Sixth Form English student Emily Shaw went to see Dracula at the Playhouse – it’s on the syllabus this year …
West Yorkshire Playhouse is currently playing host to Northern Ballet’s ‘Dracula’ – a production last performed in 2009 – and on the 9th of September, I had the chance to attend. Adapted from the Bram Stoker novel of the same name, David Nixon’s creation was dark, sensuous and an all-round treat.
West Yorkshire Playhouse was a surprisingly brilliant venue for a ballet – I wondered before the performance how well the layout of the theatre would work with the audience looking down on the stage. However this turned out to be an asset to the production. The venue allowed a much more intimate feel than those of a larger size, and due to the closeness of the front row of the audience to the stage there were times when some audience members were only a metre or so from the dancers.
The set – designed by Ali Allen – wonderfully fit the mood and story of the show; cages lowering from the ceiling and coffins rising through smoke filled trap doors added to the dark interior of Count Dracula’s castle and the fittingly gloomy lighting created an incredibly gothic feel. This really helped the telling of the story, especially when added to the dark atmosphere created by the violin-filled music.
As we have come to expect from Northern Ballet, the show was of course brilliantly danced in a way that seemed almost effortless, though I’m sure this was not the case! Tobias Batley and Martha Leebolt – starring as Count Dracula and Mina Murray respectively – both shone in their roles, as did the rest of the dancers. What I found most enthralling was how well the dancers adapted their dance styles to their roles; Count Dracula especially had his own unique style, which perfectly fitted his dark character. A personal highlight in terms of dancing style was the scenes involving a particularly disturbed mental patient – played by Kevin Poeung – whose performance was memorably chilling and haunting.
A sign of how well a dark, creepy atmosphere was created is the fact that I felt the need to look over my shoulder several times during the performance; the use of trap doors, smoke and at times spine-chilling music created a sense of mystery, that anything could happen, and as a consequence I as an audience member felt part of the plot – surely a sign of a good ballet! Clearly I wasn’t the only one that enjoyed the performance either, given the length of applause that followed the end of the show! I would definitely recommend ‘Dracula’ – it is a brilliantly danced gothic tale, as entertaining as it is dark.
Northern Ballet’s ‘Dracula’ is on at West Yorkshire Playhouse until 13th September – find out more here.