Action to the Word’s Dracula
Dracula is a very difficult novel to successfully translate to any medium not only because in the century since publication it has become the template for the majority of vampire stories written for most of that time, only broken in the late seventies by Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot and Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire, but also because with over two hundred films inspired by or adapted from Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel every conceivable iteration has already been seen. Returning to the Edinburgh Fringe following two seasons with their stunning vision of Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange, physical theatre company Action to the Words’ Dracula is refreshingly bold and vastly entertaining, though equally clear is that artistic director Alexandra Spencer-Jones’ has allowed her obvious sources to influence the production far too directly.
Confrontational from the out, even as the audience enters the smoke charmed hall, a blood splattered woman in white robes lies under the gaze of monk dressed in rough cassock; Dracula returns from the battlefield, equally bloodied, to find his beloved wife Elizabeth dead by her own hand, believing her husband to have fallen in combat. “I renounce the Christ that betrays the innocent!” he cries, and as members of the cast seize musical instruments, the descent into darkness begins, as does the immediate sidetracking of the narrative, for the entire scene does not feature anywhere in Stoker’s novel which provides minimal backstory for the Count and certainly does not feature a lost wife and is in fact lifted wholly from James V Hart’s script for Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 film Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Centuries later, young solicitor Jonathan Harker (Henry Bauckham) is sent from London to Transylvania to conclude a property deal which will see the mysterious Count Dracula purchase the tract of land where the abandoned Carfax Abbey is situated; Harker bids farewell to his fiancée Mina (Olivia Williams) and embarks on his trip but upon arrival is imprisoned by Dracula, who in another scene lifted from Coppola’s film is convinced that Mina is the reincarnation of his wife.
Back home, Mina pines for Jonathan and is increasingly disturbed by the discontinuation of his correspondence but finds solace in her best friend Lucy (Rachel Bright), currently subject of the attention of competing suitors, the eligible and handsome Arthur Holmwood (Marc Rhys) who will inherit the title Lord Godalming and the plain speaking but dashing Texan Quincy Morris (Tom Whitelock). A character too often cut when streamlining the narrative, the inclusion of Morris is welcome, but more surprising is Doctor Johanna Seward (Claire Petzal) who runs the sanitarium near the abandoned Carfax Abbey, a modern twist on Stoker’s characters, and no further from Lucy’s heart than her other suitors.
With the cast performing the soundtrack live on the variety of instruments they have to hand, guitars, electric and upright bass, violins, drums, keyboards, even a trombone, the sound quality is variable but does improve through the night, and rather than any lack of ability this is a reflection of the nature of the venue where multiple companies share a space with minimum turnaround, and each song fits the appropriately grim moment, Adam Clifford’s Rasputin like Renfield serenaded by Radiohead’s Creep, the Count’s nocturnal visits to Lucy accompanied by Michael Jackson’s Scream. Sometimes drowned out by the amplification, the acoustic instruments come to the fore as the brides (and bloody groom) of Dracula perform Britney Spears’ Toxic, though the dialogue of the conclusion of the scene is once again lifted directly from Coppola.
The arrival of Van Helsing (Henry Douthwaite) brings reassurance to the sickening Lucy and momentary restraint to a production threatening to veer out of control, though moments later the transfusion scene is once again lifted directly from Coppola’s version, as is Bright’s performance in the scene a direct recreation of Sadie Frost’s.
Rather than foolishly attempting to recreate the Academy Award winning costumes of the late Eiko Ishioka, instead, like the unnecessary changes of The War of the Worlds – The New Generation, it has instead been decided that steampunk is “a thing” regardless of whether the elaborate stylings are appropriate for the production; unlike A Clockwork Orange which was effortlessly contemporary, the attempt to give Dracula a post-modern aesthetic that has only succeeded in making it more encapsulated in its artificiality.
While Mina is feisty in her gathered shirt and go-to-Hell boots too many of the cast are encumbered in cogs and corsets and dressed in overly fussy prints for the sake of it, becoming a focus of attention rather than feeling part of the drama, the final battle played out with a crossbow carved from half a tree then adorned with chunky bronze trimmings as if it wasn’t preposterous enough already.
Unfortunately any production of Dracula can only be as good as its lead, and Jonno Davies is more Adam Ant’s Prince Charming having a tantrum than Prince of Darkness, his Dracula no longer an ancient and cunning predator but an impulsive manchild, his acting largely consisting of removing his shirt and bellowing, and as a result the show lacks the erotic anger of A Clockwork Orange throughout.
The versatile musicians are hugely talented; Bauckham and Whitelock have the best voices and along with Rhys are excellent guitarists, cellist Petzal also has great vocal power, and the high point is the electric violin performance of Guns ‘N Roses’ November Rain, but with so many competing ideas without singular direction and a convincing lead the show too easily stumbles towards farce, and it is a testament to how strong the ensemble are that for the most part the show is sensational.
Dracula continues until Monday 25th August
