Dracula – The Bloody Truth

Sharnbrook Mill Theatre

13th March 2025

Bram Stoker’s classic novel ‘Dracula’ may be over 125 years old now, but not everybody is happy about its success, namely one Professor Abraham Van Helsing. Infuriated that Stoker has become rich and famous from the story, Van Helsing wants to set the record straight and tell his own version of “what really happened”. To do this, he ropes in three hapless actors who play out the events of the novel, with a multitude of mishaps occurring in the process, antagonising Van Helsing’s hatred of all things “theatre”.

Such is the premise of ‘Dracula – The Bloody Truth’, a comedy play written by John Nicholson and the La Navet Bete theatre company. The play hasn’t become particularly well-known yet, but the Sharnbrook Mill Theatre are hoping to change this, with the show being their first production of 2025.

The ‘Bloody Truth’ is that the play is far closer to “Dracula Goes Wrong’, being very similar in tone and execution to the productions of the Mischief Theatre company. This isn’t a parody of Dracula, it’s a spoof of what can go wrong when putting on a live show (actors get their lines wrong, entrances and exits are mis-timed, props get out of control, sound effects go haywire). It’s done reasonably well, amusing rather than hilarious, and Van Helsing’s frustration at everything going wrong is entertaining, but it doesn’t fully achieve what it sets out to do; theatre is the focus here, rather than Dracula, the story of which is largely faithfully told until the ending. The premise feels unexplored, that the plot and characters of Dracula should be full of potential for parody on their own merit, rather than relying on the idea of live theatre going wrong to provide the laughs, which begins to feel stretched over the show’s running time.

Despite the limitations of the material, the Sharnbrook Mill Theatre team make the best of it, and deliver an entertaining couple of hours. Director Keith Hargreaves and his cast capture the absurb tone of the piece well, and the pace trots along nicely. The production is more modestly-staged than previous SMT productions, the dual-level stage draped solely in black material and feeling a little flat rather than ominous, although some effective lighting helps with this.

The cast are clearly game for a laugh and throw themselves into the play with high spirits. Keir Mulcahey leads the show brilliantly as Van Helsing, again demonstrating the same skills that made his performance in last year’s ‘The Hound Of The Baskervilles’ such a treat. Alongside Mulcahey are Sebastian Goss, Katherine Kennedy and Joe Bygraves, who all play a variety of roles, ages and genders, and do a uniformly great job.

Lacking a bit of comedic bite, its fangs might not be as sharp as they could be, but ‘Dracula – The Bloody Truth’ raises enough chuckles to make it worth leaving the house for. The Sharnbrook team do their very best in delivering the show as written, thanks to its cast. Next up for the Sharnbrook Team is the musical Godspell, performing in May. We look forward as always to seeing it.

‘Dracula – The Bloody Truth’ ran at Sharnbrook Mill Theatre until Saturday 15th March 2025.

Performance runtime – 1 hour 55 minutes including interval.

Sharnbrook Mill Theatre next production – Godspell, 13th-19th May 2025.