The Public Domain,
through November 8
Running time: 2 hrs, 45 min
Some things just go together and gain their power by the pairing. Salt and pepper. Sick and tired. Siskel and Ebert. Sex and death. Sure, you can have one without the other but the result would simply be incomplete, like an overly salted stew without the tang of pepper, like the harsh criticism of Ebert without the gentle guidance of Siskel. It’s the balance that is important. Death without sex would be simply depressing. Sex without death, while still fun, would have no innate and dramatic threat.
Of course, Bram Stoker knew this when he penned Dracula in 1897, capitalizing on the sexual restrictions of the era and the deathly allure of verboten desire. Steven Dietz’s 1995 adaptation of Stoker’s work, produced here by The Public Domain, examines Stoker’s creation through a modern lens and refocuses the drama on the nature of secrets as well as the dichotomy of good vs. evil.
Which is not to say that this production is a dry, philosophical treatise on the intangibles of life. Far from it. This Dracula immerses you in a lush world from the get-go, thanks to the amazing sound design by Byron Tate and Chris Cortez and the scenic tricks of set designers Marco Noyola and Dave Seidlitz. Ehren Christian’s manic performance as Renfield sets the plot rolling with a bang.
Still, it is the undercurrent of illicit sex that keeps this production moving. Dawn Larned’s Lucy has already been seduced by Michael Miller’s Dracula. Lenore Perry’s staunch Mina may be next unless David R. Jarrott’s Dr. Abraham Van Helsing can save her. Larned, Perry, and Jarrott give strong performances that demonstrate the subtle layers of thought that went into their creation. Miller is, quite simply, magnetic as the man who wants to bite the necks of those who can feed him.
Despite these well-crafted performances and the excitement of the first half-hour — and this production is full of the sorts of thrills that bring goosebumps to the arms of any theater lover — the show eventually starts to lose its momentum and wobble like a top that has not been wound tightly enough. At times, this production wavers between high camp and deep thought, not quite sure of what it really wants to be. Even though director Robi Polgar saves some tricks for the remainder of the show, they aren’t quite enough to rebuild the excitement after it has been scattered by all the divergent and diffuse perspectives that have found their way into this production. Still, the coupling of sex and death doesn’t cease to be entertaining during Dietz’s Dracula, even if they do get bogged down by philosophy and platitudes on occasion and lose some of their innate power over the psyche of the audience. — A.M.
This article appears in October 17 • 1997 and October 17 • 1997 (Cover).