The Communist Dracula Pageant

communists, vlad the impaler, and bears, oh my! Perfectly fitting for Halloween, The Communist Dracula Pageant is an eastern bloc circus, drawing interesting parallels between the notorious Romanian regime of the Ceausescus, and frickin' Vlad the Impaler, another vicious Romanian. although hundreds of years apart, both seemed to suck the life out of the Romanian people. go figure. I'd have to say, my absolute favorite was Karen MacDonald, who played the fake-scientist know-it-all Elena Ceausescu perfectly (not that I knew Elena), especially her post-dead monologue, complete with bullet holes. The disillusioned dictators were perfect characters in their own reality, and the Communist Dracula Pageant makes their reality better than fiction. needless to say, I enjoyed it, and the A.R.T. venue.

Great show last night! What a perfect combination of inscrutable weirdness and totally accessible humor. I feel like maybe I could have read up on my Romanian history a bit more before going in, but the documentary elements of the play were a great educational payoff in addition to the general good time. Wonderful performances all around, particularly the enigmatic, Shatner-esque characterization of Nicolae Ceauşescu. Highly recommended!

With its blend of political/historical satire and its quirky, melodramatic horror flick tone - Communist Dracula Pageant couldn't be performed at a more appropriate moment in time. The intersection of Halloween and Election season provides an interesting context for this show as it reflects how myths are created and upheld and how this affects our politics. There are some interesting wag the dog moments, such as a fake shooting of a woman and her newborn baby broadcast on television, that made me think on how what we often consume through media is constructed and staged. Not to say it's all a conspiracy- I think the strength of the play is that it's multilayered in implications. Halloween is an opportunity to fulfill your fantasy- and transform into a character or adapt another persona far from your day to day reality. In the same way, the construction of a political or national identity might take on a similar type of wish fulfillment. Communist Dracula somehow manages to build unique bridges between seemingly disparate worlds. At times fractured and absurdist in form, the play comes off as a offbeat, colorful comic book, come to life, where cartoonish historical and mythic figures enter and exit the stage to an 80's era soundtrack. With hilarious performances by principle and supporting actors, it's a fascinating ride that's both silly and thought provoking.

The Communist Dracula Pageant , which premiered on Saturday night at Zero Arrow, offered one of the most embarrassing opening nights I have ever had the misfortune of cringing through. As a comedy, it was a rim-shot waiting for a laugh that never arrived. A few members of the audience guffawed during the opening scenes, but, by the time the performance finally ended, the entire house was sitting in stunned, or at least nonplussed, silence. As political satire, Communist Dracula was weak, being no more than a pastiche of events from history. As history, it was at best a collection of memorabilia from the 80's. At worst, it was downright offensive.

Before the curtain rose, I wondered how Anne Washburn would strike a palatable tone in making a comedy of a terrible series of events. Within twenty minutes, it became clear that such a tone was as elusive for the author as it was unimaginable to me. For anyone who is considering writing a comedy about the Holocaust or the Armenian Massacre, The Communist Dracula Pageant is an object lesson.

Even so, some of the writing was clever and crisp. A few scenes evinced emotion poignant enough to have been worthy of drama. For example, there is a soliloquy in which Vasile Milea (Matthew Maher) regales Nicolae Ceacescu (Thomas Derrah) with an historical anecdote about Vlad Tepes. In the gulf between Milea's telling and Ceacescu's hearing the audience senses the unspeakable tension between the horrors of the regime on the one hand and the absurd propaganda in which it has been veiled by a tyrant on the other. In another play, this scene could have played to much better effect.

The loss of dramatic moments such as Milea's story to campy comedy was the broader weakness of the whole composition. Had Washburn not attempted to lower the irony and absurdity of historical events to black comedy, the work might have had value.

Alas, there was no catharsis, or lesson, or amusement. The performance elicited only confusion. The audience applauded weakly as the cast came downstage after the performance and took a single ensemble bow. There were no curtain calls. The house lights came up in silence.