Dracula

Critiqued by Holly Bartges

October 22, 2009

With its current production of Dracula by Steven Dietz, Lakewood's E Project enters the theatre competitive world. It's on its way to becoming a major contender along side of other strong small theatres in the Metro arena. Now under the executive direction by Michael Emmitt, the E project enticed Roger Winn to direct Dracula.

Winn and the extraordinary cast claims Dracula as its own. It's breathtaking, scary enough for one young girl to bring a stuffed tiger for comfort. Her mother, connected with the E Project, warned her, and she came prepared. At one point, I even considered asking her if I could borrow the cuddly tiger. From the look of her pretty face during Intermission, I decided she needed it far more than I did.

Cast of Dracula in The E Project's production of Dracula.

You know the story, you know how it is going to turn out, but Winn and his actors create an atmosphere of suspenseful imagination, integrated horror, and delicious uneasiness. Sensuality oozes around the edges perpetuated by Lucy and Mina, feared secrecy hides behind Dr. Van Helsing's unnerving diagnosis, conflicts between belief and religion enticed by diabolical mesmerizing as proclaimed by Renfield and Dracula tie the characters together for a jaw-dropping, breathtaking experience.

The set, designed by Emmitt, is bare bones, with a drab haunted effect even before the house lights dim. The walls, drab. The stage divided amicably for different places at different times, and it works. I have seen several stunningly beautifully designed productions, but this one claims an ownership beyond stunningly beautiful. It dives head first into the eerie, untamed world of vampire believability.

Dale Li, allows the vampired Dracula to envelop his being with every muscle carrying out as a choreographical sinister dance. His eyes dart with a knowing, piercing the atmosphere around him. He captures the imagination. He's more than just a character on stage. He's feared, and yet somehow you understand why and how others are drawn to him with his hypnotic powers. Of all of the Draculas I've seen on stage and in film. Li's portrait rises to the top of the list.

Renfield, a mad man, played by George Peele with incredible consistency, sports eyes that slice through his own universe to other dimensions, moves from wild tormented man to subdued tortured soul, to seemingly lucid human being wanting to be free, begging for his Master to come. Confusing Dr. Seward who fears him with respected trepidation, the doctor claims he wants to understand Renfield. Benjamin Luna plays Seward with a naivete that makes you wonder how he ever got a job in a mental institution to begin with. Missing clues offered him by Professor Van Helsing masterfully portrayed by Grady Sherman, fly over his head. Seward still doesn't "get it" without the Professor drawing him a detailed schematic drawing. With Dietz's adaptation, Luna draws the audience into Seward. Is he really that ignorant or does he just not want to accept the reality that red marks on Lucy's neck indicate a vampire is loose, or is he so consumed over Redfield his brain just can't kick into high gear?

Cast of Dracula in The E Project's production of Dracula.

Counter balancing Renfield's savage outbursts, and his placid strange requests ("Can I have a kitten? Everyone wants a kitten?" whether it is to drink or pet is specifically mystified.) gives Luna perfect opportunity to play Seward in a wishy washy demeanor that at the same time attracts attention. It's a brilliant performance in the midst of Renfield, the hypnotic Dracula, the ethereal professor, the confused Jonathan, and the maladies surrounding Lucy and Mina.

Krista Reckner plays the young beautiful Lucy with grace and enthusiasm of a young girl hampered by suitors. A streak of independence flows through her. Upstanding, respectable secure men such as Seward bore her. Her best friend, Mina, delightfully played by Christy Bradway, bring out a silly, excitable quality when both get together after a way-too-long time when Mina?s husband. Jonathan takes a trip to Transylvania. Letters keep her up to date. The letters come to life as Jonathan displays his written word. Although stage space is only a few feet, the lighting and staging definitely give the illusion of hundreds of miles of separation. As Jonathan describes the strangeness of his surroundings, the confused emotions are aptly reflected in Johnny Moorhouse's eyes. He has reason to be unnerved coming in close contact with Dracula. Isolated in his anything but glamorous castle, Dracula eagerly anticipates being able to go to London, where dinner will be more readily available. Jonathan falls prey to Dracula's hypnotic pull, stunned over what exactly is going on.

Cast of Dracula in The E Project's production of Dracula.

With Lucy under a strange spell, Renfield plays games with Seward, and Dracula plies emotional hypnosis to Jonathan. All happening on the stage at the same time. Winn?s astute direction, the actors solidified in their characters, it is possible to see and hear all three scenarios at the same time. The effect is overwhelming, gratifying, and suspenseful playing extraordinarily well on the small stage in the confines of the intimate E Project theatre.

I certainly didn't need the stuffed tiger, but fell under the hypnotic atmosphere permeating the theatre, something that's never happened with any other production of Dracula. The E Project's production of Dracula is a must see, not just because it is Halloween, but also because it is masterfully produced by a theatre not known, yet, for masterful productions.

Dracula
Adapted by Steven Dietz from the Brams Stoker novel; Directed by Roger Winn