Review: Dracula at Westovian Theatre

“…Rachel Craig was phenomenal…she seethed with menace and dominated the show…”

Dracula by Bram Stoker adapted by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, Westovian Theatre, South Shields

By Lauren Powell

Bravo to the whole team at the Westovians – Bravo indeed! Tonight’s offering was enthralling, ambitious and a refreshing take on a well covered story. It wasn’t necessarily a flawless show, but – honestly – I think it made it all the more charming. 

The show opens with Mina, played by Rachel Craig, inviting the audience to take heed to this play as a record and a warning about a forthcoming menace: vampirism. It’s presented as a feminist retelling, where the women are centre stage as the protagonists rather than just victims. The shift in perspective and narrative device makes the show worth seeing if you enjoy Dracula but have seen your favourite versions a few too many times. 

One thing I particularly enjoy about shows put on by non-professional actors is the diversity in the cast. People with realistic bodies, voices and mobility makes a show feel more real to me, I find it draws me in more and suspends my disbelief because they don’t look like they are straight out of LA pretending to be just like us. The aforementioned Rachel Craig (Mina) was phenomenal; she seethed with menace and dominated the show like a ringmaster. I suspect this was half the way her character is written and half her raw acting talent that led her to totally dominate this show. If Disney ever needs a new Evil Queen they should give her a call. I bought her as Mina Harker: real woman, victimised by the undead, sharing her cautionary tale.

My companion particularly enjoyed Lee McShane, as Renfield, he has a really powerful presence, as though any moment he might leap onto the hospital staff and beat them but for a thin veneer of  self control. I also want to highlight Catherine Atkinson. Normally she supports the Westovians backstage, but for this show she trod the boards as a Lady in White, and the scene she was in was one of my favourite moments. I could go on and say great things about the whole cast; this was such a demanding show with so much going on that I was constantly impressed.

You can tell the backstage team had so much passion for this production too. The sets and props were excellent, and whilst Dracula’s castle loomed in the background throughout (which I thought was a particularly effective metaphor), a lot of the scene changes were done by lighting and curtains, which would not have worked so well were I not so drawn in by the players. The costumes were phenomenal too, some of the best I’ve seen at this level of theatre. The Brides were perfectly creepy – I defy anyone to not love their weird movements that amplify the fluttering of the layers of fabric and feathers on their bodies. The masks too – so creepy, so enthralling!    

I did have a little laugh to myself. About twenty years ago when I was part of an am dram group for which I did the lighting for a different version of Dracula. I was reflecting on how hard it was and it was nowhere near as complex as the show tonight. So, I feel a bit mean saying that the tech is what let the show down a little: cues weren’t hit, spotlights chased along well behind characters and the sound levels were occasionally out of whack. As I’ve said, this was such an ambitious play, and to get it spot on would probably be almost impossible without an implausible amount of tech rehearsals. The bits that worked really worked. I enjoyed the lighting design and, over all, the tech team really managed to drive the atmosphere.

The Pier Pavilion is a gift of a venue for a show like Dracula. It hasn’t always been a theatre, but when they transformed it they kept the Victorian era iron work running through the building. The theatre seating is also uncommonly good, you have wide seats and plenty of legroom, which is a bugbear of mine in every other historic venues (and even some of the modern ones) in the region. When you are seated the theatre feels just like you could have been teleported to Whitby.   

Literature fans, goths, people who love spooky season get down to see this before it ends on Saturday. It’s an interesting version of a classic, preformed by a passionate troupe of actors in an amazing venue. Tickets are only £15 so it’s worth every penny, try and sit centrally to get the best view!         

Dracula plays at Westovian Theatre until Saturday, 7 November. Tickets are available here.

Lauren Powell is a recovering academic from the North East of England. Currently residing in South Shields with her partner and two malevolent gerbils. Lauren is a short form writer who writes fiction as well as reviews. She has loved the theatre since childhood, and many years ago volunteered back stage with an amateur group, Stage Focus.  From one man readings to musical and beyond, Lauren can not get enough! You can find her on Twitter/X here.