Dracula: Lucy’s Dream is certainly different. As I approach the 50-show mark at this year’s Fringe, I have seen nothing quite like this unusual, wordless proposition from Plexus Polaire.
It is highly visual theatre, driven by a tremendous score of evocative, purposeful music that carries you along. But does it ultimately carry you anywhere?
That is perhaps the difficulty with wordless theatre. Getting from A to B while signalling precisely what is happening along the way requires absolute visual clarity. At its best, Lucy’s Dream is mesmerising, hypnotic and genuinely dreamlike, with human performers and puppets inhabiting an increasingly uncertain world. At other times, it becomes repetitive. There is, it has to be said, quite a lot of Lucy lying on a bed.
The puppetry and visual play are nevertheless frequently extraordinary. The boundaries between the living and the inanimate become deliberately uncertain, entirely appropriate for Dracula, where the dead refuse to remain dead. There is something rather beautiful about using puppets, objects without life that performers bring to life, to explore precisely that territory.
The Lennox Theatre at Pleasance EICC is a large, comfortable venue, but where you sit matters enormously. This is one production where I would actively recommend aiming for the centre line or say within 6 seats either side of it and perhaps five or six rows back is optimum. Anywhere within that central section going further into the auditorium should work well but move too far into the wings and you risk losing some of the carefully constructed imagery.
I was front row but unfortunately too far to one side and consequently didn’t quite receive the full visual treatment. That matters when the images themselves are doing so much of the storytelling.
And perhaps the dreaminess works almost too well. After a busy Fringe Day, I confess it sent me to sleep briefly. Whether being lulled into unconsciousness during something called Lucy’s Dream constitutes audience participation is debatable.
For lovers of visual theatre, puppetry and something genuinely unusual, this is certainly worth seeking out. It is beautiful, atmospheric and highly original. If you need action, pace and a strong narrative trajectory, it may prove less satisfying.
A visual joy, certainly. A dramatic journey? I’m rather less convinced.
Playing until August 29th 2026, https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/2026DRACULA
Reviewer: Greg Holstead
Reviewed: 17th August 2026
North West End UK / Theatre Muse UK Rating:
Running time – 1hr