Dracula: Past representations of this story weigh too heavily on this performance

Dracula: Past representations of this story weigh too heavily on this performance

 

Dracula Photo WayneGlowacki Winnipeg Free Press. Sarah Davey

Dracula,   choreographed by Mark Godden, a production of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

Created in 1999 and performed for the first time at the opening of the  2005/06 Season of the Company,   it also came to the NAC  for the first time in 2006.

This was a ballet waiting to be staged with its luscious reputation of Gothic horror, based on Bram Stoker’s book (1897) that fueled so many exciting movies such as  the Horror of Dracula which  gave us the suave seductive count played by Christopher Lee, the first of a  series of British films  (1958 etc..)  where we also met Peter Cushing as Ven Helsing.  Also in the tradition  was  Murnau’s  silent film Nosferatu in 1922   (starring Max Shreck) a later  adaptation from Stoker’s character that caused years of court cases because  the script was not officially authorized  by Stoker. And since then, the  legend has  been recreated and  reimagined  by so many artists of the screen.  

Perhaps because we have seen  such  excellent film versions of Dracula  that our expectations on the stage were extremely  high, making the balletic version even more difficult to attain because  a corporeal language in space of this  event  would  demand a complete  reinvention of  that form of dance,  just as each  of the films  reimagined the cinematographic language needed to  suit   the extraordinary story of the evil Vampire.

However, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s production did not go that far and thus, the performance was , to my mind, rather disappointing.   For  someone who has been captivated  by this  horror fantasy  and who has seen all the films related to the adventures of the  bloody count but also  for someone who loves ballet and has seen  how classical steps have been reinvented by so many contemporary  choreographers to suit new staged readings ,  it appeared that something was definitely missing.

Mark Godden’s  vision of Dracula falls into the  tradition of  narrative ballets based on the exacerbated romanticism  of the Gothic horror story  and somehow none of that  was   captured strongly enough although a  parody of the story   (pantomime) is acted out at the beginning of Act II which was great fun and one wonders if that should not have been placed  at the very beginning of the evening to locate the whole event as a huge sendup!

As it was, in the first few minutes of the performance,  Dracula appears  kissing (?) or discretely  sucking on the neck of the beautiful Lucy  who is placed on a pedestal in a trance-like state, already a victim of the monsters fangs as he is slowly feeding on her.   Thus Dracula is revealed from the onset  and then quickly shoved into the background because the essence of Acts  I and II  is  immediately spread out before us , leaving us  wondering if Dracula is really the centre of this performance or if it isn’t the  strong female dancers  who are his victims (Sarah Davey as  Lucy and Sophia Lee as Mina). They are at the origin of the  spectacular dancing during  solos ,  group choreography and delightful   pas de deux with  Josh Reynolds who performed  Dracula on opening night.  Those moments of  splendid choreography  were  the  real  highlights of the evening.

Sarah Davey  (Lucy)already  transformed into a vampire was lifted away out of her tomb by Dracula and the two of them become weightless creatures floating   in the crypt as the evil creature caresses her ,  pulls her and forces her to drink his blood in gentle gestures  that transformed the crypt into her place of eternal sleep.  The seduction is complete.   In Act II, Sophia Lee who  has also danced Tracy in other performances, becomes Mina, the wife of Johnathan out to capture Dracula in the crypt of the count’s own chateau where she has come to liberate her husband.  Bits and  pieces borrowed from the novel do not necessarily work out very well  especially  when Scene I of act II  take us through a fantasy of multiple monsters that is much more confusing   than pleasing.

The final  confrontation between   Mina,  and Dracula, as Sophie  Lee rejects his advances ,  has her swept  away across the stage, as she flies out of Dracula’s reach and transforms her body into a slowly  evaporating  creature,  doing its best to resist the force of the Vampire who is  covering her with waves of sensuality.  During this moment of oncoming destruction,  we felt the first vibrations of seduction coming from the vampire as he tries to force Mina to obey him but she is strong and  she  triumphs.  The Crypt in the chateau  takes us back to the final moments of the Horror of  Dracula, the British movie inspired by Stoker’s novel but it did not have the same powerful impact because , in spite of the great beauty of Mahler’s music,  the event  was already too familiar and  completely expected. The magic,  the tension were removed.

The novel , the films, the spoken words,  and all other  elements that found their way into this stage event  weighed almost too heavily on the ballet, and neutralized the world of the dance.  Obviously the voice of the narrator made it easier for the audience to follow and sent us back to Johnathan’s journal.  The dramatic lighting and the presence of the  vampire women , were very fine to watch  but it all seemed as though those moments were  only trying to fill a void of corporeal language  that had not yet  been invented .  Nevertheless, it is clear that this show was certainly  a  crowd pleaser and it appeared to work.

Dracula continues tonight and Saturday in Southam Hall,  20h00.

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