Dracula | Darlington Hippodrome | 8th April 2025
Invited | Review by Stephen Stokoe
As soon as the audience enters the auditorium at Darlington Hippodrome they know they are in for some shocks, surprises and spooky goings on as Dracula takes to the stage with an imposing set which adds to the intrigue and mystery of the piece. Victoria Spearing has designed something which is functional but also atmospheric and really allows the suspension of belief straight from the off.
As the actors take to the stage they speak in chant almost as one voice but separately introducing the story and themselves very effectively indeed. This device is used several times during the play and really works to heighten the tension as the narrative demands.
This adaptation by Nick Lane who also directed the production is very faithful to the 1897 Bram Stoker novel starting with the young lawyer Jonathan Harker (Pele Kelland-Beau) travelling to Transylvania to assist a Count Dracula (David Chafer), with a recent property acquisition in London. It becomes clear during this trip that the mysterious foreign nobleman is not all he seems. Harker keeps regular correspondence with his employer and his fiancé Mina (Maya-Nika Bewley,) It would seem that the ethereal Count has sinister plans both at home and designs to replicate them further afield in London, England.
The music composed by Tristan Parkes is elegant and folky which suits the action and adds an innocent but none the less dark foreboding to the story as it unfurls. The lighting (Oliver Welsh) is also very effective without being intrusive. I have never been a fan of blackouts but they are used in this production to great effect and add so much more to the imagination than screeching sound effects or jump tactics used in other productions I have seen tackling gothic horror.
I mentioned that David Chafer takes the part of Count Dracula but that is not the whole story. True to the novel, the blood thirsty Count is described as tall and old but becomes younger looking as he consumes the life blood of more and more victims. Ingeniously, Nick Park has not one but three actors playing the role with Richard Keightley and Harry Rundle both donning the ever-present and impressive robe as the play progresses.
The costumes (Naomi Gibbs) are beautiful and fit the era of the piece. Attention to detail is not something that the creative team at Blackeyed Theatre is short of in any respect or department.
Adding to Jonathan Harker’s lady friend, we also have the much admired and demure Lucy Westenra (Marie Osman) whose beauty and vivacious nature attracts the attention of the darkest of lords. Osman’s performance is delightful as the much admired Lucy. She also shines as the supposedly deranged mental patient, Renfield in a rare change to the original text and a gender reversal. It adds a taking point to the narrative around the treatment of women and the power of the patriarchy at the time the play is set.
The actors play all of the characters and I must name all of them for fairness. David Chafer who I have already mentioned also plays the enigmatic Abraham Van Helsing, Richard Keightley doubles as a lovelorn and sensitive Dr John Seward, and Harry Rundle, the handsome but tragic Arthur Holmwood. All the actors play their parts (of which there are many) extremely well and how they remember what costume to wear, which parts of the set, props and all the other things they have to remember deserves the applause they whole-heartedly received as the lights went down at the end of a stunning theatrical performance.
This is one of many productions I have seen by Blackeyed Theatre and it certainly does not disappoint. It is a dark tale, it is brooding, it is everything you could ever want from a gothic horror.
There are such things as vampires…