Count Dykula. Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London W1D until 01 March 2025,

4☆☆☆☆. Review: William Russell.

“Vampires, lesbians, goths.”

Dykula is a vampire who is having problems turning into a bat. She needs a couple of beers and even then it is a struggle. She is also irked by Scare University, a glamorous lady, who is conducting courses on how to be a monster which clash with her idea of what a lesbian vampire should be – certainly not what confronts Dykula and blessed with what you might call very large jugs.The show directed by Robbie Taylor Hunt, who plays a monster with speech difficulties and also is the hand behind a ghost involved in what follows, is very funny and claims to be a goth's wet dream. The three strong cast plus one musician perform this saga about lesbian vampires with the necessary abandon. The only quibble is they are so busy being abandoned that at times what they are saying becomes a bit of a gabble. Not that the audience cared. Many of them gave every impression of having seen it before as they did not so much get the jokes and laugh but laughed in anticipation. Rosanne Suppa as a very butch Dykula delivers a tremendous performance, but so do the other two performers Taylor Hunt and Eleanor Colville who plays Scare and several other ladies including the one blessed with the huge mammaries. Meanwhile Meg Naringchai on guitar provides the music. It probably is not a show for everyone – Mrs Whitehouse and Aunt Edna would have been aghast – but it is certainly one to collect iff you want a good laugh with just the right degree of seiousness about respecting what others like and does not last beyond its due time. The best moment? Dykula's joke about 2009's Lesbian Vampire Killers movie. Why? It starred James Cordon.

Cast

Eleanor Colville

Rosanne Suppa

Robbie Taylor Hunt

Meg Naringchai

Creatives

Director – Robbie Taylor Hunt

Costume and Set Designer – Caitlin Mawhinney

Lighting Designer – Catja Hamilton

Sound Designer – Anna Short

Choreographer – Myron Birch

Orchestrations and musical directors – Erin Rydal & Simon McKenzie