Brisbane's independent Shake & Stir Theatre Company are sinking their teeth into Bram Stoker's gothic tale 'Dracula' this August.
Described as “darker than what we have done before” by Shake & Stir's co-adaptor and lead actor Nick Skubij, 'Dracula' is promising to be a feast of entertainment. “We hope audience will get to see the book onstage in a new light ... in a more visceral, and thrilling kind of realistic way.”
The 1987 novel is the tale of a vampire, Count Dracula, who after being visited by the young lawyer, Jonathan Harker, decides to make the move from his castle in Translavania to London in search for seduction, true love, and new blood. The book was not a best seller at the time of its release, but reached its iconic status when movie adaptions were produced. Author of 'Sherlock Holmes', Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was a fan of the novel, writing to Bram Stoker: "I write to tell you how very much I have enjoyed reading 'Dracula'. I think it is the very best story of diablerie which I have read for many years.”
Directed by the award-winning Michael Futcher, Shake & Stir's 'Dracula' has been adapted by Nelle Lee and Nick Skubij. The cast includes Ross Balbuziente, Tim Dashwood ('The Graduate', 'Animal Farm'), Nelle Lee, Ashlee Lollback ('INXS Never Tear Us Apart', 'Pale Blue Dot'), Nick Skubij and David Whitney ('1984', 'Rock of Ages').
“We are looking are what makes horror horrific and scary at its very heart,” says Skubij of the play. While much of the text has been preserved, Shake & Stir “are hoping for it to have a very contemporary veneer over the top of it... We try to re-imagine through the presentation; we try to re-imagine through thinking about what we can use modern theatre technology into our aesthetic.” He adds that the company “look forward to plunging into the darkest recesses of our imagination and are excited about experimenting with some ultra-theatricality to achieve the mind-boggling, head-twisting, blood-spurting moments so vividly described in the novel.
“Vampire fiction just won’t die – it is un-dead. Enjoying a major resurrection with the wildly popular 'Twilight' motion pictures, television series 'True Blood', 'The Originals' and 'The Vampire Diaries' there is no doubt that audiences today are as intrigued to all things macabre as their 19th Century counterparts.”
Established in 2006, Shake & Stir's productions reach an audience of above 180,000 people annually. “We started ten years ago as a theatre that very firmly created theatre for young people, and theatre for children, and we still do that, but we have this other arm of our company which is what 'Dracula' is – which is feeding a general public; a greater audience.”
For the past five years the theatre company has been in partnership with the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, which Skubji explains “has been about expanding our audience as well as utilising the Cremorne Theatre, and really establishing that smaller theatre as professional theatre.”
In 2014 Shake & Stir toured theatres nationally with their production of George Orwell's '1984' before returning to QPAC for a sold-out season. The company has been the recipient of a multitude of awards and nominations for it's productions and crew. Shake & Stir produce works each season for in-school shows, as well as the mainstage. Their past mainstage productions have included shows such as 'Statespeare' which was nominated for the 2011 Helpmann Best Children's Work award, and winner of the 2014 APACA Drover award & Tour Of The Year – 'Animal Farm'.
'Dracula' plays Queensland Performing Arts Centre, 13 August - 5 September.
