It was when I was confronted by an eerie creature in the dark, looking like a bat with no wings, that I felt my heartbeat was too loud. I feared Dracula might be close by. Others might say I was “hooked,” but I was bitten –– and so were many others –– by the Newbury Art Concepts theatre show Dracula (2025), held for ten shows at the Chilliwack Cultural Center this October. This immersive, intimate show was no stereotypical vampire “bla-bla-bla” story. Sure, a long cape billowed behind the Count, and fog curled over the stage’s steps at his entrance, but after leaving I was pleasantly surprised and dying to see it again.
Written by Susan E. Newbury and directed by her husband Randy Newbury, Dracula is a theatrical adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic novel Dracula (1897) with clear inspiration from the horror film Nosferatu (2024). Taking place in London of 1893, the story follows one lonely, intimidating vampire attempting to find love while maintaining his bloodthirsty tendencies. It is three hours of seduction, fright, and superstition.
The Cascade was lucky enough to speak to R. Newbury right out of the backstage madness after the show, and turns out, a dark twisted vampire story is far from what he and his wife are familiar with.
“My wife and I’s company always [does] very musical, happy, jazz-hands kind of shows. [But] we’ve always loved a show with a dark side to it … this is something that we’ve always wanted to do but never really had a chance.”
Going from musicals to gothic dramas is quite the change, but R. Newbury had one goal in mind that would be the formula to attract audiences and make them thirsty for more.
“I wanted the audience to be uncomfortable. I didn’t want them to be complacent. My main goal was to not have anybody laugh. Sometimes when you see things that make you uncomfortable, a nervous reaction is to laugh about it. I didn’t want people to laugh. I wanted to make sure that [the cast] presented it in the most non-comedic way possible.”
I feel confident they achieved it. I don’t know about the rest of the audience, but I was on the edge of my seat. Randy even mentioned how they purposefully dropped the theatre’s temperature because it would keep the audience’s attention more. It’s safe to say I was definitely awake and taking notes. It shows his great passion and dedication to the work and it’s inspiring to understand why it’s all done in the first place.
“We do it for the people in the theatre. We do it for the community, sure, but all those people out there love theatre so much. They thrive on it. These people are putting hours and hours of time into this thing … for the love of the craft, for the love of the art. And that, to me, is incredibly heartwarming.”
I was impressed by the acting, especially from the vamp, played by Anatole Smith, and even more so after learning that, for around 80 per cent of the cast, they had never even read or watched any Dracula storyline before. Compared to R. Newbury who lives for the Dracula story, for most, Hotel Transylvania (2012) was strange territory.
Another notable characteristic was the inclusion of the Southern character, Jack Morris, played by Luke LeClair, who was initially an odd pairing with the British community of the story, but blended quite well in part due to the stellar acting. I also loved the allusion of the Romeo and Juliet (1996) story that added layers to the main love interests with a smoky romance that played out.
Without letting my own fascination with vampire folklore take over, this theatre production of Dracula was a show worth seeing even if you don’t like vampires or dark things –– but especially if you do.
Veronica is a Staff Writer at The Cascade. She loves to travel and explore new places, no matter how big or small. She is in her second year at UFV, pursuing the study of Creative
Writing.