Review Round-Up: DRACULA at the Noel Coward Theatre

Directed by Kip Williams, Dracula is a one-woman-show adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel, featuring a genre-defying style of cinetheatre that combines live video, prerecorded film, and live performance to create an electrifying immersive experience. Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award-winner and three-time Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo plays all 23 roles in this classic gothic horror story, from naive solicitor Jonathan Harker to his determined fiancee Mina Murray to the doomed Lucy Westenra to the formidable vampire hunter Van Helsing, and of course, the terrifying but charismatic Count Dracula himself.

What are critics saying about Dracula?

The Evening Standard

★★★★

“Cynthia Erivo is extraordinary in this one-woman multimedia show”

Reviewer: Nick Curtis

“From defying gravity to defying mortality – Cynthia Erivo gives an extraordinary, shape shifting performance in this one-woman multimedia adaptation of Bram Stoker’s vampire tale, from Australian adapter-director Kip Williams. Shaven-headed, preternaturally physically ripped and androgynous, her expressive hands lengthened into talons by nail extensions, the Wicked star juggles costumes and accents, interacting with onscreen versions of herself in a hectic 120-minute canter through the Gothic tale. Her performance triumphantly walks a knife edge between virtuosity and absurdity.”

Read the review here.

The Telegraph

★★★★

“This radical adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 vampire classic is a tour de force “

Reviewer: Dominic Cavendish

“The multi-faceted approach speaks to the way that Stoker cut between first-person perspectives using a document-sharing and epistolary form. Equally, Williams’s boundary-breaking artistic toolkit brings out the thematic heart of the matter; it emphasises the way in which the predatory Count stokes fears but also embodies deep-rooted desires. The bleed between the “real” on stage and the dream-like on screen has its own subconscious power. Erivo’s red-haired Dracula looms large on screen, fangs seductively bared. Is it as frightening or shocking as might be hoped? Pounding heartbeats fill the air but the atmosphere isn’t always pulse-quickening; there’s even levity in some of Erivo’s arch impersonations of moustachioed masculinity.”

Read the review here.

The Times

★★★★

“Cynthia Erivo sinks her teeth into 23 characters”

Reviewer: Clive Davis

“I’m not sure it was really necessary for this Dracula to sound as if he’d wandered in from downtown Lagos, but Erivo’s gaunt, androgynous features certainly give her an otherworldly air. Starting the evening in modern-day vest and trousers, she slips into a string of Victorian costumes as she flits between characters such as the solicitor Jonathan Harker and his fiancée, Mina. Others, including a Professor van Helsing — like a Gothic version of Rick Wakeman — appear only on the recorded videos that are ingeniously interlaced with the live action. The format is distracting at first. You can’t help noticing Erivo’s head mic and the edging of her wigs when the cameras catch them in close-up. But then the story, and Clemence Williams’s Romantic score, begin to take hold.”

Read the review here.

Cynthia Erivo in DRACULA. Photo by Daniel Boud.

TimeOut

★★★

“Auteur director Kip Williams’ techy take on the classic horror novel”

Reviewer: Andrzej Lukowski

“And these group scenes rarely put the live performance at their centre: quite the opposite, as the ‘real’ Erivo usually plays the straight-laced Dr John Seward, who mostly just stands in the background goggling in astonishment. Erivo is tiny and the screen is massive, and the pre-recorded stuff is so dominant – as many as four gigantic versions of her on screen versions of her – that it overshadows the technically impressive work happening on stage. Aesthetically it’s harder and darker than Dorian Gray, with a thrillingly pulsing electronic score from Clemence Williams. But the ropey selection of wigs and facial hair that the pre-recorded Erivos sport adds a weirdly goofy note to proceedings.”

Read the review here.

WhatsOnStage

★★★

“Cynthia Erivo gives the show some much-needed bite”

Reviewer: Sarah Crompton

“Dracula is a novel without one fixed viewpoint – presumably the inspiration for Williams’ idea – and Erivo often ends up playing the least interesting character on stage, while the more interesting action unfolds on film around her. There are long stretches where she is seen on stage playing dullsville doctor John Seward – surrounded by bunches of garlic flowers, or in a graveyard full of sinister crosses – saying her lines to a tireless camera operator while above her on screen her characters are seen in close-up.”

Read the review here.

Cynthia Erivo in DRACULA. Photo by Daniel Boud.

The Guardian

★★

“​​Cynthia Erivo’s magnificent modern bloodsucker is defanged in one-woman show”

Reviewer: Arifa Akbar

“A team of camera operators transpose what is happening on stage to a gigantic screen. The live images are merged with pre-recorded footage. This use of technology has been utilised innumerable times on the West End stage, by Williams as well as others, but seems ill-suited to the horror genre, distancing us from the dread. Erivo appears ever smaller and more vulnerable on stage and your eye is drawn away from her, to the screen closeups. Sometimes images are superimposed on each other and look hallucinatory. It shows off what technology can do but the action itself is overwhelmingly static.”

Read the review here.

The Independent

★★

“Cynthia Erivo is run ragged in overwrought one-woman show”

Reviewer: Alice Saville

“Williams has taken a completist approach to Dracula, cramming in all the novel’s twists and turns even when they don’t add much to the experience. Erivo’s delivery is often halting (in early performances, she was rumoured to have used an autocue). And it’s understandable, when she’s forced to plough her way through Stoker's long narrations and dash from mark to mark, barely pausing for breath. A solo show should be a chance for an actor to show an audience what they can do – and who they are. Williams doesn’t always let Erivo do that.”

Read the review here.

Did you get a thrill seeing a big star like Cynthia Erivo up close and personal onstage? If you're interested in seeing more celebrities leading exciting theatre shows, check out our list of Stars on Stage in London 2026 so you don't miss the chance to see your favourite actor or actress onstage.