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The Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo volition descend her teeth into relation of Dracula successful a one-actor adaptation of Bram Stoker’s gothic caller from the Australian creators of the Tony-nominated Broadway and West End deed The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Dracula, adapted by manager Kip Williams for Sydney Theatre Company (where it premiered successful 2024) and co-produced by Australia’s Michael Cassel Group, volition marque its planetary debut connected London’s West End successful February 2026, with Erivo playing the bloodthirsty number arsenic good arsenic 22 supporting characters successful a accumulation that melds theatre with unrecorded and prerecorded video.
The Guardian described it as “a clever and playful accumulation that borrows cinematic tropes and camera angles from aboriginal fearfulness films, monster flicks and different cult classics”.
Erivo, past connected signifier successful 2016’s The Color Purple (for which she won a Tony award), was approached astir the relation 9 months agone during the planetary promotional circuit for Wicked. Before signing on, she watched archival video of the STC production, which opened astatine Sydney’s Roslyn Packer theatre successful July 2024, starring Zahra Newman. She besides spoke to Williams astir his unsocial benignant of “cine-theatre”, successful which actors interact with unrecorded and prerecorded video.
In March, Erivo attended the Broadway premiere of The Picture of Dorian Gray, and is understood to person spoken with Sarah Snook astir her Tony award-nominated performance, which involves navigating camera operators and screens connected stage, arsenic good arsenic rapid-fire costume changes and relation switching.
Michael Cassel, co-producing the West End tally with Adam Kenwright, told Deadline: “[Cynthia] has truly spent astir of her clip with Kip conscionable talking done the inspiration and the dramaturgy of it all. For them to link successful that mode has been important for them due to the fact that this is simply a amusement that they spell and make together.”
The archetypal Sydney accumulation volition not “be a blueprint” for the West End version, Cassel told Deadline. “I deliberation what’s truthful exciting, I deliberation for her, and for us, portion we cognize what the communicative is, they get to spell and make this relation successful the rehearsal country successful London together, and that was precise appealing to Cynthia to enactment her ain mentation connected the relation and research that with Kip.”
Besides Dracula, Erivo’s roles see the count’s emotion involvement Mina, his nemesis Van Helsing and his henchman Renfield.
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While the play is not a musical, Wicked fans volition beryllium pleased to perceive determination is 1 archetypal opus adjacent the show’s end, by composer Clemence Williams. Like Dorian Gray, the soundtrack besides features an eclectic premix of classical, modern and nine tracks.
Reflecting connected the casting coup, which comes blistery connected the heels of Dorian Gray’s swag of six Tony grant nominations, Cassel said: “We’re conscionable truthful thrilled Cynthia has agreed to take this arsenic a task she truly wants to beryllium a portion of.
“When you look astatine Sarah arsenic well, these actors person these astonishing experiences connected movie oregon television, but the gully to the theatre, and so to bash thing that is truthful challenging, I deliberation it’s testament to the caliber arsenic actors that these individuals are.
“It’s challenging what they’re being asked to do. It’s a satellite isolated from what Cynthia’s been doing recently, and she tin spell and find that quality and beryllium challenged nighttime in, nighttime retired arsenic each bully actors are successful beforehand of a unrecorded assemblage and I deliberation that’s truly thrilling.”
English (US) ·