Close on the heels of its season opening with the sci-fi comedy, rock musical “The Little Shop of Horrors” in September, Sunnyvale Community Players once again asks its audience to believe the unbelievable.
“I want you to believe that which you cannot,” says the good Professor Van Helsing—a Dutch doctor and vampire hunter—in this thrilling and bold interpretation of the 1996 “Dracula” by American playwright Steven Dietz, playing Oct. 25 – Nov. 9.
“Watching this thrilling adaptation of ‘Dracula’ was a fantastic way to celebrate the Halloween season,” said Sunnyvale resident Rachel Beck, wearing all black on Oct. 26, champagne opening weekend.
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“I felt it viscerally. It was a very intense experience. Time passed quickly,” said Rachel’s mom, Marilyn Beck, also from Sunnyvale. “It wasn’t scary—there was almost no blood. But it was disturbing.”
The setting is dark with low lights and black set props against a sometimes blood-red backdrop. A shadow ensemble of black-caped creatures writhe and undulate across the stage. The spider- and bird-eating lunatic Renfield—a disciple of Dracula—lashes out from his cell in a lunatic asylum. Haunting, percussive sounds wash across the stage. Dracula is dressed in deep red and black.
“Dracula” is a classic tale of good against evil set in the late 1800s. God-fearing, at-first-disbelieving Londoners try to stop the evil that Count Dracula, a vampire from Transylvania, wreaks when he comes to London in search of new blood. How can good prevail against vampires stalking the city?
Can a Christian cross held high be enough to keep Dracula at bay? Perhaps a garland of garlic or a small cross worn around the neck of the virtuous Lucy, Mina and Mina’s fiancé, Johathan? Ultimately, Dracula can only be stopped by a stake through the heart and beheading.
“This is a dark, intense, and sensually immersive production of ‘Dracula.’ We’ve embraced the exploration of fear and sexuality that Dracula represents,” said show director Sinjin Jones. “It’s a show for those that love the original story but may be looking for a darker, more adventurous take.”
As with “The Little Shop of Horrors,” there is a double cast for “Dracula.” Eighteen actors perform in alternating Castle and Asylum stagings.
“Double casting is way just to get more folks involved in the adventure,” said Jones, a Santa Clara resident. “It’s extremely challenging and quite an adventure.
“The named characters in one cast join the ensemble of the other. So essentially, every member of the cast has to know two completely different tracks,” Jones continued.
Dietz’s 1996 stage play is based on Irish novelist Bram Stoker’s Gothic horror novel “Dracula,” written a century earlier in 1897. Stoker’s novel was published just years after the never-identified Jack the Ripper— active from 1888-1891—terrorized London.
“Stoker was a sexist man writing in the 1800s,” pointed out Jones.
Jones updated the power dynamics of Stoker’s novel by expanding the roles of Lucy and Mina (both lusted after by Dracula) and by casting women in traditionally male roles.
“I feel empowered in this role,” said Cupertino resident Gahl Shottan, playing Dracula in the Asylum cast like a hungry, crafty wolf on the prowl. “It is such a treat to be cast in true gender-blind casting.”
“Both productions are full of terror and sensuality. But each has a different take and a unique perspective from the performers,” said Jones. “I’d, of course, recommend seeing both!
“There’s something intoxicating about exploring classic horror,” she continued.
Visit the Sunnyvale Community Players website for tickets. Performances are in the Sunnyvale Community Center complex theater, 550 E. Remington Dr.
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