Theater review: Dracula - sink your teeth into this fang-tastic play

Seward and the Count face off
Photo courtesy Driftwood Players

DRACULA

By Steven Dietz

Directed by Paul Fleming

Edmonds Driftwood Players

October 12 - 22, 2017

Review by Doug Gochanour

Fang~Tastic play, which you can really Sink Your Teeth Into

Edmonds Driftwood Players is now in its 59th season. Chew on that for a while. As part of its community theatre program, it offers what it terms TIPs. This stands for the Theatre of Intriguing Possibilities. The TIPs plays feature local playwrights, topical or mature subjects, or thought provoking themes.

Van Helsing and Lucy
Photo courtesy Driftwood Players

Steven Dietz is a Seattle area playwright, who created this Dracula adaptation in 1966. It is based upon the 1897 Bram Stoker novel of the same name.

I may be sticking my neck out here, but I would bet that most everyone has heard of Dracula, Vixens, Vampires, the Undead, or perhaps the Zombie Apocalypse. This play is frequently performed around Halloween.

The play generally follows the plot of the novel. It tells the story by using narration, flashbacks, and vivid scenes. These depict Count Dracula’s journey to England from Transylvania, and the havoc created by his menu of new acquaintances.

Dracula (Asa Sholdez) invited Harker (Jon Loina) to Transylvania to bring along a London real estate deal for a new home location. This trip is more than Harker expected. Among other experiences, Vixens (Rabecca Erickson and Grace Madland) bring his blood to a boil.

Harker and Mina
Photo courtesy Driftwood Players

Mina (Emily Milburn) waits for Harker’s return, while hanging out with her friend Lucy (Hanna Destiny Lynn). Dracula’s psychic powers confirm that they meet his taste for women. So, Lucy and Mina become targets of Dracula upon his arrival in London. 

Dr. John Seward (Nate Thomsen) has two passions: Lucy, and understanding the mind of a madman. The particular madman is Renfield (David Alan Morrison), who exhibits symptoms of psychosis. Renfield offers some humorous relief. 

Seward finds that Lucy is mysteriously deteriorating and sends for his old professor, Van Helsing (Phillip Keiman). Van Helsing recognizes vampire bites and gives Lucy a blood transfusion. Will Lucy recover? What will happen next?

Will Lucy recover? Is she now a vampire?
Photo courtesy Driftwood Players

Does Dracula steal Harker's identity and begin menacing London? Is Lucy now a vampire?

How will this bloodthirsty tale evolve?

Do you think the ending has a lot at stake for humanity? It sucks that it is not revealed, Come to see Dracula, and get to the heart of the matter!

Driftwood Players at the Wade James Theatre, 950 Main St, Edmonds 98020

Buy tickets online