The Dracula in Dracula: Sex, Sucking and Stardom is no different than how you would expect him to be. Expect that he is infatuated with Andrew Lloyd Weber, wants to be a musical superstar, conquer the world, and control people by playing the guitar. Yes, this version is somewhat tweaked for a contemporary audience and is very successful in the changes it introduces.
The performance is lively and funny, and includes vampire songs sung to the music of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance and Barry Manilow’s Copacobana. It combines features such as physicality and comedy to create an effect that is not far off from a Mel Brookes movie. The script may not be original per se, but it uses good old-fashioned jokes in a new way to create an atmosphere that keeps the laughs coming. The show is conscious of its limited set and props, but plays on that element. So, for example, when Jonathan – the innocent hero who travels to Transylvania from England – first arrives to Castle Dracula, he walks through a long corridor to get to his room. The corridor is created by miming walking down stairs and by an actor moving along holding a portrait frame around his head. This may not sound like much, but it is done with such gusto and such an obvious intention to make fun of everything that it can’t help but make the audience laugh.
The actors are all very energetic and establish a playful relationship with the audience from the beginning. Every time we are asked to go along with something preposterous, the actors turn around and almost wink at us as if to say ‘yes, we know what you’re thinking, it’s insane!’ This makes them endearing and makes the audience more willing to play along with pretty much anything. Each actor takes on a variety of parts, all of which come to life effectively through different accents and mannerisms.
If there is one issue with this production it is that this type of humour tends to become tiring after a while. However, although there were moments when the laughter began to wane, something new and inventive would always come up that would get the humour going again.This is a really enjoyable performance; its silliness made everyone laugh and it was the perfect beginning to a Friday night.
