Last night I travelled to Palmerston North to see the bloodworks theatre collective's rendition of Dracula. It was staged in an old power station - a large brick building, built in 1923. The machinery, dials and gantries and so on are all still in there, and were used during the performance.
In short: very cool. A nice chopped down version of the story, told in vignettes. Incredibly impressive acrobatics from several cast members, most notably Dracula himself. Some very pretty costumes, some great use of percussion (who knew disused Power Plant machinery could be so musical?). Sugoi!
Long Version: We started off the night milling around in an antechamber, decorated with candles, bowls of garlic, and animal skulls. We weren't allowed any further in as they had to assemble the audience and give us an OSH warning, plus some instructions on where to go and what to expect.
We then filed through dark corridors into the main plant space. There was white material draped around the room to form a kind of indoor tent, into which the audience filed. The first act was an audience standing affair. We formed a circle of sorts, around the 2 youngest cast members who were seated in the middle of the space. They were 2 young girls - probably around 10 years old - wearing Victorian dresses, playing patty-cake and singing a spooky nursery rhyme. THey had cool mauled looking dolls as well, which they used to do a kind of precis of the play, before walking out through the audience and out of sight (black curtains had been used to create 'backstage' areas around the room - this allowed the actors to sneak into the room from various points, and make their exits too).
The first act, with Jonathan Harker arriving in Transylvania, being tormented by vampires, and the count embarking for London, was all standing. It also featured some awesome stunt work - people climbing along gantries, Dracula hanging upside down from a chain 'sleeping', some graceful leaps up onto things and down from things. Very nice.
Following this, the tent swept away over our heads, being gathered by crew members, and two long rolls of material were draped the length of the room (much bigger without the tent). They formed an impression of sails, whilst the Captain delivered lines from the gantry. The two long cloth drapes were billowed by stage hands, whilst the captain swayed from side to side. A very cool effect.
Cue smoke machine, and we were all ushered to seats around 3 edges of the room for the remainder of the play. Highlights of the rest of the play included:
Acrobatics: From people climbing onto and up and down things, leaping around, choreographed fighting to cartwheels and people being lifted around, and the coolest stunt I have ever seen involving a steep staircase's rails.
A freaky minute long complete blackout (with vampire characters moving around and hissing in the dark).
A lunatic dangling above us in a cage.
More percussive use of the machinery around us.
If you ever get a chance to see this production, I highly recommend it. Of course, the venue was a huge factor in its coolness, but the people behind it are highly talented folks, and who knows - maybe they'll do it again next year?
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