Dracula review: Cynthia Erivo bites back at doubters but is let down by overproduction

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A star rating of 3 out of 5.

Cynthia Erivo is earning rave reviews for her powerful performance in the one-woman show Dracula, currently playing at London’s Noël Coward theatre through May. Her performance solidifies her status as a captivating villain.

This production brings Bram Stoker’s classic gothic novel to the stage, and while it’s generally enjoyable to watch, it’s also a bit messy and uneven in its execution. It has moments of brilliance, but also some that fall flat.

From the team behind Sarah Snook’s performance of The Picture of Dorian Gray comes a new show starring Cynthia Erivo. She plays all 23 characters, including the famous Count Dracula, and familiar figures like Jonathan Harker, Mina Murray, and John Seward – characters many will remember from their A-Level English Literature studies.

Cynthia Erivo’s performance is outstanding – truly deserving of five stars. She seamlessly transforms between characters, moving from the precise English lawyer Harker to the cheerful Mina and the captivating, yet tragic, Lucy. It’s reminiscent of a lead ballerina flawlessly transitioning between roles in Swan Lake. The first twenty minutes, as Harker enters Dracula’s castle, are a perfect example of masterful acting.

I was absolutely captivated by the actor’s incredible ability to shift between different voices, moods, and even genders! It wasn’t just her performance though – the costumes, designed by Claire Murphy and Rachel Morris, played a huge part in making those transformations feel so smooth and believable. They really helped bring the character to life.

However I must now turn to production.

The play was initially promoted as “cinetheatre,” and I now understand that means a large, single screen constantly occupies half the stage.

The screen shows several characters played by Erivo, like Van Helsing and Quincey Morris, reciting lines they previously recorded, often in conversations that last several minutes.

When this happened, the main actress unexpectedly became a minor character, and she seemed to fade into the background – I could hardly notice her movements on stage.

The film’s important scenes, like the one in the graveyard, are made confusing by loud music, split screens, and fast cuts. It feels less like a serious adaptation of a classic Victorian story and more like a dramatic music video, similar to those by Panic! At The Disco.

Things really took off after that, becoming super stylized with lots of synth music and really over-the-top sets. I even thought the way they portrayed Dracula’s bite – as a metaphor for intimacy – was a clever touch.

It was a striking image – whenever Erivo physically navigated the set, climbing over props and around the back of the stage, it felt like she was battling to be the focus. If the production team had simply let her perform, maybe using voice-overs for other characters instead of constantly showing them on screen, her talent could have truly stood out.

Erivo’s talent shines through, making her performance consistently impactful. Ultimately, though, a truly outstanding performance can’t fully compensate for a weak overall production, and the final result feels somewhere in the middle.

Honestly, this show just didn’t grab me. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t amazing either – it felt stuck in the middle, not fully succeeding as either a thrilling or a moving experience. Like Dracula himself, it just kind of… existed.

Dracula is running from now until 30th May 2026.

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Authors

Olivia Garrett

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2026-02-18 03:04