WHAT: Dracula’s Guest
WHEN/WHERE: UK Tour
PRICE: Varies depending on event
OUR RATING: Chance It!
This past Halloween night, Storefront City had a decision to make. After a busy and haunt-filled month of reviews, we felt pressure to choose our adventure on the 31st wisely, and thus landed on a bone-chilling tale of the undead creature of the night himself – Dracula. Making our way again to The Old Red Lion Theatre in Islington, we ascended the stairs to see Brother Wolf’s production of Dracula’s Guest, which has been on tour in the UK throughout the year. As soon as we entered the dark and cosy space, silent bar the sound of a music box, we were immediately arrested by the intimacy of the environment created pre-show. Before us was a man, his head in his hands, seated at a table carrying a rotting pig’s head. And so the evening began!
Under the helm of James Hyland (actor, writer, producer and director), and inspired by the writings of Bram Stoker, Dracula’s Guest presents an intimate scene between Count Dracula (Hyland) and Renfield (Ashton Spear), who in the classic novel is the unstable and devoted familiar of the vampire, and fully under his control. In Dracula’s Guest, however, we are taken slightly back in time, when Renfield has first been taken hostage by the Count, and has a life-changing decision to make in exchange for his freedom.
This production truly thrust us into the action, the simple yet compelling setting transporting the audience into the centre of Castle Dracula. Notably, compared to some other productions we’ve recently seen, there is deep seriousness about the creative framing of this piece and we soaked up the immersive atmosphere with trepidation. The narrative itself is a clear departure from the original short story by Stoker (which actually served as a draft and later deleted chapter of Dracula itself, and was published posthumously), but nonetheless provides an intriguing alternative interpretation and indeed introduces new material to ponder.
In performances that require a great degree of physicality, Hyland and Spear captivate us with their presence, both commanding and pitiful, respectively, resulting in a transformation of man into beast that seems all too real. Delving into issues that are present from a different perspective in the novel, we learn of how the fates of these two characters, human and undead, have been intertwined for centuries, culminating in a unique insight into Dracula’s past. The psychic interplay between them is arresting and becomes darker as their evil nature is revealed, resulting in a torturous situation that left us rightly uncomfortable.
Final Thoughts: Dracula’s Guest presents an assault on both the emotions and senses. Revulsion and sympathy are felt throughout, along with an unexpected twist that left us with many questions. Notable too was the sheer volume and violence of the piece. That we were left shocked by the blows wrought suggests that the realism achieved was excellent, but also demonstrates that one must have a taste for such blood to partake properly here. We struggled with various other aspects of the piece including that the pacing felt occasionally uneven and from time to time the characters appeared so very different that perhaps they did not belong in the same space. There are currently two more scheduled chances to see Dracula’s Guest in 2022, over at The Blake Theatre in Monmouth on November 24th and then at the Two Sisters Arts Centre in Felixstowe on November 25th. This is a production you can really sink your teeth into!
