Three months after a successful run of their most recent show, “Eternity”, the talented Wesley House Players are back next month with their latest offering: “Dracula, A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really”.

The highly regarded local theatre company will deliver six performances of the darkly humorous play by Kate Hamill over July 10-11 and July 17-18 at the Wesley Community Centre in Church Street, Dubbo.

Director Erifili Davis sat down with Dubbo Photo News last week to talk about the show and what theatregoers can expect.

Erifili said the play is quite faithful to Bram Stoker’s 1897 gothic horror novel “Dracula”, which first introduced the now-legendary character.

“It’s probably the version [of the story] that we all know, but it's also got quite a few twists to it, [particularly] with some of the key roles,” she said.

“Van Helsing, for instance, is a woman, and so, as well as the layer of being this vampire hunter, she's also dealing with the casual sexism of Victorian England as well,” Erifili added.

“As well as having the gothic elements that we love about the Dracula story, it does deal with things like power, misuse of power, coercion – but it's also a lot of fun.”

Part of the fun of the PG-13 rated show is derived by the structure of the play and gender role-reversal of some key Dracula characters, Erifili said.

“The title says it's feminist, but when we say feminists, it's more about taking the women away from being damsels in distress to be becoming masters of their own destiny, even when society is up against them,” she added.

Erifili credits the cast with bringing out the humour in Kate Hamill’s play.

“It's partly the script, but also partly the amazing local cast, the way that they're delivering it,” she said.

The role of vampire hunter Van Helsing is played by real life archeologist, Jodie Benton.

“It was a bit of an Indiana Jones type twist to have her as the fierce vampire hunter, and it's interesting because Van Helsing also knows a lot of lore in terms of vampires, so it was kind of cool having an actual archeologist playing Van Helsing,” she added.

The cast also includes Jessica Harris (Mina Harker), Robert Zavadsky (Count Dracula), Bella McLaurin (Lucy Westenra), Dylan Goolagong (Jonathan Harker), Lexi Hunter (Renfield), Chris Anemaat (Dr Seward), Georgia Gracie (Marilla), Lana McLaurin (Drusilla), Harley Pearse (Maid), Trudi Field (Miller) and Benn Bryant (Merchant).

“It's kind of a combination of horror, a bit of romance, power struggles, and some funny stuff as well.”

At almost two and half hours long, including the interval, the show is lengthy but Erifili says a lot happens in the story and it is very fast paced. Tickets to the show are just $25 each, making local community theatre very affordable.

“We're conscious of keeping it affordable. Like everyone, our costs have gone up, our insurance has gone up. Everybody who's doing this show is a volunteer.”

It’s also quite expensive to license a play like this, Erifili explained, indicating the program is by arrangement with ORIGIN(TM) Theatrical on behalf of Theatrical Rights Worldwide, New York.

Tickets for the shows at 2.30pm (Saturday) and 8.00 pm (Friday/Saturday) are available from 123Tix. Doors open 30 minutes before each performance, seating in the centre is unallocated, and complimentary light refreshments will be available at interval.

Support local theatre and book your tickets to see Wesley House Players in their next production.