Kate Hamill Camps Up Dracula with Victorian Vamps

by Mary Lou Herlihy

In a wildly entertaining goth romp, we join freedom fighting feminists, taking revenge on monstrous men. Dracula, the worst of all, HUNGERS for world domination. His enslaved victims cannot say NO. Right on the nose for us, today!

Playwright Kate Hamill and Director Bill English contrive a Dracula (hilarious Johnny Moreno) who is arrogant, sarcastic, and droll—so much more interesting than our presidential Dracula!

Dracula controls his victims from afar. His most tormented victim languishes in a prison. Renfield (inspired Stacy Ross) is a mad woman poet who saw too much. With the fervor of religious zealotry, Renfield awaits her savior’s return.

But the REAL savior, a female Doctor Van Helsing (cool Susi Damilano) delights with macho swagger.

In an ankle length duster coat and cowboy hat, Doctor Van Helsing, whom everyone assumes is a man, bursts on the scene. Her black corset belt and holster of ghastly tools suggests serious business. This updated warrior takes no prisoners.

Count Dracula’s seductive undead sycophantic wives (beguiling Elizabeth Cowperthwaite and Charisse Loriaux) choreographed by Bridgette Loriaux, act as Dracula’s sentinels. All arms and legs, they float through windows. They pose in waiting while Dracula, in the lotus position, calmly greets his attackers.

The heart of the play beats loudest in Stacy Ross’s Renfield, locked in an asylum, forsaken. She cannot remember her name. Generations of real women silenced by gaslighting and crushing patriarchy echo in her ramblings. Ross mesmerizes with childlike movements and hilarious misdirection, draped on a rolling perch. She makes us laugh at her antics—until she meets her Master.

Dracula controls Lucy Westerna (electrifying Nemma Adeni), her mysterious behavior baffling locals. Renowned expert Van Helsing is consulted. The famous Doctor SHUSHES Lucy’s suitor, Doctor George Seward (adroit Josh Schell), who keeps interrupting. Van Helsing insists to arrogant George that she’s a DOCTOR. But the chauvinist male insists he knows more, rejecting the woman’s opinion.

Lucy’s dear friend Mina Harker (passionate Sharon Shao) holds no appeal for Dracula, who prefers Misses to Mrs. While Mina worries about her husband Jonathan in Transylvania, Jonathan Harker (ardent James Aaron Oh), a pompous, uptight, London lawyer, falls prey to Dracula immediately. Can his clever wife help him?

With her husband infected, sensitive Mina gleans wisdom and warnings from Renfield’s rants: “How can you truly tell—a good being from a bad? How do you know if you are cherished or loved—OR only tricked?” Confronted with the fall of Jonathan, Mina transforms from fearful young woman to bona fide warrior.

Hamill’s script and English’s direction highlight the high camp comedy, but I found myself thinking about Renfield. It wasn’t so long ago that brave and brilliant women were locked up, isolated, and disappeared for standing up for themselves. And all the stupid attacks that Van Helsing has to endure—every woman knows EXACTLY how that feels!

What better time than now to remember what’s at STAKE? Kate Hamill knows how to challenge the patriarchy and we have a BLAST watching!

 

“Dracula, A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really” by Kate Hamill, based on the novel by Bram Stoker, directed by Bill English, set design by Jaqueline Scott, costumes by Kathleen Qui, lighting by Michael Polumbo, sound by James Ard, and movement by Bridgette Loriaux, by San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post Street, San Francisco 94102.

Info: sfplayhouse.org – to June 27, 2026.

Cast: Nemma Adeni, Elizabeth Cowperthwaite, Susi Damilano, Charisse Loriaux, Johnny Moreno, James Aaron Oh, Stacy Ross, Josh Schell and Sharon Shao.

Banner photo: James Aaron Oh, Johnny Moreno, Elizabeth Cowperthwaite, and Charisse Loriaux. Photos: Jessica Palopoli