Dragula Gets Down & Dirtier Still???

If you thought the tale of two Dragulas was bloody (See News, 14 Aug 2003), imagine how much bloodier it's going to get now with three contenders for the vamp-meets-camp musical title. When a version of Dragula announced its opening this summer at the gay nightclub Heaven, the creators of the Dragula starring drag artist Dave Lynn and first seen last September at Islington's Rosemary Branch Theatre, where it returns next month, were at pains to point out that they were in fact the "original" production. Not so, according to Ted Kastrinos and John Arthur Long who, over the past two years, have been preparing yet another Dragula The Musical for a New York premiere. They maintain that they hold the worldwide copyright which - according to their show site at www.dragulathemusical.com - applies to "Title, Book, Names, Characters, Settings, Stage Directions, Descriptions, Plotline, Lyrics, Music, Logo and Website". Pretty comprehensive then. Writing to Whatsonstage.com, Long says: "Both the Heaven's club production and upcoming September production of Dragula at the Rosemary Branch Theatre are in copyright violation. The production scheduled for the Rosemary Branch has even taken our copyrighted website name by adding co.uk to the ending. In addition, several press stories about the Heaven production were using our graphic which was cut and pasted from our website. Unbelievable. We have had legal council check with the UK copyright office, and the agreement between the United States and the UK is reciprocal. Therefore, the copyright infringement is absolute with these two productions, and we are seeking legal advice on how to proceed." So, fangs are well and truly bared.

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