Cynthia Erivo’s Dracula: Sarah Hemming’s four-star review

Estate summary

Sarah Hemming gives Kip Williams’ Dracula four stars, praising Cynthia Erivo’s ability to move among 23 characters and the intricate combination of live acting, live video and prerecorded film. Her account explains how changes of voice, posture and costume allow Erivo to become Jonathan Harker, Mina, Lucy, Seward, Renfield and the Count, sometimes appearing alongside other filmed versions of herself. Hemming sees this technique as more than a technical trick: it gives contemporary form to the novel’s questions of identity, desire, death and hostility towards outsiders. She also describes the production’s knowingly Gothic style, visual references to earlier vampires and Clemence Williams’ atmospheric score. Her judgement is qualified, however. The text becomes cumbersome and the evening feels overlong; she finds less immediacy and playfulness than in Williams’ The Picture of Dorian Gray. A striking snowstorm scene nevertheless helps restore its emotional force. The result is an admiring but discriminating account of a major stage adaptation.

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