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Oct. 24th, 2009 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darchildreTonight, I supported my community by going to see the Kingston High School Drama Club's production of Dracula. Mwa haha. And the Deane/Balderston version of Dracula at that. So that was interesting.
It was actually pretty good, for a high school production that was essentially performed in the gym. (It's a combined gym/auditorium but there isn't really what one could call a stage. Just an area of floor in front of the seats. At least they weren't bleachers, right?) And at least two of the kids in it - the guy playing Renfield and the girl playing Dr Seward - I know from the library. Which was neat.
It's an interesting exercise in compare and contrast seeing the play after watching the film so many times. The play does the thing where we switch Mina and Lucy's names, which I always find odd. And you can see why the film feels so stagy and static after we leave Transylvania - nearly the whole of the play takes place in Dr Seward's library, with only the very last scene switching locations to the vaults beneath Carfax. And they don't just use crosses. They do the thing where Van Helsing has the eucharist in a little bag. (Which he can't give toMina Lucy because she's impure and yeah, the third act does have a little bit of uncomfortable whatsit with Mina Lucy's purity.) The end is a little bit of an anticlimax, I'm afraid - no big final battle like the book, not even the final desperate chase to save Mina that the film gives us. Just, we follow Renfield to Dracula's tomb, the dawn comes, we stake the vampire. The end. Surprisingly, Renfield doesn't die. I think this is the first version I've ever seen where he managed to live till the end. So that made me happy.
Also like the film, at least with this cast, one feels as though the scenes where Dracula or Renfield aren't on stage are just sort of...waiting until one of them gets back. The two guys playing those roles chewed the scenery like their lives depended on it, which really is what you want in this case. Sadly, Professor Van Helsing did little scenery chewing of his own, which is a shame, as you really need his to be a personality in order to balance Dracula. Jonathan Harker was surprisingly engaging. (I am always surprised when actors manage to make me like Jonathan.) But really, the kid playing Dracula was great. Oddly funny at times (especially at the beginning, when the play seems to think that we don't know he's a vampire and the character acts like he's having pulling a joke on everyone else) and really quite menacing at others.* So that was awesome. Alas, not a terribly good showing for my OTP, as they only have one scene together but really, I suppose vampiric homoeroticism is a bit much to expect from a high school production. 8)
All in all, an excellent evening's entertainment. I'll have to remember to look out for KHS's other plays this year.
*Though, okay, there was this one moment when Dracula was being menaced on all sides by holy symbols and was growling and making menacing motions with his cape and I thought to myself, "So that's why vampires wear capes! It's to make themselves look bigger!" Which somewhat distracted from the tension of the scene.
It was actually pretty good, for a high school production that was essentially performed in the gym. (It's a combined gym/auditorium but there isn't really what one could call a stage. Just an area of floor in front of the seats. At least they weren't bleachers, right?) And at least two of the kids in it - the guy playing Renfield and the girl playing Dr Seward - I know from the library. Which was neat.
It's an interesting exercise in compare and contrast seeing the play after watching the film so many times. The play does the thing where we switch Mina and Lucy's names, which I always find odd. And you can see why the film feels so stagy and static after we leave Transylvania - nearly the whole of the play takes place in Dr Seward's library, with only the very last scene switching locations to the vaults beneath Carfax. And they don't just use crosses. They do the thing where Van Helsing has the eucharist in a little bag. (Which he can't give to
Also like the film, at least with this cast, one feels as though the scenes where Dracula or Renfield aren't on stage are just sort of...waiting until one of them gets back. The two guys playing those roles chewed the scenery like their lives depended on it, which really is what you want in this case. Sadly, Professor Van Helsing did little scenery chewing of his own, which is a shame, as you really need his to be a personality in order to balance Dracula. Jonathan Harker was surprisingly engaging. (I am always surprised when actors manage to make me like Jonathan.) But really, the kid playing Dracula was great. Oddly funny at times (especially at the beginning, when the play seems to think that we don't know he's a vampire and the character acts like he's having pulling a joke on everyone else) and really quite menacing at others.* So that was awesome. Alas, not a terribly good showing for my OTP, as they only have one scene together but really, I suppose vampiric homoeroticism is a bit much to expect from a high school production. 8)
All in all, an excellent evening's entertainment. I'll have to remember to look out for KHS's other plays this year.
*Though, okay, there was this one moment when Dracula was being menaced on all sides by holy symbols and was growling and making menacing motions with his cape and I thought to myself, "So that's why vampires wear capes! It's to make themselves look bigger!" Which somewhat distracted from the tension of the scene.
