Dracula

100 years after it was first heard of, you have to wonder whether it's possible to bring anything new to the Dracula as we know it. After all, the Count has seen many incarnations on stage and screen. He's been parodied so often, it's often hard to take the awful deeds of the story seriously -- vampires killing women and children, exhumation of bodies, beheading, just to name a few, some of the audience did seem to react with laughter in peculiar places.So does this piece succeed as a new version? Well, yes and no. It is certainly well acted, and the production values -- a simple set are excellent. The general reaction from the audience was positive, growing in appreciation as the play built to dramatic conclusion where it opened, in the wilds of Trannsylvania where Dracula seeks safety when his plans go wrong.There is little of Dracula himself for much of the play -- though his presence is felt throughout, played well by Rob O’Hanlon, along with good accent. The cast were excellent and some good well balanced performances, from Van Helsing (Grant Flanagan) good charactersation and accent prevailed throughout, Mina (Caroline Freemantle), Lucy (Faye Wyatt) Jonathon Harker (Simon Harrington), Seward (Luke Bailey), Renfield (Curtis G Armitage) and Arthur (Paul Bass) portrayed their roles well..Supporting players worked well in this piece, and I could see it was very much teamwork effort. Dialog was overlong and an unimpressive script, but it was rescued by a brilliant cast and strong production values by Andrew Manktelow (Director) at the helm, he worked well to bring to us a good scary night out at the theatre

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