Review: DRACULA at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley

Dracula

By Steven Dietz

Directed by Giovanna Sardelli

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley

It’s the time of year for things that go bump in the night, perfect for TheatreWork’s production of Steven Dietz’s adaptation of Bram Stroker’s iconic gothic thriller of Count Dracula. A story of seduction, violation desire mixed with the terror of the immortal undead tickles the dark side in us as we wonder what we’d do in similar circumstances.

Count Dracula is bored – he’s exhausted his blood banks in Transylvania and is looking for greener pastures. Heavily populated England seems right for conquest and in the first scenes we get an eerie foreshadowing of things to come. Jonathan Harker (Nima Rakhshanifar), a solicitor who arranged the count’s purchase of a property in England, goes mad; his fiancée Mina (Maria Marquis) watches as her best friend Lucy (Emily Newsome) also loses her mind with night terrors and severe anemia. Then there’s Renfield (Max Tachis), the rat and insect eating asylum inmate who warns all about the impending doom.

Sardelli has assembled an excellent ensemble, and the technical aspects are outstanding. Kurt Landisman’s lighting, Meg Neville’s costumes, Jo Winiarski’s set design, and James Ard’s creepy sound design give this production a stunning look. Sardelli opts for less blood and more atmosphere – the terror mental rather than visceral.

Tachis is a standout in the talented cast, full of regret, guilt. Thinking only of his master, his betrayal by Dracula is tragic. Maria Marquis’ Mina becomes a determined fighter against evil. Dracula today is not just a Victorian boogeyman good for a cereal and some movie remakes. It can be seen as a metaphor of mental poison attacking our brains, be it political, social, or economic terrors.

Dracula continues through November 1st. Tickets available at http://www.theatreworks.org/  or by calling the box office at 877-662-8978.

Photo credits: Kevin Berne

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