Review: Dracula

"It’s this sort of ambition and immersiveness that we need more of in Manx theatre"

Dracula: The Service Players - The Gaiety Theatre - 5 -7 November

"Hop-tu-Naa is over.

And before the spooky season is cold in its grave, Christmas is being stuffed in our eyeholes faster than the Steam Packet can say, ‘the Manxman’s broken again.’

I, for one, love Halloween.

Every year, I cling to it in a desperate attempt to make it last longer, and every year, as the clock strikes midnight, on 31 October, Mariah Carey pops up drowning out the screams of the spooky season with that demonic 13 note xylophone intro.

So, THANK GOODNESS, I had Dracula to look forward to watching to eke out the haunting season.

The play was being put on by local theatre company The Service Players.

The story of Dracula, unpredictably, revolves around Count Dracula, the vampire.

Alongside Frankenstein, Dracula is one of the most iconic pieces of gothic horror ever written so choosing to put it on locally is no mean feat.

At the helm were Stage Director Kim Child and Creative Director Alessandro Mazzotta who showed ambition in their take on the production by making it more of an immersive experience than simply going to watch a play.

Crossing the threshold of The Gaiety my ears were met with creepy, gothic versions of well-known songs and generally haunting ambience music.

Cobweb-strewn props dotted around the theatre accompanied the sounds, attention to detail that I will never underappreciate.

Those are the small things that have a big knock-on effect. That effect was seen in the audience before the show.

There was a giddiness in the air, some had leaned into the gothic theme, dressing appropriately for the occasion.

Sitting waiting for the curtain to go up there was a palpable excitement in the air, a testament to the added detail the directing team had put into the production off the stage.

I often say The Gaiety feels too big for a play. The night I went to see Dracula; for the first time in my life, I was proven wrong.

I would imagine the cast was a director’s dream as it was wall-to-wall experienced treaders of the boards.

Dracula, played by John Walker, had an attention-grabbing stillness to him that commanded the room in true essence of the character.

His Dracula had a quietness that wasn’t without gravitas and delivered lines in a way that made me think of one of the biggest horror icons in the history of the genre, Vincent Price.

Alex Duncan played Van Helsing and brought a wonderful Jeff Goldblum-like eccentricity to the role.

From speaking to audience members during the interval (against their will), he was a fan favourite.

Balancing Duncan’s flamboyance nicely was the strait-laced realism and raw emotion Rob Pritchard brought to the character Seward.

I particularly admired Pritchard’s ability to hold a piece of paper on stage in front of a full house without shaking; a sign of someone confidently immersed in their craft. Or a sociopath.

Mina, played by Keira Mackey, acted a full spectrum of emotion with effortless realism and had a wonderful ability to ‘flop’ (faint) in a way that would make the actresses of the golden age of Hollywood green with envy.

She also had the courage and strong stomach to be lifted to substantial heights without losing her dinner.

The ever-reliable Toby Smith brought comic relief and warm sincerity to the character of Briggs, which was matched nicely by Rachel Martin’s Sullivan who had a cackle so sensational it sent shivers down the spine.

Andrew Deighton played Renfield. I’d seen him in many a small part in other productions, so it was good to see him with a meatier role and he did not disappoint.

The madness with which Deighton played Renfield had an air of Full Metal Jacket’s Gomer Pyle to it.

In fact, he performed madness so well a friend of mine in the audience said at one point they weren’t sure if he was an actor or some guy who’d just wandered onto the stage and was wreaking havoc in the production, he was that realistic.

Charlie Williams played the role of Mina’s lover with the ease he brings to every role he does. He pulled off being controlled by invisible forces with full commitment and believability. Something a lesser actor could easily look foolish doing.

Michelle Cain, who played Lucy, had a tremendous scream. One to rival Lex in the original Jurassic Park.

And Lisa Smith, Samantha Edmund, and Rachel Carine all oozed the sexiness that vampires have become known for in their roles as Dracula’s harem.

Last, but certainly not least, Lara Johnson, who played the child, held her own alongside a cast of adults, showing grace and ease on stage.

The costumes were lovely. Van Helsing looked like he’d robbed Aragorn’s wardrobe from The Lord of the Rings, which I thoroughly approved of, and I’d happily wear Mina’s outfit on a daily basis if it wouldn’t get me sectioned again.

The tech was, in and of itself, a character in the show that put in a fantastic performance.

As the curtain lifted, the opening sequence continued to show the ambitiousness of the directors.

In the realms of horror story telling, some of the scariest moments come from setting a feeling of dread then leaving the audience to their imagination, a technique used in The Service Player’s Dracula.

A combination of excellent lighting and clever stage effects were used throughout to heighten the horror aspects of the story by implying something sinister but distorting the vision for the audience.

Along with the use of haunting versions of chart music, the lighting and sound helped take an age-old tale and modernise it to an audience of ‘Traitors’ viewers, while still being able to pay homage to classic tropes like the casting of long shadows for gothic effect.

A sprinkle of magic added to the ambitiousness of the whole production with very cool effects courtesy of illusionist Sean Alexander.

And, of course, the star of the show was the floating Mina to close Act One. Done with deft hands and subtly from the stage crew, I was not expecting it, which made it all the more impressive.

Overall, it’s this sort of ambition and immersiveness that we need more of in the Manx theatre.

It’s forward-thinking and hopefully emboldens others to put on plays but do more with the subject matter in a way that breathes new life into classic stories and fills theatres with excitable audience members.

My only note of contention would be that, though admirable, when it comes to the use of immersive tools, sometimes less is more.

At the start, I found the music was used in a way that amped up the feeling of the scene nicely, however at points it was overused.

When I got tickets to see Dracula, naturally I expected to hear some Coldplay in the show, but I wasn’t expecting quite so much of it. Although, I’ll take overused Coldplay over over-played Mariah Carey’s demonic xylophone any day."

Honourable Moment Mentions

• The closing book trick.
• Dracula’s entrance in Act 2. Dramatic and yet unintentionally funny in equal measure.
• Characters coming out into the audience.
• Briggs’ ‘GET OUTTA MA PUB’ cockney accent.