CHASING EVIL

DRACULA: BAPTISM OF BLOOD
Directed by Mark Torres; based on the story by Bram Stoker
With: Adam Küykendall, Jenny Bragdon, Daniel Noel, Kae Cooney, Christopher Franklin, Chuck Novatka, Andrew B. Towler, Alex Cherington
At Penobscot Theatre in Bangor, Maine
From September 22 to October 3, 2004

Reviewed by Laurie Meunier Graves

I must admit that vampires have always made me nervous. As a child, I used to watch the television show Dark Shadows, and Barnabas Collins, the chief vampire, never failed to scare me. Even now, I can still picture his gleaming fangs as he prepared to bite his victims, which, to the best of my recollection, were always women who inevitably would swoon into his arms and offer him their smooth necks. Somehow, I couldn’t stop watching, even though I was terrified.

What is it about vampires that fascinates and repels? For women and perhaps for men as well, the sexual symbolism is undeniable. The encounter between vampire (often a man) and victim (often a woman) is fraught with erotic energy and tension, complete with seduction, ravishment, and body fluids. In the course of the encounter, the victim makes a futile attempt to resist but then inevitably surrenders, and this usually leads to life in the dead zone. All in all, not a bad metaphor for certain types of sexual conquest.

The most famous vampire of all is perhaps Dracula, the slim, dark Count from eastern Europe who made his way through the centuries by sucking the vital fluids from beautiful young women. The novel Dracula, published in 1897 by the Irish writer Bram Stoker, has never been out of print and has been the inspiration for numerous plays, movies, and spin-offs. Penobscot Theatre continues the tradition with an adaptation by Mark Torres, the Theatre’s Producing Artistic Director, and the result, if not exactly scary, is compelling and completely absorbing. Torres skillfully combines narration from letters, diaries, and newspaper clips with direct action to create a production that has a driving momentum. In my opinion, this is no small feat. All too often, a reliance on narration and monologues slows the action to a crawl and puts too much distance between the viewer and the characters in the play. Nothing could be further from the truth in this production, and I was hooked from the moment the play started.

The plot is quite simple, a combination of various cat-and-mouse chases. When the play opens, Jonathan Harker (Chuck Novatka), a young solicitor from England, has traveled to Transylvania to meet with his client who turns out to be none other than Count Dracula (Alex Cherington). Harker, who belongs to the stiff-upper-lip class, remains undeterred when the townsfolk warn him about the Count. After all, Harker is a solicitor, and he has a job to do. On to the castle the young man goes, and even though the elegant Count drops numerous hints, it takes Harker an inordinate length of time to realize that something is rotten in the State of Transylvania. In fact, Harker is at first charmed by the Count and is willing to make allowances for the fact that he never sees the Count during the day, never has a meal with the Count, and never sees any servants doing the tasks that always seem to get done. Viewers might even be forgiven for suspecting that there’s an attraction between the Count and the hapless solicitor.

However, the Count has other things on his mind. Tired of Transylvania, the Count is ready for a change. And where does that he long to go? Why, England, of course. What better place for a vampire than a country where the skies are often gray? The Count makes his way to England and settles next to Harker’s lovely fiancée Mina (Kae Cooney), her beautiful, kind-hearted friend Lucy (Jenny Bragdon), and Lucy’s three suitors—Dr. Seward (Andrew B. Towler), Arthur (Christopher Franklin), and Quincey Morris (Adam Küykendall).

The Count is not what you would call a good neighbor. As soon as he arrives, Lucy suddenly and mysteriously begins to waste away, and we know just what is happening. Naturally, the characters in the play are slower to catch on, and it’s not entirely their fault. Up to that point, they had never had any experience with blood-sucking vampires who prey on lovely young women. Dr. Towler, whom Lucy likes but does not love (she chooses Arthur), sets out to discover why Lucy is so inexplicably weak. It’s not long before Dr. Towler realizes he needs help, and he appeals to his old teacher Van Helsing for assistance.

Van Helsing (Daniel Noel) comes to the aid of his former student, and the game is afoot. The tousled, genial Van Helsing discovers what is going on, but by then it’s too late for poor Lucy. As Van Helsing, Lucy’s three suitors, and Harker (who somehow escaped from Dracula’s castle), rush about trying to find Count Dracula and put an end to his nasty deeds, it almost becomes too late for Mina.

For awhile the Count eludes them, slipping in and out of Mina’s bedroom, ravishing her, and confirming our suspicions that young women really are attracted to bad old men. However, the Count is unable to shake Van Helsing, the dogged suitors, and Harker. Therefore, it’s back to Transylvania for the Count, with the others in hot pursuit. This all leads to a showdown at the Count’s castle, and although there are no surprises at the end, the chase makes it all worthwhile. In one particularly effective scene, Van Helsing and company are on a ship, and the staging along with driving music provide the wonderful illusion that the characters really are at sea.

The whole cast does an excellent job with this gothic tale. They are energetic yet serious, and this combination provides a pleasing balance to what could have been, to put it mildly, an over-the-top production. It’s a combination that many British actors instinctively seem to have, and it’s a pleasure to find it in Bangor, Maine.

Special compliments, however, must go to Daniel Noel, who plays the hearty yet shrewd Van Helsing. Rambling around the stage like a Columbo from the Netherlands, Noel’s Van Helsing is a combination of many qualities that might be considered contradictory, and this is perhaps a reflection of when the original story was written. Van Helsing is a man of science, yet he does not dismiss religion or superstition. In this performance, these three strands come together in a surprisingly sophisticated way, and Noel’s portrayal makes Van Helsing believable, providing a moral yet sensible center to the story.

Alex Cherington also does a fine job with the elusive character of Dracula. As slim and as elegant as Christopher Lee, Cherington shows us the seductive side of evil, of how solipsism at its worst can be strangely attractive. Dracula takes and takes and takes, not wasting a single moment on doubt or inner turmoil. Supremely confident, Dracula’s sense of entitlement carries a momentum that draws in all but the strongest. In the end, his victims want to give, and Dracula is the ultimate great persuader. (I can certainly think of prominent, real-life counterparts.)

My only complaint with this production was with the sound and the acoustics. When the actors were up front, I could hear them just fine. However, when they were in the middle of the excellent, cavernous set, it was as though their voices were swallowed. This was especially true for the women, and I couldn’t hear some of their dialogue. Because this was my first visit to Penobscot Theatre, I am not sure if this is an ongoing problem or if it is specific to this production. At any rate, I hope it is something that can be fixed, because it really did mar an otherwise fine play.

Despite this flaw, Dracula is more than worth seeing. Having restless legs, I am prone to fidgeting, and I am happy to report that I was so engrossed by the play that I did not fidget once. Dracula is a potent brew of religion, sex, superstition, and science, and even though the story is over a hundred years old, it still has an irresistible appeal. 

 

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