Nosferatu REVIEW 15 Feb 2023 ***

THEATRE

Written by Keziah Warner, by Malthouse Theatre

At Merlyn Theatre, Malthouse opens 15 Feb until 5 March 2023

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: ***

This review is published only in this blog. I'll do a radio review on Arts Weekly, 3MBS  on Sat 25 Feb 2023. KH

(L-R) Shamita Siva & Jacob Collins-Levy_photo by Pia Johnson

Even though Keziah Warner’s play, Nosferatu, is said to be based on the classic 1922 silent film, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, do not expect gothic horror.

 

This stage version, directed by Bridget Balodis, leans toward entertainment rather than horror and verges on parody. It takes the original vampire story and sets it in Tasmania, in a fictional mining town called Bluewater in which both the environment and the people are dying, initially because of the pollutants but, in this story, because a vampire comes to town.

 

Tom (Keegan Joyce), a long-term resident, and Knock (Max Brown), the town’s mayor, want to revive the town; Tom because it is his family home and Knock because he is ambitious and greedy. So, when Tom receives an unsolicited offer of financial investment from a mysterious stranger called Count Orlok (Jacob Collins-Levy) who plans to develop a vineyard and produce wine, he leaps at the chance to save his town.

 

Unfortunately for Tom, Orlok is exactly what the audience expects him to be – a vampire. He stalks the town, sucks people in, then sucks their blood and makes the townspeople disappear – but his vineyard flourishes on strangely, suddenly fertile soil. Guess what is fertilising the earth?

 

As the smiling, villainous Orlok, Collins-Levy is sultry, secretive, seductive and manipulative with an edge of danger, while Joyce, Brown and Shamita Siva as Tom’s girlfriend, Ellen, are suitable dupes for his fearful charm. The only person who resists his advances is Kate (Sophie Ross), the pragmatic and sceptical doctor.

 

The first half is quirky and comedic as Orlok arrives to seduce the town, but the pace of the play flags in the second half as both dialogue and blood-sucking action become repetitive. The themes of a failing environment and an obsession with wealth and power are a little heavy-handed, but this is a parodic tale, so subtlety is not de rigueur.

 

Nosferatu is a bit of fun, but it cannot compete with the Bram Stoker’s novel or the spooky, threatening quality of the silent movie.

 

by Kate Herbert

 

Cast

Jacob Collins-Levy - Orlok

Sophie Ross - Kate

Keegan Joyce- Tom

Max Brown - Knock

Shamita Siva - Ellen

 

Creative Team

Bridget Balodis – Director

Mark Pritchard– Dramaturg

Bernadette Fam – Production Dramaturg

Romanie Harper - Set & Costume Design

Paul Jackson - Lighting Design

Kelly Ryall ­ Composer/Sound designer

Cessalee Smith -Stovall – Intimacy Choreographer