In 2013 Mark Bruce Company's Dracula won the prestigious South Bank Award for Dance. After a four-week sellout run at London’s Wilton’s Music Hall, Dracula also played around the country.
In September 2014, the company embarks on an another extensive UK tour that will take Dracula to new venues and audiences.
“It’s great to be going on the road with Dracula again and I’m delighted to be responding to overwhelming public demand so that we can visit lots of venues around the country that we didn’t have chance to visit last year,” said director, choreographer and artistic director Mark Bruce.
“We’ve got a really strong cast which includes many of the original members, and I’m very much looking forward to sharing it with new audiences.”
Jonathan Goddard plays the Vampire Count, whose sinister ambitions challenge the very fabric of Victorian society. As Dracula’s victims and opponents rally against him, they are forced to face the darkness and savagery within themselves.
“Before thinking about Jonathan Goddard playing the role,” continues Bruce, “I hadn’t decided if I wanted to use an actor or a dancer.
"The idea of a ‘dancing’ Dracula is tricky, but when I worked with Jonathan I found all kinds of possibilities for choreographic vocabulary; he brings many sides to the role: the hunter, the wolf, the noble and sinister count, the lonely undead, a malevolent humour, a vicious callous streak and a childlike naivety.”
Bruce explores choreographic styles which range from the subtlety of classical etiquette to visceral contemporary dance.
The company of ten dancers brings Bram Stoker’s 1897 haunting, erotic tale to life with an eclectic mix of music from Bach and Mozart to contemporary classical composers György Ligeti (fittingly, born in Transylvania) and Fred Frith.