Dracula review

Dracula, Arts University College Bournemouth School of Performance, Lighthouse, Poole
2:34pm Saturday 13th March 2010

By Linda Kirkman »


THIS production celebrated the collaboration between the various courses in the School of Performance – acting, costume design, film, make-up, animation, model making, digital media production – and the result was sensational.

With few props other than sheets, ladder-back chairs and hanging ladders plus incredible graphics, stunning effects and chillingly appropriate background music, the well-known story of Count Dracula and his thirst for blood can surely never have been told in a more original fashion.

Co-devised by the cast, this very physical production involved incredible gymnastic-like movements that came into their own during the brilliant shipwreck scene, as well as highly detailed performances that brought other scenes such as those in the lunatic asylum and Dracula’s castle bursting into vivid life. And the excellent costumes, made especially for the production from clothing donated by OXFAM, were outstanding.

The cast, most of whom I have seen several times this season in various productions, can clearly encompass many differing styles of acting and in that respect I must pick out for particular praise Kevin Leslie (Dracula), Becky Snellin (Lucy Westenra), James Benedict (Renfield), Nicholas Farr (Jonathan Harker) and Jane Crawshaw (Mina Harker).

They and their fellow cast members instilled a real sense of terror into this absolutely brilliant production.