Theatre review: Dracula, a Comedy of Terrors

PREVIEW DISCLAIMER: This review is of the final preview performance.

Whatever the clichés might say, US and UK humour do generally travel fairly well between sides of the Atlantic, although I personally find that the sillier brand of comedy can be more hit and miss in its travels. We've already had one demented New York spoof hit the right mark in London this year with Titaníque, so could a second work the same trick? Well, maybe not quite as successfully, but Gordon Greenberg (also directing) and Steve Rosen's camp take on Bram Stoker definitely has its moments. Dracula, a Comedy of Terrors takes the basic elements of the classic vampire story, changes them and swaps a couple of characters' names around for no discernible reason, and after a shaky start has a lot of fun to offer. Charlie Stemp plays a particularly timid and gormless Jonathan Harker, the English estate agent on a journey to sell London property to a Transylvanian noble.

The perpetually horny Count Dracula (James Daly) would probably have used him as a snack if he hadn't seen a photo of Harker's fiancée Lucy (Safeena Ladha) and been immediately smitten. Soon he's left behind a trail of seamen on his travels to Whitby to stalk and turn her.

Daly, who comes to London straight from the original off-Broadway production, is the only actor to play just the one role, occasionally bursting onto the stage to give it a blast of star power as the character everyone's there to see: Essentially a pisstake of the sexy vampire trope, he prances around in leather and lace when his clothes aren't falling off him entirely, aggressively flirting with anyone who'll sit still long enough - he'd have an OnlyFans if only he showed up on camera. If there's one thing more impressive than the amount of comic mileage Daly gets out of what is basically one joke, it's the amount he gets out of his flamboyant cape-swishing.

The other four cast members are tasked with frantically role-swapping between the remaining characters, with Dianne Pilkington's quick-changes between Dr. Westfeldt and Renfield being a regular scene-stealer. Sebastien Torkia plays Mina, who's here become Lucy's less attractive, less popular sister, and here the gag is pretending both characters are on stage at the same time when he doubles as a Teutonic, female Dr. Van Helsing. Tijana Bjelajac's sets and Tristan Raines' costumes all contribute to a show that makes sure every element is contributing to the laughs.

This isn't immediately apparent though, and it took me a while to warm to the show, particularly thanks to jokes about Janet Street-Porter and Bognor Regis that have been gathering dust for longer than Dracula himself - very obviously minimal effort put into anglicising a couple of US-specific gags. And while I rarely complain about a show needing to be longer, there's definitely the sense of missed opportunities: A comic take on Dracula that doesn't feature Jonathan being seduced by the Brides feels like it's missed a trick, while the promised look into the story's queerness is underexplored.

There's also the nagging feeling that this is essentially a fringe comedy show at West End prices*. Still, at least it's got the West End cast to show for it, which includes Stemp getting a sexy vampire moment of his own, and they ensure most of the gags land - I did laugh out loud a lot over the course of the evening once the show warmed up. If not the best example of them it definitely deserves a place among the ranks of much-needed, chaotic comedies around at the moment, and the running joke about the cake-stand is still making me smile.

Dracula, a Comedy of Terrors by Gordon Greenberg & Steve Rosen is booking until the 3rd of May at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Matt Crockett.

*I told Phill what the prices rise to after the preview period ends and he was more horrified than at the sight of any actual vampire