Review of Dracula
 | "Play that funky undead music" by Nina Romain for remotegoat on 04/11/08 |  |
ren't vampires supposed to be cold, aloof and silent - not enthusiastically belting out a showstopping good tune as though they are in an Undead Xfactor?
But this play is worth a second look (and hearing).
Director Chris Loveless uses an unusual timeline used of starting the play about halfway through the novel, introducing Dr Seward (Mario Christofides) in his "lunatic asylum" talking to his patient Renfield (Richard Warrick). The play then backtracks to Jonathan Harker's voyage to Transylvania, which opens the novel, with his diary entries of journeying to meet the Count on a business trip abroad that goes horribly wrong.
Another unusual factor is that all of the characters mention the dates of the events, as they speak, exactly as their diaries, letters and phonograph recording do.
The only drawback with a musical version is that the novel is as much a supernatural action as a Gothic horror. If the characters aren't breaking into a patient's house, climbing out a castle window, brandishing a revolver or galloping across Europe on horseback, they are chasing the Count all around London. This doesn't leave them much spare time to stand around bursting into song, when what they really need to do is get down to business with a wooden stake, revolver, or stoup of holy water. This makes the leisurely choruses seem a bit incongruous.
Oliver Hume is excellent as Professor Van Helsing, the eccentric, energetic vampire-fighter leading the heroes against the Count. He is equally at home breaking into coffins or cracking inappropriate one-liners with that famous gallows humour, such as his eager acceptance of an offer of a Lucy's betrothed's "last drop of blood" for her blood transfusion. Van Helsing often seems to be Stoker's only creation with a sense of humour, but it is completely misplaced throughout the novel, from his polite offer to let Seward enter Lucy's tomb before him.
Unfortunately the play neither kept it as a straight drama or nor played up the hammy (or Hammer) humour. This left the audience giggling at the throwaway lines but not completely sure if it was supposed to be funny.
Leigh Jones gives good Bela Lugosi with his Vincent Price-esque trim guardsman's figure in head to foot trademark black. Perfecting that intense vampiric glare, he is strong enough to pick up his naive guest Jonathan Harker and carry him off. Harker (Duncan Wigman) plays it straight as the conventional, uptight young solicitor, matched by his equally well-mannered wife Mina Murray (Annabel King).
Lucy Westenra (Joanna Hickman) and the three vampire ladies are beautifully dressed, with costume designer Christina Pomeroy decorating them in ruffled Victorian finery (although the lunatic asylum attendant looks slightly like a Ninja warrior).
The stage's backdrop of hand-painted white trees on a black background could have been a little more varied. As it also doubles for Lucy's tomb, Whitby, central London and the Count's homeland forest, plain black might have been more versatile. The stage was slightly too small, and during the energetic final fight scenes, the front row were leaning back nervously out of the action.
Despite these physical drawbacks, the musical breathes new life to the 1897 melodrama, and is a brave and vigorous adaptation of the horror classic. If singing vampires are your thing, see them here.
| Event Venues & Times | |
| 04/11/10 only | Tamworth Assembly Rooms | Corporation Street, Tamworth, Staffordshire, B79 7DN |
| Showing until 07/10/10 | Palace Theatre and Grand Hall | 9 Green Street, Kilmarnock, KA1 3BN |
Other recent reviews of Dracula
 |  | Dracula by Brian Loveless |
Other recent reviews by Nina Romain
