Dracula

Vampires have recently come back into the light of public fashion - whether it’s the sparkling of Twilight’s Edward Cullen or the brooding devotion of True Blood’s Bill Compton – vampires have once more won our hearts and minds. This vision of the vampire - devoted, loving, tortured, desirous of humanity - is a modern construct and a far cry from Bram Stocker’s iconic Count Dracula upon whom Liz Lochhead’s play Dracula, produced by Sell A Door Theatre Company, at Greenwich’s Playhouse is based.

Does Louis J Parker in the title role capture the true horror of our villain? He certainly tries hard and looks dapper in his full suit, but his constant pacing and mannerisms (finger clicking and licking) make him seem too edgy, too little in control to be the dark force that is draining Lucy (Daisy Burns) of her life and causing the crazed ranting of madhouse patient Renfield (Keiran Hennigan). Burns’ Lucy is compelling and she brings to life all the versions of her character with skill. Hennigan’s Renfield, as an almost constant prescence on the stage, is wonderfully disquieting. He manages the interplay of truth through insanity well but as with the other key principals many of his speeches lacked the pacing, and light and shade to bring out the complexity of Lochhead’s dense (perhaps too dense) script.

The production was well staged making good use of the three-sided audience except, unfortunately for the final, climatic showdown which was played straight to the front, effectively cutting off anyone seated on the two sides. The set however worked well and was effectively managed by the actors. It was odd that there was always food but no knives and forks while the use of rose petals to signify blood didn’t have any real relevance within the script and so seemed out of place.

This is a very complex play which not only resurrects one of literature’s greatest characters but also attempts to deconstruct a changing Victorian age. With so many themes to sink his teeth into director David Hutchinson would have been wise to focus on one element playing it to the full, rather than trying to do everything at once.

- by Laura Norman