Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre summer season under way with lighter-side of Dracula


It is a co-production between the Stephen Joseph and the Octagon Theatre Bolton, based loosely on the book by Bram Stoker and written by physical comedy theatre company La Navet Bete and John Nicholson.
Its device, design and concept owe much to the Stephen Joseph’s innovative The Woman in Black first performed at the venue more than 35 years ago – Michael Frayn’s farce Noises Off, The Play That Goes Wrong series and Hammer Film Productions.
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Hide AdMinimal set, profuse sound effects, physical comedy, mistimed stunts, collapsing structures, wrong cues, script screw-ups and touches of lurid, gothic horror are the order of the day.


There are the usual tropes – garlic and crucifixes of various sizes included. The storyline is not a million miles away from Bram Stoker’s original – not that it matters – the production is more about contained mayhem than an authentic stage version of a novel.
Professional vampire hunter Van Helsing has gathered a troupe of what turns out to be incompetent actors to tell the story of the bloodsucker who sailed from Transylvania to Whitby.
The dark tale is shot through with the light of laughter – stakes through the heart, a be-heading, madness and murder are the stuff of comedy in the hands of director and Stephen Joseph Theatre artistic director Paul Robinson – an expert at staging farce kept the right side of chaos.
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Hide AdThe four-strong company are Chris Hannon, Annie Kirkman, Alyce Liburd and Killian Macardle – and they play a multitude of roles – from Van Helsing to diarist Jonathan Harker and asylum doctor Seward to the vampire himself.
There is the ubiquitous man in a frock and woman in coat-tails.
Hannon plays Van Helsing in the mode of Officer Crabtree – the British copper with the awful French accent – in ‘Allo ‘Allo.
They work hard to keep up the pace and Kirkman is the stand-out. She will be remembered by Stephen Joseph Theatre audiences as the villain in the Christmas show Beauty and the Beast.
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Hide AdShe stalks the theatre as the hissing, fang-bearing Dracula and purrs perfectly as the house cat. Her energy keeps the spirits up and helps hurtle the action to its full-blooded and crazy finale.
Another highlight is the music and finale song by Simon Slater
Dracula – the Bloody Truth runs at the Stephen Joseph Theatre from now until Saturday July 27. Tickets: on 01723 370541 and at www.sjt.uk.com