Danse Macabre...

Hello again! Back so soon, I hear you say? Well, I did promise I was going to update more often, so I am. The next project I have to fill you in on is Danse Macabre.

After we'd finished doing Spartacus: Highway to Hell in the Dublin Fringe, it was on to doing Danse Macabre in The Boy's School space in Smock Alley Theatre. Paul Burke gathered together some of his Whiplash crew and we rocked the house, onstage for a week long run during the week of Halloween, and this was only just over a month after finishing Spartacus!

I'd been working on this for months on the production end, filling out forms and doing up budgets so it was wonderful to finally get to do it. We were all a bit wrecked from just having done Spartacus, but we pulled it together nonetheless!

The Boy's School has such an amazing old brick wall running right up the middle of with gothic arches and different levels. It was perfect for a bit gothic horror performance for Halloween.

Here's one of the promotional shots we took of the cast. This one ended up being the poster. Featured here is yours truly as Lucy with Stephen Lynch playing Harker. I'm trying to affect a bored pout... I think I got it. As a side note, I got to design the poster (no, I didn't choose the image!), flyers and programmes, which was very enjoyable. I do love doing the graphics. It's not the first show I've done the artwork for.

Believe it or not, this image isn't photoshopped, nor is it a mistake where one image was superimposed over another on film. Even weirder, I'M actually the one who isn't there. This is a lovely little trick called Pepper's Ghost which we used in the show. Here I'm back from the dead as Lucy trying to tempt my fiancée the Doctor, played by Jonathan East... the only thing he has in mind for me though, is a stake throught the heart!

Here's the cast lined up at the end of the show for our curtain call. The shot was taken by one of our lovely audience members, Danielle Hayes. Left to right we have  Stephen Lynch as Harker, Shannon Ryan as Mina, Nicole Elizabeth as Lucy, Dave Farell as Renfield, Paul Burke as Goldaming, Anthony Morris as The Professor, Jonathan East as Doctor and Keith Ward as The Count.

And just for your entertainment here's the promotional video that Jonathan East made of the show. You get to see a little bit of the awesome tricks, stunts and sword fights that went on during show. Watch out for me doing Pepper's Ghost and levitating under the magical influence of the Count... with no strings or lifts, I swear!

Ah, reminiscing about this show brings back some lovely memories! I wish we could do it all again. I'll always remember it for some of the quickest full costume changes I've ever had to do, still pulling clothes, shoes, gloves and jewellry on as I run the length of a theatre, climb two flights of stairs and scramble up a backstage platform. Lucy Westenra leads an interesting life!

Enjoy xxx
Nicole E