“Dracula: Last Voyage of the Demeter” Spoiler-free Review

“Dracula: Last Voyage of the Demeter” Spoiler-free Review – 4.5 stars

As “blood is the life” rang through the theatre space that we know as the Star Theatres, and the final moments played out, the audience continued to sit in anticipation for more – not knowing whether that was the final scene and we should present the creatives with a well-deserved applause, or do we wait… just in case… it is a horror after all. But the end is not the best place to start –

Dracula: Last Voyage of the Demeter was written by Melbourne playwright, Sean Carney, directed by David Dyte, and is described as “A must see for horror fans and literary enthusiasts alike!”

The production begins mid-story with Captain Atkins (Paul Messenger) and First Mate Nichols (Eira Thorstensson) carrying a wooden box into a cage. A cage that would seemingly hold a monster. Of course, we know all too well that a cage built for humans wouldn’t date hold a monster. Nor would shackles and chains. The inscription on the side of the wooden box, giving a nod to Bram Stoker, was the first of many enjoyable nods for the literary enthusiasts to enjoy. The first scene isn’t the best of scenes to sit through, with the constant reference to a ‘monster’, which attempted to be mysterious, although we knew it was Dracula – it's in the title of the play… but alas it got so much better.

The traits Eira Thorstensson decided upon and put into their First Mate Nichols’ performance made them a personal stand out from the first scene and they upheld this level of belief throughout their story. Unfortunately, with the opening scene opposite Paul Messenger, the very able acting ability of Messenger was overshadowed, and it wasn’t until later in the production that he was able to take his opportunity to show the audience his potential and the work he put into his character.

Kahlia Tutty portrayed Captain Atkins’ wife, Jessica, and Alycia Rabig portrayed their daughter, Elizabeth. Unsure of how relevant they were initially going to be, they soon became pivotal to the story, and without either character, the story would just not be. Both wife and daughter kept their personal dark secrets from the captain, which reared their ugly heads in the climax of the story, tying in their relativity perfectly. Kahlia’s intense emotion in the climactic scene was spot on, with all the emotions felt deeply within the audience members as they equally came across her face, and this is where she truly shined.

Elizabeth’s 2-hander with the monster quickly drew the true-crime sleuths of the audience out, piecing together the ongoings happening off stage, which led to the climactic explosion of horror by the end of the production. I applaud Alycia individually for understanding the text and being able to make the creative decisions she made for her character that led to the finale. My only critical thing was the appearance of Elizabeth’s age. While not stated how old Elizabeth is as the daughter, I wondered on the way home about the casting choice and hoped the choices made were dependent on finding someone mature enough to be able to deal with the content within the play.

Hopkins (Danny Sag), and Gibson (Mike Shaw), were both characters that provided comic relief among the many intense moments of this horror phenomenon. The over-exaggerations of Hopkins when talking about how he could help Dracula survive when reaching London and the harsh contrast of Gibson, who had a secret of his own, and in turn, knew the dark secret of another onboard worked well as separate entities throughout the production, but seamlessly became woven within Dracula’s mind games.

Speaking of Dracula, Hugh O’Connor took on the titular character and seamlessly worked his magic, understanding the complex layers of his character. There were moments in dialogue when Dracula flipped from his cunning persona to the monster everyone was afraid of, and other moments when Dracula would, without explicitly saying anything, share with the audience that he knew more than Captain Atkins, or the other people onboard the Demeter. Dracula had a way of gathering the intel he needed to stay sane while ‘trapped’ in chains, and to stay in the circles of knowledge while being kept under the decks. Through information he collected from various members onboard, he always held the better hand out of a deck of cards. The decisions made, the actions taken, and the reactions from actions that others make, all made the Dracula that Hugh O’Connor wanted us to see and experience.

There were some slow moments during scene changes and one hopes that these are tidied up as the season continues, however the various actors that dropped their character once the lights had dropped on a scene brought the audience back to reality for a few moments, losing the intensity, probably equal to having an intermission.

Just 2 constructive items: The sounds used during the scene changes didn’t always fit the description various characters had given about what was happening above deck – perhaps sound effects that involved other passengers walking around on the deck that dissipated as the story progressed could be an alternative solution. Accents varied from character to character. O’Connor’s, Thorstensson’s, and Shaw’s accents stood out from others they were acting opposite, while some other accents were left to be desired. I think at one point, there was a true-blue Aussie on board the Demeter.

Overall, Dracula: Last Voyage of the Demeter was a play that I thoroughly enjoyed. It made my partner uncomfortable with a portion of the content in the final scene – which it should! I’ll admit, I uncovered the dark secret of Elizabeth early in the production and was pretty chuffed when it came to fruition. As much as this review is spoiler-free, the actions and reactions up to the final moment of the final scene took this production to the next level, and I’m keen to follow what comes next for Sporadic Productions.