FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE Welcome to QPAC and to this performance of shake & stir theatre co’s production of Dracula. Dracula is a classic story which has chilled and terrified audiences since it was first published more than a century ago. It has spawned a multitude of similarly gothic, vampiric tales and been told and retold through many lenses and in many forms – film, theatre, opera, ballet. This version by shake & stir has been immensely popular with audiences and I am sure those new to the work and familiar will enjoy this atmospheric version. shake & stir are an outstanding Queensland success story – a company started by three friends, Ross, Nelle and Nick, which has developed new artists as well as created opportunities for young audiences to embrace live theatre. At QPAC, we have been proud to work with and alongside shake & stir as they have flourished into an innovative and exciting company with a strong following both here in Queensland and nationally, thanks to their busy touring schedule. This performance is taking place in our recently refurbished Cremorne Theatre. I hope you enjoy this performance and I look forward to welcoming you back to QPAC again soon. John Kotzas CAST Ross Balbuziente Jack Seward Nelle Lee Mina Adele Querol Lucy Nick Skubij Dracula Michael Wahr Jonathan Harker David Whitney Renfield / Van Helsing PRODUCTION TEAM Co-Adaptors Nelle Lee & Nick Skubij Director Michael Futcher Set Designer Josh McIntosh Costume Designer Leigh Buchanan Lighting Designer Jason Glenwright Sound Designer / Composer Guy Webster Fight Director/ Movement coach Nigel Poulton Fight Assistant Justin Palazzo-Orr Dramaturg Michael Futcher Make Up Designer Alex Ouston Production Manager Mark Middleton Company / Stage Manager Yanni Dubler Assistant Stage Manager Tenneale Rogers Head LX Nathan Da Cunha Education Manager Naomi Russell Photography Dylan Evans @shakeandstir #shakeandstir #DraculaAU FROM THE CREATORS Adapting and mounting a new stage production of Bram Stoker’s revered cult classic Dracula has been a curious and strange journey. It seems that today, scores of people across the world have a morbid fascination with the macabre. From the sexy to the sublime, the dread to the undead, some of the biggest television shows and films of all time (Twilight or The Walking Dead marathon anyone?) keep millions of people, young and old, fixated on their television screens or pouring over the pages into the wee hours of the morning. You could say Dracula is the original horror story. The first truly terrifying popular novel whose bite remains as potent today as the day it was penned. What a great opportunity we then have to resurrect it for today’s modern audience. Stoker was working as Business Manager at the Lyceum Theatre when he wrote Dracula. Perhaps it was his close proximity to the theatre that resulted in the inherent theatricality and drama of the book. His description of a late Victorian England on the cusp of the industrial revolution, juxtaposed against the untamed wild of Eastern Europe oozes richness and texture and presents fantastic opportunities for theatre. Like all good things, making the novel work on stage was not without its challenges. Of course, this is what keeps things in the rehearsal room stimulating – and in overcoming these challenges, we owe the world to our remarkable design team, Josh, Jason, Guy, Leigh, who never shy away from helping us realize the impossible. Into this mix we add the inimitable Nigel Poulton as Fight Director. We are thrilled to welcome back to the Director’s chair Michael Futcher, whose work with shake & stir can be seen in the multiple-award winning National Touring productions of Animal Farm, 1984 and Tequila Mockingbird. David Whitney, last seen as O’Brien in 1984 dons his leather jacket and sharpens his knives in the role of Van Helsing and we welcome Michael Wahr and Adele Querol in their shake & stir debuts. So sit back, we don’t recommend you relax but we do hope you enjoy this bloody classic. Ross Balbuziente, Nelle Lee & Nick Skubij Artistic Directors FROM THE DIRECTOR Welcome to Dracula - a gothic horror story we all know so well…or do we? Since Bram Stoker first published Dracula in 1897, the notion of the vampire has developed a life of its own into a multitude of spin-off and camp versions, all of which have their own take on the aristocratic blood- sucker Stoker first popularized. For this shake & stir production, we have gone back to the original novel and tried to rediscover what made it so compelling to its Victorian readers, who found it truly shocking and, at times, titillating. Of course modern familiarity with vampire legends, and an overload of horror genre movies, TV shows and books makes it much more difficult for audiences of today to feel the same level of surprise or shock that nineteenth century audiences may have experienced. However in this familiarity is also a sense of playfulness - a willing complicity to enter into the dark imaginative world which is the realm of the Nosferatu, and to happily suspend disbelief. In rehearsals we’ve had a grand time searching for theatrical ways of aiding this complicity, and in this respect the work of our wonderful cast: Ross Balbuziente, Nelle Lee, Adele Querol, Nick Skubij, Michael Wahr, and David Whitney; and the outstanding inventiveness of our creatives: Josh Mcintosh, Jason Glenwright, Guy Webster, Leigh Buchanan, Nigel Poulton and Justin Palazzo-Orr, has made for a stunning visual and sonic experience, full of suspense, for audiences all over Australia. It has again been an absolute pleasure to work so closely with the talented shake & stir team, the cast and creative team, and our exceptionally talented production unit of Yanni Dubler, Mark Middleton, Tenneale Rogers and Nathan Da Cunha, who have done an extraordinary job of efficiently bumping in and out of so many varied venues throughout the country and maintaining the demanding technical requirements of the production. We’ve sought to be as true to the spirit of the novel as possible, and hope that the experience of watching this adaptation come to life theatrically will inspire you to read the book if you haven’t already done so. Enjoy your journey into the Carpathians! Michael Futcher MICHAEL FUTCHER DIRECTOR/ DRAMATURG For shake & stir: Endgame (2016), Dracula, 1984 (2012, 2014 national tour), Tequila Mockingbird (2013, 2016 QLD tour), Animal Farm (2011, 2013 national tour). Other Theatre: Michael has worked over the past 25 years with many of Queensland’s major theatre companies in various capacities, including actor, director, dramaturg and writer, and, with Helen Howard, is the joint artistic director of Matrix Theatre. As Director: For Queensland Theatre Company: Grimm Tales, Rabbit Hole, The Glass Menagerie, Oz Shorts, A Life In The Theatre (Noosa Long Weekend), Blithe Spirit (Assistant Director) and Explosions (education production); For La Boite: Pale Blue Dot, Walking By Apple Tree Creek, The Drowning Bride, James and Johnno, Salt and, in co-production with Matrix Theatre and the Brisbane Festival, the critically-acclaimed A Beautiful Life, which toured nationally in 2000 winning Michael Best Director at the Victorian Green Room Awards along with three other awards; For Matrix Theatre: The Wishing Well, The King and the Corpse!, 1347 and Cutting Loose. In 2009, Michael’s production of The Kursk (Matrix/Metro Independents/Critical stages) toured nationally to over 35 venues receiving a Helpmann Award nomination and three Matilda Awards, including Best Director. Other productions include: Dirty Apple (Opera Qld/Backbone), Jane Eyre, Cymbeline, The Crucible, Three Sisters, The Duel, The Cherry Orchard, Camille (QUT), Jane Eyre (USQ) and Macbeth (Rheingold Theatre Club, London). Awards: Michael has won several Matilda Awards, a Green Room Award and a Playlab Award, and been nominated for a Helpmann Award, an Awgie, and two Queensland Premier’s Drama Awards. JOSH MCINTOSH SET DESIGNER For shake & stir: Green Day’s American Idiot, Endgame, George’s Marvellous Medicine, Endgame, Dracula, Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes & Dirty Beasts (2014, 2015 national tour), Wuthering Heights (2014, 2016 national tour), Tequila Mockingbird (2013, 2016 QLD tour), Out Damn Snot, 1984 (2012, 2014 national tour), Animal Farm (2011, 2013 national tour), Statespeare (2011 national tour). Other Theatre: Josh has designed Country Song, Rabbit Hole and was Design Consultant for Thom Pain (Queensland Theatre Company), Treasure Island (Matrix & Queensland Theatre Company). For La Boite he has designed Pale Blue Dot, The Kursk (with Critical Stages & Matrix), The Wishing Well (with Matrix), The Danger Age, The Year Nick McGowan Came to Stay, and Red Cap (with QMF). Josh has designed many shows for Harvest Rain Theatre Company including Hairspray the Arena Spectacular, Pirates of Penzance, Spamalot, Oklahoma, The Neverending Story, James and the Giant Peach, and Jesus Christ Superstar. For Queensland Music Festival he has designed epic outdoor events Under This Sky in Logan, One Hundred and One Years in Townsville and Brisbane, Boomtown in Gladstone, Behind the Cane in Bowen and The Road We’re On in Charleville. Josh regularly designs for Debase Productions, Gold Coast Arts Centre, Empire Theatre, and many other theatre companies, arts festivals and events. Awards: Matilda Awards: Best Design for Dracula (2016), Body of Work (2011), Groundling Awards for Set Design (2011) and Costume Design (2011). JASON GLENWRIGHT LIGHTING DESIGNER For shake & stir: Endgame, George’s