Dracula Reviews: Cynthia Erivo’s New Play Divides Critics

Following her acclaimed performances as Elphaba in the movie musical Wicked and its sequel, Cynthia Erivo is currently starring in a new West End production of Dracula.

Remarkably, the Oscar nominee plays all 23 characters in the ambitious play, thanks to a combination of pre-recorded screen work and Cynthia’s in-person stage acting.

In the run-up to the official opening, much was made in the press of the fact some audience members were unimpressed with the supposed use of an autocue during preview performances, though in newly-released reviews, there’s no indication that this has taken away from her conviction or credibility in the 23 roles the British star inhabits.

Unfortunately, critics seem more lukewarm on the show itself, with many reviews indicating that the production team may have bitten off more than they could chew with the project.

Here’s a selection of what critics have said about the new adaptation of Dracula…

“During early previews at the Noël Coward, word of mouth suggested that the Wicked star – who plays all 23 characters, some live, some pre-recorded – was struggling to negotiate the dense tangle of dialogue and cues. Some audience members were said to be unhappy at seeing teleprompters on stage. Those problems seem to have been ironed out.

“At the press preview I saw, Erivo fumbled a few lines but otherwise gave a commanding display in a Kip Williams production that is part theatre, part cinema.”

“Erivo’s excellence is the least surprising element of the evening. She is magnetic, meticulous, and emotionally lucid throughout, finding flashes of humour and menace even while juggling an almost unmanageable technical load […] At the same time, the feat has inevitable limits.

“There are moments that could be deeply resonant in the hands of an actor of Erivo’s ability, that instead seemed rushed or surface-level.”

“At previews, Erivo was reportedly reliant on an auto-cue; there’s still one on hand but she seems word-perfect now. My only cavil is that her rendition can incline to flatness.

“Still, she’s climbing a mountain, really, and deserves cheering on. It’s feats of stamina like this that keep British theatre un-dead.”

“Cynthia Erivo gives an extraordinary, shape shifting performance […] The Wicked star juggles costumes and accents, interacting with onscreen versions of herself in a hectic 120-minute canter through the Gothic tale. Her performance triumphantly walks a knife edge between virtuosity and absurdity.”

“Truly this is a mind–bogglingly complex show, which goes beyond the kitchen sink in its attempts to create an audio-visual hallucination.

“Yet what’s missing is old-fashioned suspense. We all know, roughly speaking, what’s coming. But I still find myself tipping my pointy hat to Erivo.”

“Erivo is tiny and the screen is massive, and the pre-recorded stuff is so dominant – as many as four gigantic versions of her on-screen versions of her – that it overshadows the technically impressive work happening on stage.”

″[Cynthia Erivo] deserves praise for tackling such a relentless and challenging part, which requires her to constantly switch between personas, interact with pre-recorded versions of herself, and hit all her marks for the camera operators […] but in a production that demands so much of its performer, you can’t shake the feeling it’s about to run away from her.

“She wades through the dense script, which would have benefited from another round with the dramaturg, rushing out vast passages and occasionally stumbling over her words. Perhaps some of these issues will be ironed out over the course of the run, but for now there is too much jeopardy that she won’t get there.”

“It’s slick, soulless and all about appearances. There’s no jeopardy or really any true drama. On the night I attended, the audience loved it, but what are we applauding? Erivo deserves it, but she also deserves far better – a Dracula with a bit of red meat rather than this bloodless, soul-sapping affair.”

“It’s testament to Erivo’s skill that her performance still packed a punch throughout. However, by the law of averages a five-star performance and one-star production must equal three.

“Sadly like Dracula himself, this production sits stranded in the middle, not dead, not alive, but somewhere in between.”

“Despite the speed, the atmosphere stays sedate, with none of the fever required, and no peril whatsoever. And characters seem so simplistic that they verge on the comical […] Erivo’s feat of narration also seems to distract her from the actual acting, too neutral in her physical and facial expressions.”

Dracula plays at the Noël Coward Theatre in London’s West End until Saturday 30 May.