Dracula: Lucy’s Dream

Dracula: Lucy’s Dream is a horror puppet shadow play that pushes itself far beyond conventional theatre into the realms of a sickly ballet where light itself becomes the principal actor. This is physical theatre at a very high level, built from puppetry, shadow and light and results in nothing less than an extraordinary stage chiaroscuro.

The story is deliberately obscure, leaving much of it for the audience to decide. That can feel slightly absurd, and some moments are a little silly, and it is not always clear whether the laughter is intended. Yet the obliqueness is also part of the charm. The production trusts image and movement rather than explaining itself, and the result is better understood as an experimental fever dream than a straightforward horror story.

Its puppetry and lighting are the real event. Part of the fascination lies in watching something that looks almost impossible and being left to wonder how the trick is actually being done. An exceptional piece of visual theatre, even when the narrative remains deliberately out of reach.

Dracula: Lucy’s Dream by Plexus Polaire.