Dracula (Sydney Theatre Co) ★★★★

Adapted by Kip Williams. Based on the novel by Bram Stoker. Sydney Theatre Company. Roslyn Packer Theatre.  2 Jul – 4 Aug, 2024.

Sydney Theatre Company’s Dracula isn’t just theatre, it’s an event and a milestone. The final part of a technologically intensive stage trilogy and the symbolic swan-song for outgoing Artistic Director Kip Williams. Laden with so much expectation and import, it’s hard to simply view it as a show in its own right, but here we go.

Zahra Newman is fang-tastic (forgive me, but I just had to) as she leads the cast of camera-crew, stage hands, costume and make-up in the now-familiar cine-theatre style. Playing over twenty roles, turning each into their own clear caricature, her personal charisma is the glue that holds it all together. Well, her charisma and 17 different wigs, quick changes, facial hair and more thanks to the well choreographed stage team.

Dracula is aware of its own camp comedy and Newman relishes in it. The variety of character accents are each slightly ridiculous. Newman’s Dracula comes across like a mix of an 90s european raver (the red hair reminded me of Run Lola Run) and The Room’s Tommy Wiseau (“I vant to suck your blaaad”). Van Helsing looked like the wise karate teacher from a 70s blaxploitation film. When Newman dons a curly blonde wig to play Lucy Westerna the irrepressible silliness of the look gets its own hearty laugh. It’s clear the whole production team was having a lot of fun.

STC’s Dracula plays with the novel’s themes of sexuality and race without ever truly calling attention to itself. The basic premise of a single performer playing all the roles, regardless of gender or nationality, instantly questions your assumptions. As Dracula seduces Harker, the audience sees two drag-kings before them giving a performance of gender roles. 

There is a surprising simplicity to Dracula that had me constantly second guessing myself, looking to see what the next innovation would be. The giant screen moves up and over the stage, at times acting as a curtain hiding the changing of the set, or showing the otherworldliness of Dracula himself. One highlight comes early as Jonathan Harker is shaving, only to realise the Count behind him has no reflection – to the audience he is only visible on the screen, as Newman shaves alone on stage.

Williams’ use of a “god’s-eye” view of the stage adds some intriguing elements to the staging (this was more evolved than a similar style used in Benjamin Millepied’s Romeo & Juliet Suite at the Opera House recently). Watching this ominous dark orb descend and rise over the stage with coldly mechanical precision actually added to the inhuman air.

Given the supernatural nature of the story I expected more invention in the use of the cine-theatre technique, and at times the screen became a crutch. Complex scenes with multiple characters moving around each other lose their impact over time and the play becomes more traditional as we adjust. When the giant screen reaches the floor down-stage and Newman has a walking conversation with multiple versions of herself, the effect is simply two-dimensional.

Ironically, I was left wanting more real stage magic to compliment the visual effects on screen. Give me a visceral splatter of blood, or show me Newman’s Dracula flying across the stage on a wired rig (not just a projection) – I wanted something more I could sink my teeth into. It lacked the transformative use of tech the previous two instalments of the trilogy had. 

But the reductive question on everyone’s lips will be “Is it as good as Dorian Gray”? The short answer is “no it’s not”, but to be fair that is a very high bar Williams’ has set for himself. Is Dracula an entertaining play with a stellar central performance that will leave you leaping to your feet at the finale? Hell yes!