Dracula

Dracula has gone by many names and identities: Nosferatu, Vlad, the Count, it was even once implied that he is Judas himself. However it isn’t often, if ever, that the Prince of Darkness is portrayed as the Princess of Darkness. The Plymouth State University Theatre Department’s production of Bram Stoker’s Dracula concluded its four-day run this past Sunday, with one of the main twists of the production being that the roles of Dracula and Van Helsing were performed by women (Meg Anchukaitis and Katrina Chamberlain, respectively).

Gender swapping characters in theatre isn’t exactly a new phenomenon. In fact, it is a tradition in stage productions of Peter Pan that the titular role be performed by the opposite gender. One of highest praises that can be leveled at this adaption of the gothic classic is that the main selling point is never treated as a gimmick. There are no winks to the audience or alterations that make it apparent that in this world these characters aren’t men. 

The production itself was top notch and certainly one of the most ambitious productions from the Silver Center. Fog draped the sets and stage and spilled out towards the audience in a menacing fashion. This, coupled with the well-dressed sets, successfully sold the foreboding dread one would expect when experiencing a production based on the king of the undead. While the performance was visually striking, it would have been nice to see the show sell itself more on the promise of the gruesome and the grit. The moments where the play truly reaches these heights occur when the Count appeases her vixens’ thirst with a literal sack of infants, where Anchukaitis is reveling most in the demonic glee of her character and, in turn, the audience is as well.  

Actor Hayden Stearns’ interpretation of Renfield is where the production also shines brightest (or, more appropriately, shines darkest). Stearns is magnetic when onstage, and sells viewers on the insanity of Dracula’s infamous biggest fan without being over the top. The scenes shared between he and Dracula are some of the best in the performance and both are at their finest when playing off  of each other. The added wrinkle of a female Dracula gives the relationship between her and Renfield an interesting dynamic. Renfield comes across at times as a jilted lover or abandoned child, a disturbing combination that works well in this rendition. Some may call Sterns and Anchukaitis the star players of Dracula, but that would be a disservice to the rest of the cast, who are just as successful at bringing this story to life, even if their accents weren’t consistent all of the time.

Dracula may not have checked off every box on the horror checklist, but the cast and crew still pulled of a class-A performance and a successful bold spin on a story told thousands of times over.