Review: Vampires, Victorians, and a Sendup of Bram Stoker

Comedy prevails over horror in Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen’s charming parody of Bram Stoker’s Dracula legend. In this revolving door, gender-bending farce, five actors switch roles with dizzying speed to tell the tale of Count Dracula on the trail of his latest conquest, Lucy, who is determined to break Victorian convention. The play, for all its silliness, ultimately celebrates a world where fearlessness replaces repression and acceptance is championed, along with a hearty dose of self-deprecation and laughter.

Director Nathan Gregory (David Bass-Clark, Assistant Director) relishes the absurdity of the script, the opportunities for bold physical comedy and caricature, and the sheer deliciousness of the quirky protagonist. Gregory's pacing is sharp and fast; the gags just camp enough to sustain laughter, and the ensemble timing finely tuned. He elicits clever satirical performances from the entire cast.

The visual production adds immensely to the overall ambiance of melodrama and seductive horror.  Tracy Washburn’s (Heather Irish, Props) minimalist décor in foggy grays and greens with geometric angles morphs easily into different locales, especially when transformed by Emily Kenny’s artful lighting and theatrical special effects and Cory Macgowan’s soundscape which includes conventional horror music underscoring. Rebecca Copeland designs the costumes with tongue-in-cheek humor, creating such looks as the ragdoll effect for Mina and Dracula’s flamboyant, sexy attire. Stage Manager Katy Click keeps the entire fast-moving show on the rails.

The five-person cast forms a polished and accomplished ensemble. John Logan is endearingly wimpy as Lucy’s fiancé, Jonathan, who transforms himself into the final scenes into a seductive, heroic alter-ego.  Megan Cross darts between the roles of the Victorian patriarch and the mad patient Renfield with lightning speed and bold delineation, just as Michael Wood plays the unattractive sister Mina and Dr. Van Helsing with gleeful reserve. The gender fluidity that arises from actors playing their opposite sexes adds to the comedy and pokes fun at the Victorian conventions about gender roles.

Casey Turner, (who also injects a zany Kitty into the mix of characters) makes Lucy a non-conventional heroine - daring, cunning, clever, and sexually alive. As Dracula, Tom Haushalter is a mercurial seducer, flashy, self-absorbed, used to dominating the room and those around him. He endows the character with an array of tiny quirks that add to the air of bizarreness that surrounds him, and a bad boy charm that  makes him almost sympathetic in the end.

Once again the Good Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director, Brian P. Allen, and Executive Director, Gusta Johnson,  has mounted a stylish production of a popular contemporary play, using mostly local talent. They have adapted the new Stevens Square space effectively to suit their material and the range of the company.  The house still feels intimate with the connection between stage and audience as strong as ever.

Photos courtesy the Good Theater, Kat Moraros, photographer

DRACULA: A COMEDY OF TERRORS runs from November 6-23, 2025 at the Good Theater, 631 Stevens Ave., Portland, ME www.goodtheater.com  207-835-0895