the chaos, the beauty and the terror of creation, the performance becomes the monster itself: volatile, tender, contradictory and profoundly human.

Created and performed by Emily Terndrup Offspring was a triple award-winner at the Dublin Fringe Festival 2025, taking Best Performer, Best Design, and Radical Sprit of the Fringe. It was named Outstanding Production and Best Dance Production of 2025 by The Arts Review.

Darkly funny and disarmingly tender, Terdrup's work is bold, intelligent and utterly original Offspring guarantees to spark questions long after the final breath.

Co-presented by Cork Midsummer Festival

Creative Team

Directed by Emily Terndrup 
Written by Emily Terndrup, after Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Performed and choreographed by Emily Terndrup
Sound Design and Composition Michael John McCarthy
Lighting Design Matt Burke
Chief LX Alan Mooney
Stage Management Molly Foley
Producer Leigh Hussey
Research and development in collaboration with Luke Murphy, Kath Duggan, and Ryan O’Neill
Design Consultant Laura Fajardo Castro 
Creative Constructions by Nicole Clifford and Arran Mac Gabhann