STAGE REVIEWS : ‘Dracula’ Awash in Tyranny, Gore

When the program formally lists a credit for “Rat construction,” you’re in for a different evening.

The rats appear in a prison scene impaled on little sticks. That’s the least of the horrors in “Dracula Tyrannus, the Tragical History of Vlad the Impaler” at the Tiffany.

The production--awash in severed heads, mutilated bodies and disembowelments--is not camp. It’s the story of Vlad the Impaler, scourge of 15th-Century Romania, savior of the Christians against the infidel Ottoman Empire, murderer of 100,000 of his own countrymen and the real source of Bram Stoker’s 19th-Century Count Dracula.

Way too much exposition and too many declamatory pronouncements suggest sound bites from a history class. But once past that, a spectacle opens up, directed with panache by Jules Aaron and ambitiously researched by playwright Ron Magid.

Magid, who first impaled his historic drama at the Globe Playhouse in 1988, has expanded its Eastern European scope, added gruesome effects (designed by Christopher Gilman who worked on Francis Coppola’s “Dracula”) and deepened the theme of tyranny in order to show the force of its attraction.

As Vlad the Impaler, dashing Ron Campbell is quite convincing--not the fanged, caped Western idea of Dracula but an unrepentant madman, much like Hitler or Ceaucescu, whose maniacal arrogance rallies his countrymen to drive the Turks from Europe.

The 19-actor cast features a staunch portrayal by Jim Hatch as Vlad’s best friend who sours on him and pays dearly (in the play’s most wrenching impaling) and a gleamingly cast Evelyn Furtak as Vlad’s bride.

* “Dracula Tyrannus,” Tiffany Theatre, 8532 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. ; Sundays, 7:30 p.m. Ends Feb. 28. $20-$22 . 50. (310) 289-2999. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.