"Dracula"

Whenever I’ve mentioned the name of this pantomime, there have been expressions of surprise at the choice and even questions such as “why not a normal panto like “Cinderella?”  Well, they did it last year and so that would probably be a good reason for avoiding that one but, even so, this was an unusual choice to say the least. It turns out one of the committee had been involved with a production of this script some years ago in Derbyshire, must have mentioned it to the others and then found himself with the task of producing it here.

His excellent work resulted in an enjoyable occasion with no sight or even a hint of a vampire’s favourite “b” word (unless it was “blancmange”).  The script retains many of the characters of the original Bram Stoker novel with the rather naïve Jonathan Harker assuming the role of the Principal Boy with his friend Mina Murray, despite being a little domineering, providing the love interest.  Alex Wallis and Alice Luke soon had us sharing their adventures with confident performances and a little corpsing at one point was permissible and perhaps only appropriate in a show with this title. They are assisted by Van Helsing (Taylor Campbell) who explains that the use of a little arsenic here and there, besides being distasteful to vampires, could have other unfortunate consequences. We have to wait a while before we meet Count Dracula himself and he turns out to be a somewhat more likeable “baddie” than we might have feared. Shaun Doyle has played a variety of roles in his comparatively short time with the group and he continues to amuse with his easy rapport with the audience and cheeky smile. The plot also sees the introduction of Doctor Frankenstein and his assistant, Igor, who, whilst always reliable, complains of being taken for granted. Catherine Colman and Jane Richardson showed just the right amount of eccentricity in these parts.  So too did Simon Richardson as Dracula’s butler/valet, Boris; after a few years working backstage, this was Simon’s first part and his bumbling, grunting and grumbling, without speaking any meaningful words, together with his involvement in the opening and closing of a squeaky door was always very funny. I suppose the task of working a “dame” into the plot was always likely to see this depart from the original novel but pantomime always allows a fair bit of artistic licence and so we are introduced to Dame Fenella.  Ryan Stocks is in his 22nd pantomime here, having played various roles in that time, including those of producer and scriptwriter, but he is always in good form as an ebullient character such as this, subjected as she is to various misfortunes.

The original novel has three vampires/sisters and these are retained here as Camilla, Drusilla and Elvira (Joanne Johnson, Tina Salden and Abbie Goodwin) seek to cause further mayhem.  A ghostbuster gang of five youngsters spend much of their time in pursuit, Scooby-Doo style, of a rather zany duck who is eventually revealed in Masked Singer fashion as a local entrepreneur and theme park owner,             Vincent P. Rice. Mike Spurgeon is an occasional performer with this group but otherwise one of the builders/designers of some excellent sets, always changed with great efficiency by the stage crew.

The music brought us a chorus of youngsters and three dancers and was supplied by a band of five, including a cello in the capable hands of Helen Mason, whose love of chamber music now extends to one for that room in Dracula’s castle. They provided a good lead and some interesting pieces during scene changes. Songs varied from “A bat out of hell” to a selection of happier “sunshine” tunes, including the obligatory audience number, this time “You are my sunshine”.  There were some effective lighting changes and a very colourful rainbow number with appropriate costumes.

I understand that bookings were initially a little slow, perhaps reflecting my own misgivings about the transition of this novel into a panto but, after the first few performances, word apparently spread around the city and only a few seats were left unsold. In the end, we all became Dracula’s fans or, if I say fangs, you will sense the sort of humour we enjoyed in a show which belied its title and left us “walking in sunshine” despite these dark and sometimes stormy January days.       

  

 

                                                 

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