Dracula

‘Dracula’ is an adaptation, by Scottish poet and playwright Liz Lochhead, based on the novel by Bram Stoker. This play is showing in The Hayman Theatre Upstairs, at Curtin University each night at 8.00 pm until 2^nd May.

It is 1960 in London, the shy and prim Mina Westerman (Laura Fullerton) who is about to be married to Jonathan Harker (Tristan Pearcy), is discussing her wedding dress with her saucy sister Lucy Westerman (Claire Crosby). Jonathan is down the street at Dr Arthur Seward’s (Andrew Thom) house asking if he will accompany him on a business trip to Whitby to see a client, Count Vlad Dracula (Keir Wilkins).

Unknown to others, Arthur has mad woman Renfield (Jess De Gouw), locked up in the cellar being guarded by the ‘rough as guts’ Nurses Grice (Alana Somerville) and Nisbett (Louise Cocks). When he is invited around for a meal, Lucy immediately falls for Dr Arthur. Whilst in Whitby, Jonathan is drugged and has a psychedelic dream being visited by the two brides of Dracula (Michelle Snedden and Alanna Knight).

Dracula has his terrible way, but will the caring housekeeper, Florrie Heathersage (Maria McArthur) and vampire specialist, Professor van Helsing (David Kinsman), manage to save the victims in time?

I went to the theatre expecting a dry and heavy going adaptation, but was amazed at how well the comedy angle worked. The contemporary play was very funny, and extremely well acted - thanks to skilled direction by Duncan Sharp and Kathryne Clarkson. The lighting (Matt Randall) and sound (Christopher Olive) were well above average. The simple sets (Fred Amoroso) picked out in different areas of the stage by the lighting, were most effective.

The first act was mainly funny, but the drama was turned up after the interval. Very good tension was achieved, although still with tongue-in-cheek humour. Costume designer Kate Hart had a wonderful selection of costumes – Dracula made his entrance as ‘Ozzy Osbourne’ accompanied by music of the era.

Special mention of actors Keir Wilkins, who was truly threatening as Dracula, and Claire Crosby as the sexy and terrified Lucy. There is some non-gratuitous semi-nudity.

Admirable and thoroughly enjoyable.

Dracula Saturday night was thoroughly enjoyable. Although some performances were a little more shall we say stilted than others, on the whole the commitment and energy from the performers was great. I was especially impressed with Dracula (Keir Wilkins), and the mad Renfield (Jess De Gouw), the second of these who gave one of the most brilliant performances I've seen in a long time. If I had any quibbles it was with the messy staging, although quite well used and interestingly blocked the set was a bit distracting and didn't always lend itself well to the atmosphere of the show. I was also unimpressed with the second act. It was clear the actors had been directed to ham, and take a fairly old fashioned script and turn it farcical. While I can understand the temptation to tend towards melodrama with such over the top dialogue...but it lost something for me. I was enjoying the tension, the horror of the whole thing, and felt hampered. A more straight, and sinister second act I feel could have saved the whole thing from turning a little scooby doo. Again on the whole I was pretty happy with Dracula, and after hearing lots of negative reports, was quite happily surprised. All in all an enjoyable night out.

Great First Act....

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