A ONE-WOMAN stage version of Dracula was as bad as anyone imagining a one-woman Dracula would naturally assume, critics have agreed.
The production, in which a single actress played 23 roles in a complex Gothic novel by using wigs and outfits, was not successful because a single actress played 23 roles in a complex Gothic novel by using wigs and outfits.
Critic Julian Cook said: “Would nobody do it with her? Could she not have called in a few favours?
“Because, innovative use of technology aside, you’re basically watching one small woman talking to herself for two hours like an over-enthusiastic primary school teacher at story time.
“Beside which, I feel the themes of patriarchal dominance, the fetishisation of female purity and the Victorian terror of immigration were undermined by every member of the cast, from Dracula downwards, being the same black woman.
“If this was a one-man show by a sixth-form student who’d alienated the rest of her drama course, I’d say ‘Well done but maybe less ambitious next time?’ £200 a seat in the West End? Bollocks to that.”
Dracula star Cynthia Erivo said: “Right. So you’re saying after this, One Hundred Years of Solitude with hand puppets?”
