_{Cover Image: Bogan Literature’s Dracula. Image by David Cox Media.}

Bogan Literature Presents: Dracula

The Royale Theatre, 11 September 2026

First published in 1897, Bram Stoker’s tale of gothic horror and vampiric deception has a history of comedic takes, as does the vampire genre in general. From Mel Brooks’ Dracula: Dead and Loving It to more recent films like What We Do in the Shadows and Nicholas Cage vehicle Renfield, the results have been mixed to say the least.

Perhaps that’s because what we love most about Count Drac is the infamous darkness and sensuality oft associated with vampire fiction. He’s an evil, murderous monster, no doubt, but he’s a lover deep down who lures his victims via beguiling them with promises of grandeur and biting their necks rather sexually, before granting them immortality. It’s the stuff of gothic fairytales, frankly, and messing with it requires an appreciation of what makes it work in the first place.

In what might be the Bogan team’s first foray into a destination outside of Western Australia, their production of Dracula starts in Transylvania, suitably lit by candelabras and home to the Count’s “polycule”, aka the Brides of Dracula. Utilising the Royale Theatre’s cinematic potential by including visual sets lit up on the big screen is a high-end production move for a crew known for bespoke, budget props, and one wonders how they could take this further as they continue their exponential growth.

Star of the show was undoubtedly Rhys Hyatt as Dracula, who created an ominous and otherworldly foreboding that broke through the slang and Aussie accents elsewhere. Moving between Transylvania and the main Wheatbelt setting of Narrogin (via a memorable turn on the Freo docks), he may have been declared an “undead incel cuck” by the locals but his scene stealing dramatic exits hitting a smoke machine en route were a crack-up throughout, making light of what occasionally felt like an endless procession of set changes.

Bogan regulars Jess Lally and Sarah Courtis fared less well in their roles as the company’s heroines, but it was unclear whether that was their overacting or a script that just wasn’t giving them much to work with. This troupe has built an intimidating catalogue of hits from Shakespeare to Jane Austen by hamming up iconic characters to their hearts’ content, but something about those similar tropes in Dracula felt like an unsympathetic fit.

Sure, the transformation of Van Helsing into a pyramid scheme-building health nut was clever (her garlic remedies packed a punch with Nosferatu), and the Brides of Dracula puppets care of Dawson Andrew were an all-too-brief hoot. The irreverent local references Bogan Lit has built its name on (jumping off Blackwell Reach, a cameo for “Arthur from Scotch College”) were a hit for those in the know.

But whether the sharp one-liners just weren’t landing as hard as usual or the timing was a little off due to it being so early in the production’s run, this wasn’t the finest example of what the Bogan team is capable of, perhaps falling foul of the vampire comedy curse once more.