Though starting out at the Octagon in Bolton (June 11-29), the show that takes the lid off the Dracula myth is a co-production with Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre (July 3-27), just down the coast from the ghastly goings on in Whitby.
Dracula: The Bloody Truth, based, very loosely, on the book by Bram Stoker, is newly rewritten by leading physical comedy theatre company La Navet Bete and John Nicholson, one of the co-writers of previous Octagon productions The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Time Machine. And it’s from the creative team behind last year’s SJT hits The 39 Steps and the UK Theatre Award-nominated The Comedy of Errors (more or less).
It’s 1900. Dracula, the best-selling novel by Bram Stoker, was released three years ago and Professor Abraham Van Helsing is not happy. He was there. He knows the Truth. The bloody truth. And the Truth must out...
Chris Hannon (Now Is Good, Chester Storyhouse, The Ladykillers, Oldham Coliseum), makes his Octagon debut, joining Annie Kirkman (Ladies Day, Octagon and New Vic, Ladies Down Under, New Vic); Killian Macardle (Animal Farm, Octagon, Mind Mangler: Member of the Tragic Circle, Mischief Theatre) and Amy Revelle (The Time Machine: A Comedy, Park Theatre and UK tour, The Possibility of Colour, Manchester tour).
SJT artistic director Paul Robinson is at the helm: “Our first summer show of last year was The 39 Steps, which was so successful we knew it would be a hard act to follow. We have found a worthy successor in Dracula: The Bloody Truth – a show we could really sink our teeth into! As an added bonus it’s got a lovely local connection – in the original story, Count Dracula makes landfall at Whitby, so we think of him as a local boy.”
Lotte Wakeham, artistic director at the Octagon, added: “We are excited to once again be teaming up with our friends at Scarborough, this time to present this hilarious knockabout comedy. Forget everything you think you know about Dracula...”