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Julain Molnar is playing two very different characters on stage this summer: the female lead, Mina Murray, in Dracula and Miss Stacey, in Anne.
"Miss Stacey is who I want to be when I grow up," Julain says. "She's very open-minded. She has a great respect for the natural world, for her students, for herself. And she's joyful."
So how does a good girl get caught up with vampires? "It's such a shift from Dracula to 'Anneland.' The shows are such a different colour or mood…some shows are linen, or cotton, or polyester; Dracula is dark purple velvet."
The music sets the mood, but the shift from one show to the other is also made easier by the similar late 19th-century settings of both: "There's a physicality that's similar, between Mina and Miss Stacey, a conservatism…. Of course, in the second act of Dracula, you can just let 'er rip."
Mina Murray moves from Victorian to vamp after just one act of Dracula, a substantial acting challenge. Julain says, "Mina has a purseful of traits or tools, but she uses those qualities to make different choices. But all the choices Mina makes are strong choices. She chooses to be taken by Dracula-not swept away by him, as in some other productions. She picks up a different tool, but from the same bag."
"The way I see vampires is very metaphorically: They're that thing that we all desire, and try to avoid most of the time-whatever 'that' is for each of us." Would Julain recommend a season as a vampire? "It's good to go there," she muses, "but you better have the tools to come back."
Julain's parting advice: "If anyone has doubts about seeing Dracula, they should give them up."
Jay Davis was unwittingly preparing for his role as Dracula in the Charlottetown Festival before he even got the part. "I read all of Anne Rice's novels. They have different vampires than Dracula, but I think definitely from being a fan of those vampires, I've taken elements of those characters into Dracula."
"Her vampires are just so emotionally complex. Everything becomes heightened to them-what they see, smell, and touch-but mostly what they feel."
Jay brings that sense of heightened emotionality to his Dracula: "We think of Dracula in control. But he's been in this castle for a while, planning a trip to England. And it's very important to him. For me, he starts this journey, then spins out of control…he doesn't realize he hasn't been careful."
Jay's character grows younger throughout the play, as his strength is rejuvenated by fresh blood. "The biggest challenge is to play the old guy-to get it in my voice. The accent's a bit of a challenge, too. We wanted to think what it might sound like in Transylvania 600 years ago. Was it a German-Italian mix? What was it?" He settled on something "not-quite-Italian."
Also difficult is playing out the vampire's power of seduction in front of 1,100 people: "You have to find truth in what you're doing with the person you're with on stage. You have to slow it down-and lower the bar on your performance. This is what I think is the root of good acting-not to perform, but to communicate what you want. . . . The trick I do is just to think it to the back row."
And would Jay recommend a season as a vampire? "Definitely. In the summer. As long as you can go to the beachers-put that in your vampire contract."
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