Playwright: Sean Graney adaptation from Timothy F. Griffin's script
At: The Hypocrites at Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport Ave. Tickets: 773-325-1700; MercuryTheaterChicago.com; $30-$55. Runs through: Nov. 5
Lurid tales, gory mayhem and blood-splashed violence have engaged audiences from Shakespeare's time to contemporary slasher films.
Often collectively called Grand Guignol ( after an early 20th-century Parisian theater that specialized in lurid horror ), it's designed to shock, titillate and, perhaps, delight. It seems odd, then, that there isn't a Grand Guignol treatment among the many stage and film incarnations of Draculauntil now. Enter auteurist adapter/director Sean Graney, whose tongue-in-cheek approach weds the vampire classic with Grand Guignol style in time for Halloween.
Dracula mostly is sensational ( in several meanings ) fun, directed by Graney in a high-energy, high-spirited and slightly campy way in a traditional proscenium arch theater. The proscenium stage makes special effects ( dismemberments and disappearances, say ) considerably easier to achieve, and Graney is greatly assisted by designers Mike Durst ( lighting ) and John Musial ( scenic ). Musial's claustrophobic room of concrete walls, a single massive door and unreachable skylights serves as everything from Dracula's Transylvania castle to Dr. Seward's London mental hospital. As someone says in another fantasy, "People come and go so quickly here!" It's quite entertaining.
As he usually does, Graney makes changes to the story. He follows the original Bram Stoker novel as much as other adaptations have, but significantly alters emphasis and interpretation, sometimes arbitrarily. For example, he makes RenfieldDracula's insane fly-eating miniona woman, which neither helps nor harms the story. Then, his Dracula hardly is the suave, subtle figure of the novel ( and most film versions ) and Dr. Van Helsing becomes a semi-comic character, both of which DO influence the story.
Most of all, Minamarried to Jonathan Harker in the novel but only his intended hereemerges as the heroic figure, and ends this version by refusing to marry Harker, declaring she has tasted "freedom" and has found empowerment in vampire slaying and sharing Dracula's. The feminist ending comes out of left field as Mina already is the leading female figure and equal to the men in destroying Dracula, just as Stoker created her. Does it ruin the evening? No, but it definitely diminishes things.
You couldn't ask for a better cast, all deft comedians. Breon Arzell is strong ( physically ) and fierce as the blood-thirsty Dracula. His scenes with Maurice Demus ( Harker ) definitely have homo-erotic overtones, perhaps because both are handsome, young actors. The vivid women are Janelle Villas ( Lucy ), Erin Barlow ( Renfield ) and especially Aurora Real de Asua ( Mina ). Robert McLean ( Van Helsing ) and John Taflan ( Seward ) complete the capable cast.
Prop note: It's London, so ditch the Kentucky Maker's Mark for Scotch whiskey.