Review: Weak script mars fine performances and set in KU Theatre’s “Dracula”

Sometimes being true and faithful to source material is a mistake. Dennis Christilles’s new adaptation of Bram Stoker’s immortal classic “Dracula” is unfortunately a case in point. A slow-moving script with very little action mars an otherwise excellent production, robbing it of its grandeur and horror.

“Dracula” has been adapted for stage and screen many times, often with large changes to the plot and characters. Christilles sought to restore the story to Stoker’s original intent, moving the titular character out of the limelight and into the background as an often unseen and horrific force. The novel follows an epistolary format, being told through journal entries, letters, news reports, and other devices. Christilles restores this tactic, having his characters come forward and begin many of their scenes with, “Personal Journal,” and a date. In this way, we can keep track of the passage of time, but it otherwise lends itself to actors simply making speeches rather than performing drama.

Tim Wilkinson is good as young Jonathan Harker, the English solicitor who travels to Transylvania to facilitate Count Dracula’s (Joe Lilek) purchase of and move to the Carfax estate in Southern England. Wilkinson does a fine job of conveying the fear, worry and building suspicion Harker feels as he first travels through the Carpathian Mountains and then is effectively imprisoned in Castle Dracula.

But much of what Harker sees and fears is told to the audience through exposition. Rather than having us see Harker exploring the castle and slowing going mad, Christilles has Wilkinson explain it through a recitation of his journal entries.

This tactic is employed over and over throughout the show. Mina Harker (Krista Jarboe) tells us of her fears for her intended, Jonathan, of finding him insane with fever in Eastern Europe and nursing him back to health. Lucy Westenra (Laura Brooke Williams) tells us through her letters of her getting three marriage proposals and of which one she accepted. The reactions of the two losers – Dr. John Seward (Michael Miller) and Quincey Morris (Kevin Siess) – are also recited as journal entries. And we learn of Dracula’s movements and the efforts to catch him through the journals of these men and from Van Helsing’s (John Staniunas).

The result is a play where a lot happens but we see very little of it. There is almost no action. There is little tension. There is no horror. Indeed, just before one of the story’s most dramatic moments – when Van Helsing, Arthur Holmwood (Christoph Nevins), Dr. Seward, and Quincey are about to enter Lucy’s tomb and pound a stake through her heart – the curtain falls on Act I. When it comes up for Act II, the deed is done and the heroes are plotting their next move.
Christilles’s script constantly removes the audience from the action. We are told what happened instead of getting to see it, and that leads to a long, dull experience. It may be the way Stoker wrote the novel, but it just doesn’t work in a visual medium like theater.

That’s too bad, because the production itself is sumptuous. Christilles also directed the show and designed the set, and his efforts at both are brilliant. “Dracula” has a large number of characters, and Christilles gets excellent performances out of all his actors. Wilkinson has a fine turn as the naïve Harker who becomes brave and fierce over the course of the story. Siess is charming and nearly steals the show as the American soldier-of-fortune who’s come to England to escape trouble with the law back home. Miller hits all the right notes as the doubting scientist who must come to grips with the horror of the vampire. Joshua A. Greene gives a strong performance as the insane patient Renfield, who helps feed Dracula information when he comes to England. And Staniunas is suitably eccentric as vampire expert Van Helsing, although he frequently struggled to remember his lines.

But any production of “Dracula” has to be judged by the performances of the titular character and the object of his obsession, Mina. Lilek is perfect as the legendary vampire. The temptation is always to go over the top with the famous role, but Lilek plays Dracula with the right amount of control. He is sinister and smooth. He is dangerous in the scenes when he attacks. He has the famous Transylvanian accent, but Lilek resists the urge to make a caricature of Dracula by doing too much. It is always just the right amount.

Likewise, Jarboe understands that Mina is not an hysteric. She is a strong character who at first works tirelessly to protect the people she loves – Lucy and Jonathan – and then battles the darkness within her after Dracula turns her. When she begs Jonathan to kill her if she succumbs to Dracula’s spell, Jarboe doesn’t inject any melodrama into the scene. She plays it with passion, infusing it with desperation, fear and determination but doesn’t go over the top. It’s a skillful performance that renders one of the most intense and rewarding scenes in the play. Christilles clearly understands how to draw excellence from young actors.

Technically, “Dracula” is brilliant. Christilles’s set is beautiful, comprised of a multi-leveled stage crafted to invoke the gothic feel of the Victorian era and the ancient architecture of both Transylvania and old English estates. The set has multiple trapdoors and hidden portals, some of which are clearly made to look like coffins, and Christilles makes good use of bringing characters on through them, often at surprising times. Dracula frequently rises up or disappears through one of these accompanied by smoke.

Sound effects for wolves, horses and other things we can hear but not see are used extremely effectively. Snow falls during the climactic scene back at Castle Dracula. Overall, the production is gorgeous – a delight to take in.

Which makes the script all the more disappointing. Strong performances by the actors on a rich set are dragged down by an actionless narrative that leaves the audience unengaged and wishing they could see some of the exciting things they are only told about.

“Dracula” runs on the Crafton-Preyer stage in Murphy Hall at the University of Kansas October 18, 19, and 20. Tickets are available by calling the box office at 785-864-3982 or online at kutheatre.com.