Dracula Festival Theatre Edinburgh 12th June 2026 Review
Dracula, Ballet at its Darkest, is at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh for three dates only (Fri 12 to Sun 14 June), and if you are a ballet fan, a Dracula fan, or both, try not to miss this one.
This production is from BIG Live, a ballet company in the Southern Hemisphere (who also bill themselves as "The world's fastest growing ballet company”), and is in association with United Airlines; it does exactly what the company’s mission statement says, "to challenge public perception of ballet by presenting work that is powerful, authentic, and spectacularly entertaining".
To do any production on stage, in any arts genre, of Bram Stoker's classic novel is always going to be a major problem as the original journal format of the story and the way that different time periods and locations are always changing, means that major revision is required to make the story linear and fluid on-stage. Dracula as a character is also now, due to so many camp or parody portrayals in films and television, one that is extremely difficult to portray seriously. There is a very fine line for Dracula on stage between looking menacing and looking ridiculous.
Thankfully, BIG Live have avoided so many of the above issues and this is due to Joel Burke, artistic director and chorographer. This version of Dracula is without any apologies, a powerful male figure who physically dominates his world. As a warrior, his skills were un-matched, and over the centuries his power and presence have not diminished. This Dracula also captivates women at a very instinctive level. The fact that the audience tonight was probably about 70 plus percent female (of all ages) has a lot to say about Dracula as a character too. This, however, is also a love story about a man who never stopped grieving for the loss of the love of his life.
Dracula as a ballet may be choreographed and designed to appeal to contemporary audiences, but its dance is firmly rooted in classical technique and it is also a fine homage to classics such as "Swan Lake", "Sleeping Beauty", and many more. This Count Dracula is following in the ballet traditions of the Princes from classical stories, and Mina could easily step into the leading female roles of classical ballet too.
Taking the two leading roles in this production are Ervin Zagidullan (Dracula) and Abbey Hansen (Mina Harker). Jonathan Harker was played by Joel Burke and the ghosts/spirits were Giselle Osborne, Janae Kerr, Mia Zanardo and Alyssa Park.
This choreography, for both Dracula and Jonathan Harker, is a very demanding and physical one, and some of those lifts and drops from both, performed with Mina, were simply outstanding. Mina, as I have said, is simply a classic female role for ballet, and Abbey Hansen gave a fine performance all through this work. It is actually Mina, who connects to both Jonathan Harker and Dracula (who believes she is the re-incarnation of his lost love), who has the most on-stage time in this work and this is a very demanding role to perform.
Dracula is set in a world of light and shade, and lighting design by Steven May is what gives this work so much of its gothic atmosphere. The constant use of shadows here also works very well when it comes to quick set changes. Augmenting the light and shadows, set designer Martin Thomas captures too that gothic interior of Dracula's castle whilst contrasting along with Steven May's lighting the brightness of the world outside in respective scenes. Costume design by Sophia Drakos (principals and brides) and Fiona Holley (corps de ballet) has its own part to play too in the overall visuals of this Dracula story.
Music is a huge part of this production, and in some ways this is a classic "juke box" musical format that so many other shows use today, but here some of the most identifiable and memorable music from the classical world have been used to create the moods for some impressive chorography and story telling. Having music from Bach, Rachmaninov, Mozart, Liszt, Mussorgsky, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns and Debussy helps a lot too. This production though is not simply re-interpreting the classics, and new work from composer Jason Fernandez fits seamlessly into the narrative here whilst adding new and contemporary elements too.
BIG Live simply got this production of Dracula right.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
This production is from BIG Live, a ballet company in the Southern Hemisphere (who also bill themselves as "The world's fastest growing ballet company”), and is in association with United Airlines; it does exactly what the company’s mission statement says, "to challenge public perception of ballet by presenting work that is powerful, authentic, and spectacularly entertaining".
To do any production on stage, in any arts genre, of Bram Stoker's classic novel is always going to be a major problem as the original journal format of the story and the way that different time periods and locations are always changing, means that major revision is required to make the story linear and fluid on-stage. Dracula as a character is also now, due to so many camp or parody portrayals in films and television, one that is extremely difficult to portray seriously. There is a very fine line for Dracula on stage between looking menacing and looking ridiculous.
Thankfully, BIG Live have avoided so many of the above issues and this is due to Joel Burke, artistic director and chorographer. This version of Dracula is without any apologies, a powerful male figure who physically dominates his world. As a warrior, his skills were un-matched, and over the centuries his power and presence have not diminished. This Dracula also captivates women at a very instinctive level. The fact that the audience tonight was probably about 70 plus percent female (of all ages) has a lot to say about Dracula as a character too. This, however, is also a love story about a man who never stopped grieving for the loss of the love of his life.
Dracula as a ballet may be choreographed and designed to appeal to contemporary audiences, but its dance is firmly rooted in classical technique and it is also a fine homage to classics such as "Swan Lake", "Sleeping Beauty", and many more. This Count Dracula is following in the ballet traditions of the Princes from classical stories, and Mina could easily step into the leading female roles of classical ballet too.
Taking the two leading roles in this production are Ervin Zagidullan (Dracula) and Abbey Hansen (Mina Harker). Jonathan Harker was played by Joel Burke and the ghosts/spirits were Giselle Osborne, Janae Kerr, Mia Zanardo and Alyssa Park.
This choreography, for both Dracula and Jonathan Harker, is a very demanding and physical one, and some of those lifts and drops from both, performed with Mina, were simply outstanding. Mina, as I have said, is simply a classic female role for ballet, and Abbey Hansen gave a fine performance all through this work. It is actually Mina, who connects to both Jonathan Harker and Dracula (who believes she is the re-incarnation of his lost love), who has the most on-stage time in this work and this is a very demanding role to perform.
Dracula is set in a world of light and shade, and lighting design by Steven May is what gives this work so much of its gothic atmosphere. The constant use of shadows here also works very well when it comes to quick set changes. Augmenting the light and shadows, set designer Martin Thomas captures too that gothic interior of Dracula's castle whilst contrasting along with Steven May's lighting the brightness of the world outside in respective scenes. Costume design by Sophia Drakos (principals and brides) and Fiona Holley (corps de ballet) has its own part to play too in the overall visuals of this Dracula story.
Music is a huge part of this production, and in some ways this is a classic "juke box" musical format that so many other shows use today, but here some of the most identifiable and memorable music from the classical world have been used to create the moods for some impressive chorography and story telling. Having music from Bach, Rachmaninov, Mozart, Liszt, Mussorgsky, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns and Debussy helps a lot too. This production though is not simply re-interpreting the classics, and new work from composer Jason Fernandez fits seamlessly into the narrative here whilst adding new and contemporary elements too.
BIG Live simply got this production of Dracula right.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com