James Daly, Safeena Ladha, Diane Pilkington and Charlie Stemp will star in the UK premiere of Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors, when it comes to the Menier Chocolate Factory in March.
Written by Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen, Greenberg directs Daly as Dracula, Ladha as Lucy Westfeldt, Pilkington as Dr Westfeldt and Stemp as Jonathan Harker.
The set designer is Tijana Bjelajac, the costume designer is Tristan Raines, the lighting designer is Ben Cracknell and the sound designer is Yvonne Gilbert.
Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors gives Bram Stoker’s horror classic a comic makeover in this lightning-fast gender-bending reimagining that features a Gen Z pansexual Count Dracula in the midst of an existential crisis. With a cast of five switching costumes and roles at the drop of a hat, this 90-minute freewheeling send-up plays with sexuality and gender norms in the spirit of comedy legends Charles Ludlam, Monty Python and Mel Brooks – and celebrates goth, camp, and the magic of live theatre itself.
In the treacherous mountains of Transylvania, Jonathan Harker, a meek English estate agent, takes a harrowing journey to meet a new and mysterious client, who happens to be the most terrifying(ly narcissistic) monster the world has ever known: Count Dracula! When the Count sets his sights on Harker’s fiancé, the brilliant young earth scientist Lucy Westfeldt, he meets his match for the first time – as well as a slew of other colourful characters including vampire hunter Jean Van Helsing, insect connoisseur Renfield and behavioural psychiatrist Wallace Westfeldt, whose British country estate doubles as a free-range mental asylum.
The production opens on March 17, with previews from March 8, and runs until May 3. Details: www.menierchocolatefactory.com