Cynthia Erivo’s Dracula one-woman show divides theatre critics: Actress receives mixed reviews as she is praised for an ‘incredible feat of endurance’ but the play ‘lacks bite’

Cynthia Erivo’s Dracula one-woman show has divided theatre critics, praising the actress’s ‘incredible feat of endurance’ but saying the play ‘lacks bite’.

The Wicked star, 39, is sinking her teeth into her most complex role yet as she portrays Dracula and 22 other characters in the unique adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel.

First impressions left many viewers ‘disappointed’ after spotting the star was being ‘fed her lines’, according to The Telegraph, in early previews of the show.

But critics said she seems to now have the ‘marathon’ feat down as they hailed Cynthia’s ‘astonishing performance’.

And while most critics agreed on Cynthia’s ‘outstanding and hat-tip worthy’ performance, what didn’t get such glowing reviews was director Kip Williams’s adaptation itself.

Theatre critics said the play was ‘meandering and excessively long’, even dubbing it a ‘bloodless, soul-sapping affair’.

Sharing his mixed take on the show, The Daily Mail’s Patrick Marmion gave it just three stars as he criticised the play itself but applauded Cynthia.

He wrote: ‘Over a very long and testing two hours and five minutes – unrelieved by the mercy of an interval – she gives an astonishing performance, playing a total of 23 characters from Bram Stoker’s 19th–century Gothic horror novel.’

‘The complexities of Stoker’s plot start to scupper the complexities of Williams’s staging,’ he added.

On the more positive end was The Telegraph’s Dominic Cavendish, who gave the play four stars.

He said: ‘Incarnating 23 characters in one marathon solo performance, the British actress proves any doubters wrong: this isn’t a flawless night but it’s a tour de force even so.

‘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.’

Elsewhere Clive Davis of The Times also gave it four stars as he said: ‘Now that’s what I call event theatre. Watching Cynthia Erivo in this solo rendition of Bram Stoker’s novel is akin to seeing an ice skater going for gold in the Winter Olympics.

He added: ‘Anyone unfamiliar with the novel may find the climactic chase slightly confusing, yet the snow falling from above and Erivo’s sudden eruption into an original song add genuine operatic grandeur.’

Another four-star reviewer was Nick Curtis of The Standard, who wrote: ‘Anyone experiencing Erivo’s Dracula without preconceptions or comparisons will be sucked in.

‘She even sings a little, powerfully and unaccompanied, at the intense and chilling denouement, her image projected large, onto a screen now shaped like a crucifix, amid a dazzling blizzard. Brrrr-illiant.’

Elsewhere Financial Times reviewer Sarah Hemming also awarded it four stars, writing: ‘It’s an outstanding performance: Erivo, a tiny, mercurial figure, ricochets between 23 characters including the multiple unreliable narrators of Stoker’s epistolary novel.

‘As the plot rumbles on, the text itself becomes a drag and the show begins to feel overlong.’

But she added: ‘But then it wows you with a gorgeous image of Erivo, alone in a snowstorm centre stage. Not the best of Williams’s ingenious gothic spectacles, but bloody good all the same.’

WhatsOnStage’s Sarah Crompton gave the play three stars as she said: ‘She (Cynthia) is forced to attempt to lend some bite to Kip Williams’ meandering – and excessively long – adaptation of Bram Stoker’s epistolary novel, which sacrifices her undoubted talent on the altar of superficially exciting theatrical gimmickry.

‘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.’

Credit: daily mail