Stage Dragon: Dracula – Electric Theatre

Published on: 15 Nov, 2018
Updated on: 15 Nov, 2018

Phill Griffith as Dracula – Photo Jonathan Constant

By Ferenc Hepp

There is a sense of familiarity at The Electric Theatre this week with both the production and the company bearing names which local audiences will recognise.

The company is Guildburys Theatre Company, founded in Guildford in 1963. It is a regular visitor at The Electric, and this production is Dracula, the character having some parallels to Vlad III Dracula, who was around slightly before the Guildburys and The Electric Theatre; in the 15th Century.

This version is an adaptation by Liz Lochhead from the original story by Bram Stoker, and directed by Michael Thonger. The setting is designed by Ian Nicholls in a German Expressionist style, with lots of straight lines and various shaped flats all around the stage, creating a number of entrances and making use of Robert Sheppard’s lighting very effectively.

Very effective use of lighting helps create the atmosphere – Photo Jonathan Constant

There is also a Gothic feel about the stage with some projection representing the various settings, which are Castle Dracula, a family estate in Yorkshire, and Stoneyfields Asylum where we first meet Renfield (Malin Karp) and Doctor Seward (Tim Brown), both of whom do an excellent job with their very different characters.

Karp’s ‘madness’ as Renfield is consistent and Brown stands out with a very clear stage presence and voice. Projection and diction is generally good by the majority of the leading actors, including Debby Dean, Fiona Buckland Dos Santos, Gavin Brennan and Kim Ferguson, however, occasionally words and whole pieces of dialogue are difficult to pick up due to a mixture of weaker voices, lack of diction or blocking where for quite long periods the actors do not face the audience.

Phill Griffith as Dracula makes his first appearance quite late on in the show and brings with him a brilliant sense of confidence, fear and Gothic horror.

It is clear that the cast and the creative team have all worked very hard to achieve what we see on stage, however, some of the hardest working members of the company in this production have to be the stage management under the leadership of Laura Sheppard.

I lost count of the number of scenes, but the crew carry out all the scene changes in between and most of it went without a hitch on Wednesday night. This is certainly very impressive with the limited amount of space backstage at the Electric Theatre, however, for the sake of continuity and pace, some of these changes could have been done by the actors going off or coming on to the stage, and some suitable music would have helped while the setting was moved.

In fact, music normally assists with dramatic tension and there could have been more of it, overall. According to the director’s note: “We have done our best to flesh out this production with a rich background of sights and sounds, complementing the sex, death and glorious excess that Dracula is known for.”

The team have achieved this, and it is a very difficult play to produce by an amateur company, so Guildburys have to be congratulated. However, I would certainly recommend a good knowledge of the book beforehand in order to get the most of this production and to avoid getting lost in the “flesh”.

Dracula runs until Saturday, November 17 and tickets are available via the website: https://electric.theatre or by calling the box office on: 01483 501200.