Sally Beamish's opera is not so much about Dr Frankenstein's monster as the creation of the literary work by Mary Shelley.

Premiered by Scottish Opera at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow, earlier this year, the story dwells on the key events in Mary Shelley's life before her Gothic horror story was born.

It opens in summer 1816, on a stormy evening at the Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva. Here a group of English milords are staying.

The characters are Mary's unforgiving stepfather William Godwin, her shallow stepmother, an irritating stepsister and a bunch of writers and poets - among them Byron, Lamb, Coleridge and Shelley.

There is also the shadowy figure of Mary's mother, Mary Wollestonecraft, who died after giving birth to her daughter.

Also along for the ride are Byron's doctor and Charles Lamb's wife.

It is the story of Byron's challenge to his companion to tell scary stories, so the basis of the opera is what is supreme in opera: The words or the music - something also explored by Richard Strauss in his last opera Capriccio.

Monster is a series of fast almost cinematic-like scenes as Mary's tangled memories are delivered in places as different as the Villa, a Hampstead drawing room, the battlefield of Waterloo and the Arctic.

It is a complex story about a number of inner lives and their dreams.

Monster has so far received mixed reviews but most critics agree the story becomes clearer as it goes on and several advise reading the libretto before the curtain goes up.

Both Beamish and Janice Galloway say their collaboration has been harmonious, friendly and organic.

Says Janice: "We are and remain good friends. We have worked together before on non-theatrical projects.

"We came across the germ of Monster about five years ago when we were together sharing a bottle of wine.

"We were talking about how cathartic music could be and tried to answer why that was. We came up with it being something akin to grief and creativity - then up popped the name of Mary Shelley."

As well as being a successful writer, Galloway is an experienced musician. She plays viola, horn and piano and has sung in choirs.

"It is very helpful," she says. "I know what is singable and audible. You need lots of vowels, sharp cutbacks on consonants and as few sibilants as possible.

"You also have to cover changes in emotion with a surprise phrase sometimes. Any writer needs to cut down text, that is a difficult thing to do but it is really good for the soul."

Collaboration at its height was by email, phone and brief meetings when Beamish would play piano extracts.

This is Sally Beamish's first opera. She is best known for her atmospheric orchestral works.

The score calls for a number of storm scenes, which is Beamish's great strength, and the score has been described as "tricky but neatly done".

Whatever the merits of the production, new opera is vital to the art form, otherwise it can stagnate and we will end up with nothing but museum pieces.

Scottish Opera and the Brighton Festival were brave to co-commission this piece in what are tough times for all the arts.

If the Brighton Festival is about anything, it is in constantly providing the new and unusual.

Sponsored by the University of Brighton.