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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Fangs for the memories
Dracula The Nonentities, The Rose Theatre, Kidderminster *** BRAM Stoker's Dracula, written in 1897,
has given us one of the most adaptable villains of literature – Hammer
Films turned the count virtually into an industry giving Christopher Lee
and Peter Cushing steady employment with Lee as Dracula and Cushing as
his nemesis, vampire hunter Dr Van Helsing – that is when he was not Dr
Frankenstein in Hammer adaptations of that other great gothic horror
novel. Dracula has held a fascination for film makers
for almost a century – 217 films and still going strong at the last
count - although Stoker's original novel is often forgotten in endless
variations on the vampire theme. This adaptation for the stage by Liz Lochhead
does not stray too far from Stoker's original but still has a cinematic
quality about it, which unfortunately tends to detract rather than
enhance. We are left with an endless series of short
scenes separated by a blacked out stage as one set of actors move out,
creaking gates open or shut, and a new scene moves in. The result is
that momentum never gets time to build and the natural rhythm needed by
any production never has a chance to get going. Only once, in the second act, do the lights fade
on one scene and rise on another without interruption, a technique that
might have been employed more often for the sake of continuity.
And while having a tall, deep voiced, imposing
and scary Dracula, played with real menace by Andy Barlow, hovering
around the neighbourhood at night, turning all the attractive womenfolk
into the undead, is hardly going to calm the nerves - a little less
angst and hysteria might have made the fear factor a bit more effective. That being said there was much to admire in a
production which was never going to be easy to stage. Alex Hyde as Lucy and Karen Whittingham as Mina,
here sisters while in the novel friends, sparkle as privileged young
ladies at the end of the 19th century while Stefan Austin as
Mina's fiancée Jonathan Harker and David Claridge as Dr Arthur Seward,
who ends up as Lucy's fiancée - merging the two characters or doctor and
future husband from the novel - give us the old chums from public school
who are set for the big adventure of romance and marriage – that is
until work gets in the way. Harker, a young solicitor, is sent off to
negotiate with Count Dracula in his crumbling castle on the edge of
Transylvania about his purchase of Carfax Abbey in London, which by pure
chance is next to the lunatic asylum where Dr Seward works. How things
have changed in house purchase! Solicitors heading off abroad to stay
with house purchasers to help them with the paperwork . . . But back to the plot, Harker is virtually
imprisoned and although he is saved from the ravages of the brides of
Dracula – another rich seam of film adaptations – by the Count it is
only because he needs the young solicitor for his own purposes when he
arrives in London. Meanwhile in the mental hospital we have Renfield,
a superb performance from Chris Clarke. Renfield's grasp of reality is
loose to say the least as he sings about the old woman who swallowed a
fly as he works his gastronomic way up the Ark's passenger list first
eating flies then spiders then birds, believing he can absorb their life
force. He has a strange link with Dracula, his master,
even though the pair have never met. Renfield's future is somewhat short
though once the meeting takes place – which probably saved the asylum
cat from a grisly end. His minders, the at times cruel and unsympathetic
Nurse Grice, Joan Wakeman and Nurse Nisbett, Tori Wakeman, are left to
lay him out, showing a little feeling, despite the fact his death has
interfered with an invite to a wedding knees up.
It is not easy to speak in perfect unison but our
sisters of mercy managed it without a flutter.
As for our other sisters . . . Lucy is turned
into a vampire and Mina is well on the way when Bob Graham arrives from
Amsterdam as Dr Ven Helsing with his kit of vampire deterrents such as
garlic, garlic flowers, crucifixes, stakes (for heart insertion),
hammers and consecrated host, or communion wafers to you and me. Bob gives us a doctor who seems to enjoy his work
and the challenge of battling the forces of the undead, yet when the
victory is won he shows a surprising tender side, explain that Count
Dracula was also a victim – before setting off Benny Hill style
with his hammer and stakes chasing Dracula's now widowed brides - Laurie
Pollitt, Sophie Harrison and Harriet Poulton. There is good support from Fay Stanton as the
servant Florrie, Alix Abram as the Maid, Hillary Thomson as Mrs Manners
and Hillary Thompson as Dr Goldman as well as Alex Forty as the silent
help in the asylum, Drinkwater. Full marks as well to Keith Higgins and Mike
Lawrence and their team for an impressive set designed by director Jen
Eglinton with iron gates and railings festooned in what appear to be the
huge innards of clocks, which give a Gothic feel to the asylum, Carfax,
Dracula's Castle and even Whitby. Two ramps and a central dais help to separate
Whitby scenes from London helping to create three stages separated by
lighting and indeed the locations and even moods were helped by clever
lighting from David Wakeman, Neil Radford and John Batchelor although
perhaps thunder and lightning, the stock in trade of horror, might have
been more effective than a blood red explosion of sky as Arthur treats
Lucy to a stake, as you might say. The director has made an ambitious choice in
taking on a difficult and complex script and has achieved a creditable
result even if terror never manages to stalk the aisles. To 25-05-13. Roger Clarke |
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