A Feminist Fantasy That Never Finds Its Bite

I got to see SF Playhouse’s “Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really,” by Kate Hamill, and it might be one of the worst plays I’ve ever seen. That added “Really” in the title should serve as an excellent warning of what is to come, and perhaps it should come with a question mark. Landing somewhere between mid-level fanfiction and a parody of a Scooby Doo episode, the feminism can be hard to spot.

Sure, Dr. Van Helsing (Susi Damilano) is a wooden stake toting female cowboy. However, the character does not let most other characters get more than a sentence in before interrupting and overexplaining in long, drawn-out monologues. This mostly manages to freeze the rest of the actors on stage as we suffer through a wave of words that no one really asked for. In my attempts to figure out why this was a feminist move, I decided that Hamill wanted to prove that a woman is just as capable of being a mansplaining chud as the next guy.

Do not get me wrong. There is a huge well of talented actors in this production. Mina (Sharon Shao) gives it her all with the lines she has been dealt. Unfortunately, the stale feminist ideas she spouts seem to hark back to pre third wave feminism. In other words, we have heard this all before.

Charisse Loriaux is a standout as one of Dracula’s wives and the maid, drawing laughs while managing to be both frightening and captivating. She also displays enormous skill as a dancer and blood seeker. Stacy Ross, as Renfield, gives an otherwise lacking depth to the production and manages to draw out some genuine laughs. Jacqueline Scott’s creative arched set provides a gorgeous backdrop for the bloodbath on stage.

Under Bill English’s direction, the horror and seduction that have been calling audiences to “Dracula” since 1897 play more like vaudeville than a stab at the patriarchy. Fourth walls are broken to let us in on the joke a bit too often. The fight scenes resemble Western showdown reenactments in the manner of family friendly entertainment. The binary black and white of the good guy and the bad guy flattens the characters into two dimensional parodies. It is not scary or funny enough to succeed in either genre.

SF Playhouse has a long history of balancing cutting edge works with beloved classics. With women’s rights at risk, and with so many writers addressing these issues in creative and eloquent ways, “Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really” feels like an especially curious choice.

“Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really” runs through June 27 at San Francisco Playhouse. For tickets visit Sfplayhouse.org