Dracula - The Last Voyage of The Demeter
Dracula - The Last Voyage of The Demeter
A deliciously dark evening’s entertainment by Growing Theatre at The Maddermarket in Norwich. Thursday 22nd October 2026.
Dracula: The Last Voyage of the Demeter is an exciting expansion of the brief chapter in the original novel that covers the fateful ship’s journey, before it crashes and wrecks in Whitby, with the dead captain the only person aboard, having lashed himself to the helm holding a crucifix, and the rest of the crew completely vanished.
This 2017 play by Australian playwright Sean Carey, delves into the grim events of that journey in more detail, taking a little creative license along the way and turning it into a standalone story, making for an intense and claustrophobic 90ish-minute electrifying ride. This is also the show’s international debut, having only previously been staged in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney.
Arriving into the auditorium, the stage is set with a huge imposing cage structure, lit ominously in red. Inside and around the cage, a tasteful smattering of props that suggest the contents of a ship’s cargo hold: barrels, crates, stools and even a writing desk just to the side. There’s a pretty much full house at the Maddermarket Theatre tonight, with everyone chattering energetically in anticipation.
The show begins and dives straight into the action, one of the crew is dead, apparently murdered by another; plus a ‘creature’ has been discovered - now dormant, and to be moved into the ship’s brig (where the cage is) for security, with constant guarding from the captain and his first mate only.
Then follows a sequence of sharp dialogue scenes between various visitors and the titular monster in his cage, the security is not as tight aboard this ship as the captain would like it to be, but it must be thus in order to allow for all of these fascinating and enthralling exchanges to take place. Each character meets with Count Dracula for their own reasons, and each time his smooth talking repartee cuts straight to the core of what they really want - the new rendering of the infamous darkly charming character in this play is sublime and makes for a very captivating watch.
As the play goes on, the events unfold with great pace - I didn’t know before going in that it was a single act! - providing more explanation to why and how the entire crew “vanish” through the course of the piece. Tensions build, the mood constantly darkens as more of the people grimly ‘disappear’, and by the time we reach the intensely thrilling and visceral conclusion our knuckles are well and truly white - or, mine were anyway. Some of the audience around me weren’t quite so immersed, or indeed respectful, sadly…
It’s an impressive and energetic production, the single room setting could have become stifled but here there is enough going on to keep it fresh and exciting. The scene changes are handled smoothly, and nothing feels amiss in the staging.
The lighting is kept appropriately dim throughout, to further heighten the pressing isolation of the cargo hold below deck, and to make the lanterns and candles really feel like they are the ones actually providing the light. There is also a fantastic moment in the show where a shot to the ceiling results in a shaft of sunlight shining down to the cage below, the sudden noise of the gun and the harshly contrasting brightness adds flavour to an already climactic scene.
For all the morbid darkness, there are also a number of fleeting comic moments too, keeping things from becoming too uncomfortably dreadful. There’s some very dark humour derived from relishing in the overwhelming horror of their situation. There was however a rather odd line about a rat being “sucked off” though, whether intentional or a blunder from the writer or performer, it made for an awkward catapult out of the world of the story for a few seconds (and quite a bit longer for the more immature people sat behind me)
There were a couple more minor stumbles on the lines here and there - as well as one major stumble where a member of the cast evidently took a wrong turn and literally fell off one side of the stage; but she quickly recovered and left by the actual exit, accompanied by a deftly adlibbed “watch where you’re going” from a following cast mate.
The central performances of this story are absolutely superb, commanding the stage effortlessly with their presence. Some of the supporting cast feel a bit less assured, but everyone puts in a good effort to make for a fitting ensemble for this tale.
John Davis is perfectly cast and magnetic as Dracula, with the confident understated charm and charisma literally oozing through into every one of his lines, the audience are as easily swept up in his wordplay as his listeners from the crew. His accent is well pitched, managing to avoid slipping into anything cartoonish, with all of the right tones and melodies of voice. All of his dialogue feels right, too - Sean certainly has an excellent handle on this character. John has Dracula ambling smoothly around his cage throughout the show, with all the cold and calculating demeanor you’d expect. The ever present terror of the story bubbling away before he gets to relish in the final revelations with well-earned delight.
Simon Michael-Morgan as Atkins, has the most to work with in the emotional journey of this piece. He comfortably strides between the Captain’s steely steadfast determination to stick to principles, no matter the cost, and the more tender moments of reflection and discovery as the story unfolds. Between these two edges we feel every ounce of his pain, frustration and anger as the crew mutiny and eventually the ship descends to chaos around him. He gets to demonstrate his physical prowess too, nicely showing the ever-dwindling energy to fight to the last, which means his final scenes make us feel the ache just as much as the character does.
Joe Flatt as first mate Nichols is another highlight, though I think some of the conviction wasn’t quite there to start with, as the play goes on and his character develops there are other - more climactic, shall we say - scenes where he gets the chance to really push the pedal to the max and it absolutely pays off. It’s a powerfully fraught moment shared between him and the Captain.
Jay Tamames as the detective (?) Gibson seems quite out of place most of the time, both in the writing and the performance, the former having him spring almost out of nowhere to add a convenient plot point, and the latter never quite reaching the authority required for such. Cherie Hendrie as the naïve American tycoon Hopkins, trying to out-charm the eponymous Count (and obviously failing) is amusingly fun to watch, giving us a lot of the comic relief. The Captain’s wife Jessica, who is played well by Rebeka Igneczi, feels like a particularly thin character unfortunately; and their daughter Elizabeth - another good performance in Soledad Strangward - doesn’t get enough time earlier in the piece to properly contribute towards her role in the finale.
Director Harry Quirke has a great hand on the rudder throughout, with the brooding tension given clear space to develop and blossom, and the actors relishing in the interplay that they’ve been able to foster together. The movement was also very elegantly handled throughout, including the complex fight scene towards the end - no doubt thanks to Andy Wisher’s involvement as Movement Consultant.
Thinking about the piece at large, I felt that it could be a bit tighter in a few places, some of the earlier conversations do drag out and lilt a little, and there is an awful lot of convenience at play as an excuse to bring each required character to the cage. It’s justifiable to help the play to move, but does feel a little jarring. For the most part though, it is a well thought out and interesting story, with enough to hold our attention, building to those explosive closing scenes.
Overall, I had a brilliant time - despite my many disappointments from the audience around me. It’s a delightfully dark and very welcome expansion to the lore of such an iconic source material. Excellent work all round from Growing Theatre CIC, and from the brief glimpse into their future plans in the programme, plenty more to follow!
🩸🩸🩸🩸 / 5
The final performance of this very short tour is tonight, at Southwold Arts Centre - if you hurry you may yet get tickets, and you should!
Visit the company’s website for more information
I was gifted a ticket for this performance in exchange for my honest review.
Production photos taken from the company Facebook page.
(I’ve decided to have this as a recurring section wherever it’s needed - but knowing the general state of audiences in this day and age, sadly it probably will often be here…)
Audience Lowlights:
The person who decided to enthusiastically applaud a character being killed, and continuing after realising they were the only person doing so.
The people discussing every single plot point in far too loud whispers.
The people laughing and joking in serious moments - particularly tense moments of quiet/silence!
BOOOOOO to you all!!!
