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Stage Dragon: Dracula – Yvonne Arnaud Theatre

Published on: 5 Feb, 2025
Updated on: 5 Feb, 2025

The cast of Dracula Harrogate Theatre

By Martin Giles

Most of us know Dracula was a fictional vampire. But what else do you know about the character?

This week the play Dracula is presented at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre to entertain us and along the way perhaps fill in the gaps in our knowledge of this classic Gothic horror novel by Bram Stoker. It is one of the best known works in English literature.

I have to admit I have not read the folklore-based novel but from what I gather the play follows the original storyline pretty closely.

Marie Osman as Lucy Westenra and Maya-Nika Bewley as Mina Harker Harrogate Theatre

The story starts with unsuspecting solicitor Jonathan Harker travelling to Transylvania to finalise the sale of a home in England to his client, Count Dracula.

Soon, Harker (Pelé Kelland-Beau) realises that he is more a prisoner than a business visitor and his fears are confirmed with an encounter with two sirens, also female vampires.

The dark and eerie atmosphere for the play is skilfully created through an adaptable set, sometimes an oppressive and scary castle, sometimes a ship with a doomed crew and ominous cargo and sometimes a lunatic asylum. The set is enhanced through artful use of lighting and dry ice but the unearthly feeling is most noticeably created by captivating choral music provided by the entire cast.

All the players take on two roles skilfully. And the role of Dracula is shared by three of the male actors out of the cast of six.

For me the most engaging was Marie Osman, in one guise a coquettish young woman, Lucy Westenra, with three suitors proposing marriage, in another a tormented soul, Renfield, straightjacketed in an asylum and controlled by Dracula.

Costume and scene changes were seamless throughout and the pace increased as the play progressed.

My only criticisms would be that the actors could project their voices a little more. I was struggling to hear some of the dialogue in the 12th row of the stalls and the lack of special effects when it came to dispatching a vampire were anti-climatic, asking too much of our imagination.

Vampire Renfield is despatched Harrogate Theatre

For fans of Gothic horror this show ought to be a must but others, like me, with only a passing interest in the genre, will still find it an entertaining and educational evening.

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