Dracula: The Bloody Truth at the Birmingham Hippodrome Review

Reviewed by Nigel Chester

“I hate theatre” was one of the opening lines of Dracula: The Bloody Truth, strange then that Professor Abraham Van Helsing was addressing a capacity audience at Birmingham Hippodrome’s Patrick Centre.

This, he informed us, was not a play but a “public information seminar” to provide the truth behind Bram Stoker’s novel.

As we settled back to be informed, it soon became very clear that this was indeed, theatre at its very best as Professor Van Helsing narrated his motley crew to bring to life, the undead Dracula.

Many characters graced the stage and it was difficult to believe that we were entertained for two hours by a cast of four. Not only was the cast minimal, but so was the set. The wardrobe morphed into many memorable objects but as the grave of poor Lucy Westenra, was outstanding, in a macabre version of Romeo and Juliet’s death bed scene. Count Dracula having got there first, we saw Arthur having to kill his love for a second time, who knew that necrophilia could be so entertaining?

The company Le Navet Bete # we’re not French, are an amazing group, whose sense of humour is quite unlike any other I have had the pleasure of witnessing. It is pure pantomime – for grownups (well, age guidance 8+).

As an audience, we were drawn in to the action, quite literally at some points. We jumped in our seats on a few occasions as the scares and thrills swept us along, and laughed so hard because nothing was ever really frightening as the ridiculous and ludicrous scenes in front of us built.

The Bloody Truth is intelligently written, I haven’t witnessed comic genius like this since I sat on an orange and brown sofa in a 1980’s living room watching the Two Ronnie’s. Mind you, I think this was twice as good, as there are four in the cast, plus furniture, not forgetting a shout out for the doors and window.

The actors must be physically very fit, as they managed to leap around the stage at break-neck speed and travelled through Transylvania to Dracula’s castle in four hours – it seemed much less than that!

The production was impressive on the technical side, the pyrotechnics and lighting moved us so easily from Europe to Whitby.

As the night wore on, the set fell more and more apart, as did the audience, we rocked in our seats at one of the cleverest and funniest performances I have ever witnessed. Grown men, women – and their offspring, had tears rolling down their faces.

So, if you want your sides split and your neck pierced, you must go to see, Dracula: The Bloody Truth, touring the country until November 2017, but, please don’t wear a shawl – those pins can do an awful lot of damage.

Rating: 5/5

Le Navet Bete are currently on tour with Dracula: The Bloody Truth, for more information and tour dates visit lenavetbete.com.

For other shows at the Birmingham Hippodrome visit www.birminghamhippodrome.com.

Birmingham Hippodrome, Hurst St, Southside, Birmingham, B5 4TB | 0844 338 5000