Preview: Dracula: The Bloody Truth, Redgrave Theatre

In their brand new comedy, Exeter-based Le Navet Bete (Dick Tracy, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) take audiences on a journey across Europe, from the dark and sinister Transylvanian mountains to the awkwardly charming seaside town of Whitby, whilst the frantic Van Helsing and his three amateur actors try to stage a life-changing, factual theatrical production of the events of Dracula.

“STOP! It is of vital importance that you stop what you’re doing and read this very carefully. Your life may depend on it…

“You must have all heard by now of the recent novel Dracula that was released three years ago in 1897 by that dreadful man Bram Stoker, yes? I gave that money grabber all of my research notes, letters, diary entries to write up to warn you…It wasn’t a fictional story at all, no! It was fact, true, real, I was there! I saw the madness, the supernatural. I saw the vampire.

All pics: Mark Dawson Photography

“Excuse me, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Professor Abraham Van Helsing, MD, D.Ph., D.Litt., etc, etc, of Amsterdam. I have put together a theatrical performance, along with three other actors I have hired, to warn you all of the dangers of vampires and how to deal with one if the situation arises.

“Now what are you waiting for? It is imperative that you book your tickets right this instant! It’s a matter of life and death.”

Directed by one of the UK’s most exciting comedy directors, John Nicholson (Peepolykus) and designed by Phil Eddolls (Mark Bruce Company, Improbable Theatre) Dracula: The Bloody Truth promises to have the vampires back in the ground and leave audiences flying high.

“Side-splittingly funny… by far the best new comedy I have seen this year” – Broadway World ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

Here are Le Navet Bete’s Alex White and Al Dunn to tell us more.

What can we tell you about the show? Well, first off, Professor Abraham Van Helsing would tell you that this isn’t a show! It’s a public information seminar to warn you all of the real dangers of vampires.
But aside from that, it’s a very ridiculous re-telling of the classic story – with a few of our own comic twists. The Professor is determined to set the record straight after Bram Stoker took Van Helsing’s notes and turned them into a fictional drama. He’s hired three accident-prone actors to do this for him and, needless to say, not everything goes to plan!
In short, it’s a very funny, physical comedy for adults and young-uns alike.

For us, theatre is a passion which has turned into our careers. This brings us a lot of pleasure when we get it right. Getting it right means doing a lot of hard work.
When we are on stage we can see the whites of our audience’s eyes. We work with those audiences, as our plays are very interactive and, as a result, we build up strong relationships with those audiences. Working this way, we know when we have got it right – but at the same time, we are our hardest critics. We perform all the time and have got to the stage where we can do it backwards as well as forwards.

Our work is fun, our comedy style is joyful. It’s physical comedy, which is all about timing.It goes back to Morecambe and Wise, Ben Elton, Bottom, Rowan Atkinson.

Our work is also rooted in the ridiculous. We take a serious genre of film or a classic story that everyone thinks they know, and turn it on its head. It’s really good fun for us as performers and that translates to the audience – we have an absolute blast performing Dracula and we know that audiences have a blast watching it.

This is our fifth year performing in Bristol. From performing in the original Wardrobe Theatre, above The White Bear, back in 2012, to our appearance at Tobacco Factory Theatres last year with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, our audiences have come on a journey with us and, each year, have brought more of their friends along. That’s hugely humbling that our audiences place so much trust in us.

We also guarantee a really fun night out for our audiences. There’s always a chance to meet us in the bar after the show and we love meeting our audiences: they are the most important part of what we do. Without them, we’d be a bunch of very sad clowns in an empty room!

Le Navet Bete perform Dracula: The Bloody Truth at the Redgrave Theatre from Wednesday, Sept 20 to Saturday, Sept 23. For more info, visit redgravetheatre.com/event/2017/09/dracula-the-bloody-truth/162

Read more: Preview: The Not So Late Show with Ross and Josh, Wardrobe Theatre