Items tagged with castle-dracula

Dracula – 9th Nov – 5th Dec Greenwich Playhouse Dracula – doesn’t the very name make you shiver? Vampires are ‘in’ at the moment but most of the current ones seem a little tame compared to Count Dracula, that grand old man of horror. We all love a good, creepy show and this production at the tiny studio space at Grenwich Playhouse (aka the Galleon Theatre) certainly delivers. In the spring of 1893 Jonathan Harker, a young English solicitor, visits Castle Dracula in Transylvania for what he believes to be a routine deal with the nobleman Count Dracula. Harker soon realises that he is not a visitor at all, instead a prisoner to the deadly Dracula, who sets off to find Mina, Harker’s fiancée, and her sister Lucy. The more Harker investigates his confinement, the more he fears his deadly captor. Can someone stop Dracula before he unleashes his supernatural powers on his first victim? In this tragic tale of power and redemptive love, the lines between the sane and the insane become dangerously vague. A few weeks ago Andy and I were contacted by Sophie Holland ((Florrie Heathersage) and offered tickets for the show so Friday night found us braving the downpour and making our way to the Grenwich Playhouse. The dark stormy night set a perfect scene for the performance that followed. Liz Lochhead’s adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic is full of fine word play and the sort of rhythm and metre you might expect from a fine poet. The production has a wonderfully intense and creepy atmosphere. Lots of repressed emotions and the dark, scary side of female sexuality. The show relies on suspense, atmospheric music, and acting rather than special effects and it’s all the better for that. Neither of us enjoy gore fests so this was something of a relief! Click here to view the embedded video. Many of us will remember the Hammer Horror film telling the story of Jonathan Harker, the archetypal innocent abroad, Mina Westerman, his anxious fiance, Lucy her younger sister, gorgeous but frail in mind and body, madman Renfield, Van Helsing and Count Dracula himself. These stock characters are are brought brilliantly to life but grounded in reality in Liz Lochhead’s classic adaptation of Dracula. First played at the 1980s this is a play much loved by amateur companies. Lochhead adds more depth with the parts of Florrie, Mina and Lucy’s maid and Mrs Manners, nurse at the madhouse. All the cast were good, and obviously confident in their roles after their successful month long tour of Scotland. They’ve had some very good reviews already. A special mention must be made for Louis J. Parker’s Dracula, a truly sinister presence on the stage. He really gave me the shivers and my dreams were decidedly interesting on Friday night! The cast: Laura Blackmore – Mina Westerman, Daisy Burns – Lucy Westerman, Matthew Grace – Jonathan Harker Kieran Hennigan – Renfield Sophie Holland -Florrie Heathersage Louise Ann Munro – Mrs Manners Louis J. Parker – Dracula Alexander Pritchett – Van Helsing Ellis J. Wells – Arthur Seward Pub theatres are an interesting part of the London theatre scene and are becoming more adventurous all the time. I’m hoping to explore more of what they have to offer as they are a great way of adding a totally different kind of show to your theatre break. Dracula in Greenwich was originally posted at London Theatre Breaks blog

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Dracula in Greenwich

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