Dracula

Lyric Hammersmith Theatre

This show starts with a jump, and the audience is held on by a thread. Perfect opening to the spooky season, with a female-led spin.

And so the Halloween season has begun! What an interesting start to our horror theatre selection this year. This show has great potential and has a strong presence of female empowerment. The show is led and carried by a cast of female actors, and their characters overpower the one male in the play.

Dracula is a cult-classic horror story written by Bram Stoker in 1897 and has been kept alive by people's deep love and admiration for the tale. It's been adapted and altered in many ways, for screen, TV, books, you name it, someone has used it as inspiration for something. This adaptation has taken Stoker's tale, focused on Mina and her perspective, which can be interpreted as a strong female character written at a time when women were not given the respect and equality they deserved. The writer (Morgan Lloyd Malcolm) and director (Emma Baggott) also put great emphasis on the friendship between Mina and her best friend, Lucy. Asking the question of whether Mina saw Lucy as just a friend, as she felt so strongly towards her, is there a hint of a female relationship in a story that was written at a time when same sex relationships were frowned upon? This adaptation's angle is captivating, clever and unique; however, the way that it is displayed dampens the power of the play.

Umi Myers plays our leading lady, 'Mina', and she can hold the audience in the palm of her hand extremely well, which is the whole point of her character. She carries the story, has the power of how it is told and where it is going. She creates this image of Dracula, he isn't a character that is played by an actor, he is an idea, an invisible figure and voice. He is what makes the characters let out or follow the feelings and thoughts they hide. Her best friend Lucy is played by Mei Mac. Mac plays the role of one of the ensemble, and Lucy, she separates herself from these two characters well, which shows that Lucy is no longer with Mina, and she cannot be replaced; no one will compare to her in Mina's life. Jack Myers plays Johnathon, and his fear of playing this character and the power Mina has over him clearly displays to the audience that he is just a puppet in Mina's presentation of the story.

In terms of gripping the audience with the horror genre of the story, the show does begin with a fantastic jump. However, the fear that the beginning of the story creates is lost in the way the tale is presented. The set creates this beautiful, romantic horror scene, with medieval-shaped windows, wood and stone brick materials to paint the environment of the time the story is set. Then, the horror is lost as there are moments of light comedy and breaking the fourth wall to speak to the audience, and the characters build too much trust with the audience, so the fear is lost. There are some incredible uses of props/set, and lighting that create the paranormal atmosphere, such as a knife being held in the air! Moments that I could not explain to you, how they did it!

Essentially, this production has some very strong moments and then moments that weaken the quality of the piece. That being said, it has potential to be a fantastic piece of horror theatre, if they lost the connection with the audience and played with making the audience feel uncertain, then this could be magical. It's such an intelligent piece of writing that Morgan Llyod Malcolm deserves a heap of credit for. The purpose of the show, how it is empowering to women and the representation of lesbian relationships in a classical piece of writing, and how it brings this to the modern day is brilliant. The moments where the audience is spoken to are the moments that lack power and need revisiting. You crave more of the tension and fear that they created at the start! The anxiety from the darkness! This show has great potential and is a great start to the Halloween season. It definitely got me in the mood for some spooky vibes!