UNITED KINGDOM: CLASSIC VAMPIRE STORY DRACULA OPENS AS A BALLET AT LONDON'S FAMOUS SADLERS WELLS THEATRE

Record ID: 545807

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: CLASSIC VAMPIRE STORY DRACULA OPENS AS A BALLET AT LONDON'S FAMOUS SADLERS WELLS THEATRE
  • Date: 29th March 1999
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) PINK: 'It's interesting that nobody's ever just done the book. There's always been an extra bit of this, an extra bit of that, an awful lot of titillation, but in fact nobody has just done what Stoker wrote. They've always had to add that bit of Hollywood, that bit of something else, and indeed we've tried to stay true to the book, apart from the very
  • Embargoed: 13th April 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Arts
  • Reuters ID: LVASEBV4412RZFRE55SXMPDN9B4
  • Story Text: A dramatic production of the bloodthirsty tale of Count Dracula has opened in London.The latest interpretation of the legendary vampire story, currently playing at the Sadler's Wells Theatre, is far different from other productions previously seen in the capital.
    For the first time ever in the UK the story of Dracula is being portrayed in a format outside of play, films, and books.In an ambitious work the National Ballet Theatre Company (NBT) have transferred the legendary tale of the blood drinking Count into a ballet format.
    The NBT's three-hour show, currently beginning an eleven day stint at Sadler's Wells, started out in Leeds in 1996 and has played at various playhouses around the UK before its current housing in the capital.The show rapidly received a cult following in the UK and a hugely successful period in the United States (US) followed with 44,000 Americans watching eleven performances in Atlanta.
    A cast of 30 musicians and 34 dancers are used in the NBT's pioneering production, including Denis Malinkine, who plays Dracula, and Jayne Regan, who takes the role of leading lady Mina Harker.
    Regan, a member of the NBT for 13 years, said the entire cast had been allowed a creative input in the show's structure and feels their involvement helped the cast analyse the story of Dracula in greater depth and transfer it realistically into dance format.
    She praised director Michael Pink and production designer Lez Brotherston for ensuring the smooth transition of Dracula into dance.She said: 'It's a very very theatrical production that we do.It's certainly, you know, loaded with dance opportunity, lots for the audience to sink their teeth into.
    'I think it would be a quite a challenge because it travels from one venue to the next.In the Bram Stoker book the whole party travel to Transylvania, they come back, they go to Whitby, as I said, so that's sometimes very difficult to show on stage, that sort of change in time and place, but I think we've managed it very successfully.' According to Regan, one of the highlights of the show is Dracula's transition into various creatures in an attempt to illustrate the various layers of his personality.She said: 'He's a very physical person, he comes across a very sexual person but actually it's all about survival for him and eternal youth, so there's a lot of very good images that Michael's created for Dracula as a dancer, sort of snake-like movements, or he becomes a bat.
    Denis Malinkine said the imagery used in the show made it compelling viewing.He said: 'What I've found is that Dracula works wonderfully in the theatre, maybe even better than in the movies because sometimes you don't have to show everything that's happening, you don't have to show the moment, the horrible moment of biting, etc, but you can make the audience just think about this and it would have a terrifying effect on the audience.
    Malinkine said the moment when he bites the neck of Mina's husband Jonathan was left to the audience's imagination.He said: 'In reality I hardly do it (bite).' Director Michael Pink explained that both he and original co-director, the late Christopher Gable, had attempted to stick to Bram Stoker's original story, unlike other productions which moved away from Stoker's original storyline.
    He said: ''It's interesting that nobody's ever just done the book.There's always been an extra bit of this, an extra bit of that, an awful lot of titillation, but in fact nobody has just done what Stoker wrote.They've always had to add that bit of Hollywood, that bit of something else, and indeed we've tried to stay true to the book, apart from the very end when there's a magnificent chase back to Transylvania which we found we couldn't actually simulate on stage.' Pink, who joined the NBT in 1993, said his production had managed to reach a new audience outside of the hard-core of ballet regulars.
    He said: 'It appeals greatly to the vampires and the Goths, of which there are many societies in England and indeed in America as well, and they of course come to see their anti-hero live on stage.When we premiered the production they were queuing up outside the door just to get a touch, just a touch.He became cult hero status, Dracula, and in fact he's been like that since the turn of the century when the book was first published and I believe he will be into the 21st Century.
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