Count Dykula
It’s yet another confirmation of the encroachment of urban development on once wild spaces inhabited by rare species that the broken masonry of the classical columns glimpsed through fog and shrouded in ivy are actually round the back of Asda, the hunting ground of Count Dykula increasingly occupied by potential victims who have little fear in what they regard as an outmoded form of vampire, some who even mistake her for a man or a Goth fetishist, indicating a brand refresh may be in order.
Enrolling at Scare University, the Demonic Lord of the Seventh Layer of Hell who serves as admissions officer is welcoming to werewolves, sirens, ghosts, vampires and even zombies despite their impulse control issues, but founder and president Scarlet Fang’s plans to make the campus more inclusive, on paper a positive proposal, are actually a cynical compromise which will make monsters the outsiders in their own dedicated educational establishment.
Written and performed by Eleanor Colville, Rosanna Suppa and Robbie Taylor Hunt, all in multiple roles with the latter also directing and Erin Rydal and Simon McKenzie serving as musical directors, Airlock Theatre’s Count Dykula is a horror spoof running concurrently with their science fact drama Lesbian Space Crime, raising the question of what supplements the trio are taking to maintain the necessary manic energy for two shows a day for a full month, though the suspicion is it may be blood.
Namechecking Buffy Summers, Sabrina Spellman and Count Von Count through song and dance and fighting the notion that turning a safe space into a petting zoo for the normals equates with a notional definition of inclusion, monster pride is the name of the game with the freaks, outcasts and loners finding their voice and solidarity, another deservedly sold-out show demonstrating that the audience for theatre is howling out for far more beyond the dull west end convention of bad but pretty boy meets wholesome living girl.
Count Dykula has concluded its run at the Pleasance Dome
