Into the city on a cold and windswept day to see a remarkable production of Bram Stoker's classic story. One actor (Zahra Newman) plays all the roles which might suggest that this is just a live reading of the novel but instead this is a bigger, stranger and more physical production than that.
The play starts with the actor lying down on an almost bare stage but behind her is a large screen on which is projected a view of her from above. The physical camera is visible and gradually descends while on screen the image from the camera is mixed with pre-recorded footage of the actor rolling and moving restlessly.
Screens and cameras (and camera operators) are as much a part of the cast of this production as the sole actor (at the curtain call the camera people all take a bow along with Zahra Newman). At times during the performance she is surrounded by cameras and at other times appears alone. Alone on the stage that is but on screen she maybe surrounded by multiple characters (again all played by the same actor).
If this sounds bizarre, it turns out to be very effective. In the first section (the chapters from the novel in which Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania) the mix of stage and screen means we see Harker on stage interact with invisible beings while on screen he encounters the Count himself and the three seductive vampire women of the castle. The use of steadicams means Newman can run about on and off stage (disappearing into backstage corridors at times) allowing the production to shift from open spaces to a more claustrophobic and unnerving atmosphere.
Sensibly, much of this is played for laughs. Dracula himself, at least initially, is the corny vampire with the comical accent and Harker the overly proper English gentleman more worried about proprietary and haplessly out of his depth. That's part of the nature of the text of the book, whose elements have been scattered into popular culture through over a century of retelling. Likewise, there's no way to treat seriously the arrival of Texan cowboy into the story midway through. Getting the balance of the camp ridiculousness of Stoker's novel against the themes of sexuality and repression and genuine spookiness is a difficult task for any adaptation. Yet driven by one actor over two hours (no intermission - so she essentially talks to herself for all that time in multiple accents and with mid dialogue costume change, shifting scenery and ever present cameras) the play combines all these elements into a compelling whole.
On stage, the play is primarily the shifting narrative of Jonathan Harker, then Mina, then Dr Seward and then a mix of Seward and Mina until the climatic conclusion. Other characters appear mainly on screen but occasionally on stage (Lucy Westenra and Count Dracula himself), while others appear only on screen (Renfield, Van Helsing, Quincey Morris, and Arthur Holmwood). Towards the end, Newman becomes more of a composite of Seward, Mina and Dracula himself.
Again, the mix of stage and screen characters adds to the unnerving quality. Very simple camera effects (e.g. Renfield briefly being replaced by Dracula in the footage) are surprisingly effective because you've been drawn into the idea that you are watching a live stage play (which you are but also aren't). The use of close up camera work adds to the sense of intimacy and also to the bloody gory aspects of the story. When Quincey Morris stakes the undead corpse of Lucy Westenra they are both covered in blood which we see with both there faces looming on screen.
I'm emphasising this distinction between the screen and the stage to give you as readers as sense of the mechanics of the production but the experience is far more seamless. The overall effect is one of a play with a large cast interacting with each other rather than a sense of split attention (except when the production is intentionally being disorientating).
This is the third and final production in a Gothic trilogy produced by the director Kip Williams — the previous two being The Picture of Dorian Gray and the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The first of those is set for a Broadway version but sadly I didn't get an opportunity to see either of them. These previous productions also combined screens and on stage cameras. I'd seen an earlier production by the same director at the same theatre (The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui with Hugo Weaving) but at that point the screen and cameras were less integral to the production. With Dracula the mix of media is absolutely integral to what the production is.
Hugely entertaining. Spooky, sexy, camp, funny, bloody, intense and atmospheric and incredible acting on all levels.
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