*Before reading this article I must advise that you wear a “turtle neck, report heavy breathing, high blood pressure and bring holy water, just in case”.
This past school year, the Trinity Prep Drama Department took a leap by turning dark and allusive plays into comedic successes. In their most recent play, ‘Dracula : A Comedy of Terrors’, this development is not unseen.
“This play is definitely unique because we took a classic and made it relatable with modern hints here and there,” sophomore Laila Mahler said.
The play follows Jonathan Harker (Kaley Frye), a lawyer, who meets Dracula (Dalton Joseph), who is looking to buy land. However, upon his arrival, Dracula falls in love with Jonathan Harker’s description of his soon-to-be wife, Lucy (Molly Halladay-Glynn), sparking Dracula’s search to find his “true love.” On the surface, the play merely describes the journey of Dracula to find his one true blood … love but it truly brings light to the advancements we’ve made in bending gender roles and the developments in women’s roles in the acting industry.
For many Dracula conjures up images of vampires, stakes, garlic, and crucifixes. Although Trinity’s adaptation did the same there were numerous modern day alludes such as Amazon Alexa, Elvis Presley and Mamma Mia. During each short intermission there was a commercial break for things such as “Dracs Bats Be Gone,” “Dracula’s Non-for-Profit Bloodline,” and a Honeymoon Package. Not only that but much of the roles assigned for men were given to women such as Dr. Wallace Wesford (Laila Mahler) and Jonathan Harker (Kaley Frye).
“I like that the play allowed women to play male roles because for a long time it’s only been acceptable for men to play women but not vice versa,” Laila Mahler said.
The main theme, however, centers around courage as the audience watches the development of strength that Jonathan Harker displays. Kaley Frye, who acts as Harker, effectively shows Harker’s growth from being overly-bearing and insecure to a confident and assertive character.
Trinity’s troupe allowed acts to be the medium in allowing the audience to use their imagination to fabricate sets such as horses, ships and doors. This contributed to the play’s silly and surreal entertainment, and allowed for the focus to be on memorable quotes and characters. Some of the most memorable were seen through Renfield (Mason Sadlier) who’s known for his love of eating bugs.
Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors follows the basic outline of the Dracula story but with added modern twists while keeping a clear structure makes things easy to follow. It was funny and entertaining, as well as satirical and left the audience with a slew of laughs.
