Holding Out For A Hero

I managed to catch two shows last week that - despite obvious differences - featured epic heros. Dracula at the Lion and Unicorn is an adaptation of the Bram Stoker novel. I've seen several adaptations of this on stage and it has rarely, if ever worked satisfyingly, at least when taken as a straight adaptation. The Okai Collier Company make a fair stab at it and there are some great performances, not least from Christinel Hogas as the Count.  Watching the story unfold, adaptors are stymied by what the audience brings to the story.  Not only is there the original novel to contend with, there is also a massive history of feature film adaptations, spin-offs etc that lend an air of expectation to the production. Any new adaptation has to absorb all of this context and regenerate the story as something fresh and exciting. This version doesn't do too badly and there's a nice 'fright' at the end but the set suffers badly with a lack of either time, money or polish. For all it's flaws however it has made me revisit the novel, which is available to download for free on ibooks.

The other hero I caught up with was Superman in the awkwardly titled It's A Bird...It's A Plane... It's Superman at the Leicester Square Theatre.  The production had received mixed reviews but I wanted to check it out for myself anyway so the producers kindly let me in to catch one of the final performances. I certainly wanted to like the show - I'm a big fan of Superman - but this 1960's musical is very much a product of its time and really requires much re-writing to merit a revival. Casual sexism and racism are glossed over with a knowing camp humour but it is still difficult to accept and undoubtedly alien to a 'Man Of Steel' generation.

The performances are decent enough, particularly Sarah Kennedy as Sydney and of course Craig Berry as Clark Kent/Superman, who bravely sports unforgiving skin-tight lycra for much of the show. I can see where the idea of the design concept was heading but the execution was fairly poor. Also, I have no idea what on earth Michelle LaFortune was doing with her hair for Lois Lane but it looked dreadful - fine if it's your current look but completely unsuitable for the period.

What I will say with Superman is that the audience, which consisted of a number of kids, lapped it up. They laughed in all the right places, cheering the hero and booing the villain - a gutsy performance from Matthew Ibbotson - and gave the now ubiquitous standing ovation at the end. Dracula too got a decent round of applause but this was spoiled somewhat by the drunk who fell into my lap at the same time.  Ah well, some of my best dates have started off like that!