Dracula: Lucy's Dream - Edinburgh Fringe 2026

Dracula: Lucy’s Dream

★★★★ This is what puppetry can do that naturalistic theatre cannot: make psychological violence physically visible.

It is hard to believe that only five performers are responsible for the extraordinary theatrical world created in Dracula: Lucy’s Dream. Plexus Polaire’s wordless reimagining of Bram Stoker’s gothic classic places Lucy Westenra at its centre, using life-sized puppets, movement, cinematic video, original music and sliding panels to fracture reality and take us deep inside the hearts and minds of the inhabitants of this twisted world.

And what a world it is. Puppets appear to breathe, bodies transform, shadows become creatures and human, and puppet seem to merge and separate before our eyes. The manipulation is so accomplished that the five performers seem to be everywhere at once, working in and out of the shadows with an almost impossible precision. It is the kind of theatrical illusion that makes you look twice at the stage machinery - and then wonder how on earth they did it.

The material itself left me rather cold. The psychological exploration of Lucy’s desire, fear, trauma and emancipation is intriguing, but I found the narrative and thematic content less compelling than the astonishing theatrical language in which it is delivered. At times the imagery feels like it is carrying more weight than the story.

But I could not deny the sublime artistry of the piece. This is genuine festival fare: ambitious, international, visually audacious theatre that takes you somewhere you simply cannot get through conventional realism. There is something enormously pleasurable about encountering artists at the very top of their form, making the seemingly impossible look effortless.

I am very glad I saw it. Even when the story didn't quite reach me, the theatre absolutely did. I may return to check it out a second time!

Review by Kate Gaul