Dan Istrate as Dracula with Dracula’s Wives, left to right: Anna Tsikurishvili, Irene Hamilton, Maryam Najafzada. Photo by Chris Ferenzi for Synetic Theater.
Synetic Theater has raised Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” to terrifying life in a reanimation of their 2009 Kennedy Center production, a thrilling triumph of Gothic horror. In his pre-show greeting, Director Paata Tsikurishvili lets us know that the Count is “happy to be back in D.C, and though he finds the traffic horrible, the people are delicious!” Tsikurishvili invites us to “Enjoy the darkness” and, moments later, we meet the warrior Dracula defending his homeland from Turkish invasion. As the soldier dies of his wounds, a demon appears, granting him eternal life as a vampire. Dan Istrate, a Romanian-American actor born near Transylvania, gloriously reprises as the notorious Count Dracula. Istrate brilliantly captures Dracula’s menace while also indulging in brief moments of levity, at one point struggling to locate his heart when attempting to swear an oath.
…a thrilling triumph of Gothic horror.
The opening battlefield scene is only the beginning of the athletically staged movement by choreographer Irina Tsikurishvili and fight choreographer Vato Tsikurishvili. As the battle progresses, Dracula raises the hilt of his sword at center stage and it appears, briefly and ominously, to be a cross, foreshadowing the change in the Count’s relationship with religion. The scene also evokes Henry V in a subversion of the St. Crispin’s day speech—rather than lifting the morale of his band of brothers, Dracula selfishly chooses eternal life and damnation.
Jump ahead 400 years and British solicitor Jonathan Harker (Jacob Thompson) travels on horseback to see the reclusive Count Dracula, who wishes to purchase a ruined abbey in London. Through his specific physical interpretation, Thompson confirms the animal’s presence with a deft pat to the horse’s neck before dismounting—one of many small touches that make the action of the play so compelling. After meeting at the castle, Jonathan and Dracula conclude their business, but the Count insists that Jonathan remain as his guest. Jonathan’s eventual escape becomes a frenzy of physicality where we easily envision the howling wolves that surround him.
The three brides of Dracula (Maryam Najafzada, Irene Hamilton, and Anna Tsikurishvili) deserve a play of their own. They are fascinating and delightful to watch. In one particularly resonant image, they lie on stage and create a fire with their red-sleeved arms. Later, they make great use of their long, flowing hair as horses pulling a carriage. In their attempted seduction of Jonathan and later scenes attacking Londoners and fighting the vampire slayers, the three wives are ecstatic, sensual, and terrifying all at once.
A brief ocean crossing takes Dracula and his wives to London, where Dracula encounters Lucy (Rachel Small) and lures her to him one evening. Small transforms before our eyes from an enchanting and popular young woman to a raging, blood-starved vampire in an emotionally devastating performance. While preparing for the trip, Dracula speaks contemptuously of the English as “boys crying for peace.” It’s easy to hear in the Count’s lines, Putin describing his own citizens protesting the current war in Ukraine. Dr. Seward (Pablo Guillen) contacts his old teacher, Professor Van Helsing (Renata Loman), when he cannot diagnose Lucy’s strange illness. Immediately realizing that Lucy is the victim of a vampire, Von Helsing gathers Jonathan, Seward, and Lucy’s suitors Holmwood (Philp Fletcher) and Quincey (Justin J. Bell) to put an end to Lucy’s promised eternity of horror and shame. Bell brings welcome humor to his role of the American lover trying to win Lucy’s hand.
Another notable performance is Irakli Kavsadze as Dracula’s servant, Renfield. Caged in a mental institution in London, Renfield betrays Dracula and ultimately saves Jonathan’s fiancée, Mina (Nutsa Tediashvili). He has the most poignant moment in the play when he insists “I am not a lunatic! I am a sane man fighting for his soul!” In an evening filled with startling images, Dracula’s hand rising over the sleeping Mina is both enticing and unnerving.
Costume Designer Kendra Rai has captured the period and posture of the characters while enabling their physical action with her designs and fabric choices. Set and properties are effectively minimal and Ian Claar’s lighting creates haunted areas of focus on the darkened stage. Sound Designer Irakli Kavsadze and Sound Engineer JJ Nichols provide just enough horses hoof steps, howling wolves, battle cries, and more subtle sounds to create the pulsing atmosphere. The music further enhanced the storyline. It was poetically interspersed throughout, and I found the use of Mozart’s “Lacrimosa” (from his unfinished “Requiem in D Minor”) to be hauntingly beautiful. The piece was played during Lucy’s final death scene after she has been turned into a vampire, starting off faintly and then crescendoing until there was no more life to her. Synetic’s “Dracula” is not to be missed during this haunted season.
Running time: 100 minutes with no intermission.
Advisory: Parental discretion is advised due to frightening depictions of vampires, violence and blood, and sexual content.
“Dracula” runs through November 6, 2022 at Synetic Theater, 1800 S. Bell Street, Arlington, VA 22202. Visit their website here for tickets and information. (There is also a Vampire Ball on October 28 after the show.) COVID health and safety requirements: Patrons, staff, and ushers are required to wear a mask at all times in all spaces in the theatre unless eating or drinking.
