Reviewed Thursday 3rd April 2014
The Adelaide Repertory Theatre Society is currently presenting
Dracula, adapted relatively faithfully by
Liz Lochhead, from the classic 1897 novel by Irish writer Abraham 'Bram' Stoker. This is not one of those dreadful parodies, or ridiculously camp exaggerations. Director, Kerrin White, plays it dead straight, and this production is all the better for it. He has found a good strong cast and established a firm vision for the production.
There are some minor changes from the book, to reduce the size of the cast and simplify things. Mina Murray and Lucy Westenra for example, were originally best friends, not sisters, and are here renamed Westerman, and Arthur is an amalgamation of Lucy's three suitors. These small modifications, however, do not significantly change anything.
An English solicitor, Jonathan Harker, travels to Transylvania to finalise the paperwork for the sale of a home in London to the mysterious Count Dracula, only to find himself a virtual prisoner. he eventually gets back to England and his fiancée, Wilhelmina 'Mina' Westerman. His friend, Dr. Arthur Seward, runs a lunatic asylum where one particular inmate, Renfield, a former lawyer turned mad by Dracula, becomes progressively more agitated as he feels the increasing closeness of his 'Master'. Arthur meets and falls for Mina's sister, Lucy, asking her to marry him, and she accepts.
Strange things soon begin to occur and Lucy falls ill, worsening with time. Blood transfusions do not help and Arthur calls on his mentor Professor Abraham Van Helsing who quickly comes from Amsterdam, already certain that he knows the cause of her failing health. He is not successful in saving and protecting her, and Lucy dies, to then become a vampire herself. Dracula then turns his attention to Mina before escaping to return to Transylvania, where they follow to hunt him down and destroy him, freeing Mina from his control.
Robert Drusetta is imposing in the title role of Count Dracula, tall, powerful, and sinister, at the same time both repulsive and seductive. He creates a solid characterisation, that about is as believable as one can be playing a mythical creature, whist avoiding overt histrionics and excessive accent. This is important as without that balance the others would have had nothing to work against.
As his arch enemy, Van Helsing, Brian Knott brings his extensive experience to bear on the role of a man of science who is also knowledgeable in matters of the occult, the one person who knows how to defeat the vampire. His convincing performance allows him to draw the strengths of the others to him in a concerted attack on the un-dead foe.
Sandy Adams and Joshua Coldwell play Jonathan and Arthur. Adams gives his portrayal of Jonathon as, initially, a quiet and almost naive man who gradually grows in strength through his encounter with Dracula and the creatures that he controls, from seductive vampire maidens to wolves. Coldwell makes his Arthur a more confident character from the start, making his collapse as Lucy weakens and dies, becoming distraught when he discovers that she has become a vampire, and his struggle to find the strength to release her, a complex emotional journey that he negotiates superbly.
Anna Bampton and Lani Gerbi play the sisters, Mina and Lucy, both young and vivacious. Mina is already engaged to Jonathan before he leaves for Castle Dracula while Lucy is flirtatious, in spite of being unwell, and quickly accepts Arthur's proposal. Bampton makes her character a relatively level headed and protective older sister, eventually making Mina a tower of strength, enabling the other to locate Dracula. On the other hand Gerbi takes Lucy from lively and fun down the path of failing health, nicely conveying her deterioration, death, and her transformation into a vampire.
Alison Scharber's rich portrayal of Nurse Grice makes Nurse Ratched, from
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, look like a sweet and gentle soul. She makes the nurse a vicious and vindictive tyrant who takes great pleasure in every duty that gives pain to the inmates of the asylum.
Against such an overall strong cast it really means something when I say that Matt Houston is a stand out as Renfield, the madman with an appetite for living things, from insects to birds. His insanity gives way momentarily to moments of lucidity, and Houston covers both ends of that spectrum with great intensity in a committed and unrestrained performance.
It is also worth keeping an eye on the work of Therese Hornby, Charlie Morman, Hannah Nicholson, Elizabeth Olsson and Benjamin Orchard as lunatics locked up behind the asylum bars.
Vinnie Eustace's set is used for all of the locations, with Laraine Wheeler's lighting design working in harmony to produce all of the times of day, weather, and helping to delineate the various locations, and Hugh Hunkin's soundscape is important in that respect, too.
Forget those awful films and television shows and go back to where it all began, with
Bram Stoker's Dracula, live on stage, if that term can in fact be used of the un-dead.
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