Barrow-Civic takes a bite out of this Halloween weekend

10/31/2024

When the extraordinary meets the ether, magic happens. Blood curdling screams capable of waking the undead have been piercing through the brick walls of the Barrow-Civic Theatre these last few weeks as the cast and crew prepared for tonight's opening of "Dracula."

This show is not for the faint at heart, but it contains some remarkable performances.

First, August Babington's portrayal of Renfield, a madman given immortality by his master, the Count Dracula played by Michael Gorman, is something out of the extraordinary. In character the entire play even though most scenes do not require his presence, Babington remakes the madman.
Director Nicholas Hess has him constantly viewable on the right side of the stage.

Babington is often left for long stretches, bound at times or otherwise in character, in his jail cell represented with clever lights and shadows.

His performance is worth the price of admission alone.

Then there is 17-year old Aoife Salusky, no stranger to Barrow audiences, playing the part of Lucy. Salusky runs the gamut of emotions from precociousness to evil in a short amount of time. She taps into emotiveness most adults cannot fathom.

Yelena Carvin is the calm in a storm of the unknown. Her character, Mina, is seduced by the evil dark knight, but is strong enough, with the help of her fellow compatriots, to overcome Dracula's spells on his victims.

Mina and Van Helsing, flawlessly played by Jim Nash, find a way to overcome the powerful dark prince Dracula in this perfect for Halloween opening show.

The remainder of the cast brings life, and in some cases death, to the memorizing characters that round out this chilly tale of good versus evil that seems to revive the immortality of Bram Stoker's 127-year-old novel.

Hess has created a world of wonder and fright, including recreating the proscenium as as stone castle archway into this vampire dark world. The use of projections brings the entire audience into Dracula's lair.

This is a bit of art to behold.

Dracula at the Barrow-Civic Theatre in Franklin opens tonight (Thursday October 31) at 7:30 p.m. There are also shows Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. as well as two matinees Saturday and Sunday ar 2 p.m.

Tickets are available at barrowtheatre.my.salesforce-sites.com/ticket#/events/a0S8Z00000JAS70UAH