Be enthralled by the dark tale of an enduring horror figure at a live cinema screening of Northern Ballet’s Dracula this Halloween.
Tonight’s performance of the ballet at Leeds Playhouse will be broadcast in cinemas nationwide as an atmospheric alternative to the usual fright night films. Created and choreographed by Northern Ballet’s artistic director David Nixon OBE, this production of Dracula promises to seduce audiences with sensuous dancing, gripping theatre and eerie music.
The gothic narrative follows a series of chilling events that occur when Count Dracula – an elegant and charismatic immortal of the night, who survives by drinking human blood – leaves his native Transylvania and travels to England. This brooding bloodsucker has become obsessed with his barrister Jonathan Harker’s fiancée, Mina Murray. Predictably, once the Count is on Mina’s home turf, he inflicts havoc by terrorising new victims to get close to her.
Amid passion and power struggles, Mina finds herself wavering between remaining virtuous and succumbing to eternity as a vampire. Could Count Dracula really be caught up in an intense search for legitimate love under the cover of darkness, or is he simply a perverted predator biding his time?
Dance lovers seeking a Halloween treat should expect sinister solos and hot-blooded pas de deux scenes as this ballet with bite unfolds.
Irish author Abraham ‘Bram’ Stoker’s legendary character began life in his 1897 Gothic novel. Since then, vampires have become alluring anti-heroes whose stories (which inevitably revolve around the blurring of the boundaries between life and death, good and evil, human and non-human) continue to fuel our fascination with the supernatural and paranormal.
Northern Ballet’s adaptation of the terrifying tale is danced to an eclectic score featuring music by Alfred Schnittke, Sergei Rachmaninov, Arvo Pärt, and Michael Daugherty. The sets are by Ali Allen and lighting design comes courtesy of Tim Mitchell and Alastair West.
Tonight’s Halloween screening of Northern Ballet’s Dracula will be presented by television and radio personality Anita Rani, former premier dancer turned choreographer Kenneth Tindall and artistic director David Nixon OBE.
The approximate running time is 2 hours (including an interval).
Age guidance 12+
Northern Ballet’s Dracula will be broadcast live at 300 cinemas in the UK and Ireland from 7.15pm on Thursday 31 October 2019.
This preview is also featured on Total MK.
Georgina Butler is an editor, a dance writer and a ballet teacher.
