Nosferatu

http://www.barbican.org.uk/theatre/event-detail.asp?ID=13336

Having read the book Dracula I had a rough idea of what to expect from the story outline, however I did not know how they were to interpret it or how it would be presented so went into the performance with an open view of what to expect. I did not realise that the performance would be performed in a different language so at first I thought this would be hard to engage with because having to read subtitles means you cannot always get the emotions of a performance.
I felt that this aspect of the performance let it down greatly because the performers were aware of the language barrier so they frequently paused allowing the audience to catch up on what had been said, also at points the subtitle were either behind or in front of the actors speech so could be confusing as to who and what had be spoken.
I felt that they had used the lighting well to demonstrate the light outside the window so to make you feel it was a building and not just a set however it was confusing at times as to what time of day was being portrayed because the light level was the same for the daytime and the night time. The audience’s attention was captured very well at the beginning with the use of the lights going out and they utilised the fact that the doors at the sides of the aisles could be closed automatically so it created a very dramatic start.
I feel that having read the book before I had preconceptions of the story line so when aspects of the main plot were very different in the performance I felt this let the production down a little bit, for example in the original story Jonathan Harker featured very heavily and it was about the main correspondence between him, Dracula, the doctor and Mina. However within the performance the character of Jonathan hardly featured and they did not demonstrate his relationship to Dracula. I felt the main focus was on Lucy and her transformation. However I feel that it was helpful that I had read the story because I thought that it seemed like other members of the audience were a bit lost as to the storyline and what was meant to be happening.

This production was hard to engage with because there was a language barrier and the idea of the subtitles let it down but I enjoyed their interpretation and enjoyed the experience. I also felt that the length of the production was quite long as there were no breaks. Some of the scenes were disjointed as though the actors didn’t know what the next bit was or as though they were in parts of the scene without meaning to be so they looked to be unsure.