Theater Review: Don Juan the Vampire

by Mark-Brian Sonna of MBS Productions

There is nothing subtle about the play Don Juan the Vampire currently being presented at Teatro Dallas. But then, the source material is known for being one of the most over-the-top plays ever written. Cora Cardona has adapted Jose Zorrilla y Moral's famous 1844 play and turned it into a spectacle worthy of attendance.

Most people know who a Don Juan is. The character was created centuries before but it is Zorilla’s version which has influenced our understating of this character. It is also the version that is most widely performed around the globe. Why? It’s funny, dramatic, sad, silly, sexy, corny, and scary. The full run version runs about 4 hours, and it’s a shame most modern audiences won’t put up with sitting in a theatre for that length of time because it’s very much worth the effort. Most theatrical productions cut the play down to the main plotline and remove all or most of the secondary storylines and thus are able to present it in about two hours. The genius of this play is that it still works given the massive cuts.

The basic plotline is quite linear and easy to follow. Don Juan and Don Luis have been competing to see who can bed the most women and kill the most men. Don Juan, as expected by the audience, wins the bet but being a man who is prone to gamble agrees to a second bet: that he’ll bed not only Don Luis’ fiancée, but also a novice the night before she takes her vows to become a nun. He succeeds with the fiancée, but in what has become the famous plot twist, he actually falls in love with the “nun to be”. Even though he’s kidnapped her and plans to bed her, the young woman’s virtue and purity is so great that he falls for her. The girl’s father is upset and has chased Don Juan to his house to kill him, and Don Luis upon discovering the cad’s ways with his fiancee does the same. Don Juan jumps out of a window into the river to escape. Flash forward. Don Juan finds himself in a cemetery full of statues. He soon discovers that these sculptures are guarding the graves of all the people that he wronged. Eventually they come to life and decide to extract revenge on him by…well, I won’t spoil it.

The twist that Cora Cardona has given the play is that she made Don Juan a vampire. Does Don Juan being a vampire detract from the script? No. But while I appreciate the clever twist, I’m not sure it adds anything extra to the play, except give it more blood. And the blood is done quite nicely: just enough to get the point across, but not enough to gross us out.

The second twist is that she placed the play in the 1950s and meshed it with some 70s punk. Again, did this add anything? No. Did it detract? No. If I quibble with this decision it’s because this play, though popular everywhere else in the globe, is actually infrequently performed in the English speaking world. If it were performed ad nauseum like some of the Bard’s plays (not too long ago three different theatres presented MacB within 3 months of each other) then I’d say play with the periods and give the script these creative twists. Since it’s so infrequently done, I would have rather seen it done more straightforward and in period since odds are most of the audiences will not have seen the play before. In my case, since I’m extremely familiar with the play, I enjoyed Cora Cardona’s take on it.

So how did the actors do? Quite well. It is a large cast and for editorial space I’ll only mention a few, but there are no weak links.

Sheila D. Rose stole the show in the role of Brigida, Don Juan’s assistant. She had sass, sex, and smarts. She devoured the scenes with much gusto, and she was a joy to watch. Ciutti, Don Juan’s servant, as played by Juan Pedro Cano was edgy, intense but curiously likable and this made his presence that much more dangerous. He’d charm you while he’s stabbing you – not an easy combo for an actor to pull off. Grisel Cambiasso plays the “various” other roles. While her part of the sculpture left me feeling indifferent, in part because it is written more like an expository character, as the house maid, she was jaw dropping sexy. This scene is extremely short but she leaves quite an impact on the audience.

Cambiasso’s sexiness brings up an interesting point regarding this production of Don Juan and how it was played by Matt Fowler. Matt Fowler is a very talented actor and with his deep baritone voice he speaks the lines with aplomb. But he toned down the sexiness of Don Juan, he played him more like a rogue - lots of knife fights in this version. This doesn’t mean he played Don Juan incorrectly. Other actors taking this role usually have to choose between being a seducer or being a criminal when the play is edited down this much. Granted, Don Juan is both in the 4 hour version, but in a 2 hour production it’s hard to develop both sides fully. Not that Matt can’t be sexy, I’d let him bite down on my neck any time and also make out with me (which come to think of it, I’ve done with him when we both performed together in Theatre of Death last year), but he emphasized in his performance the violent nature of the character. Matt should proudly list this on his resume; he’s done a fine job.

Technically the show was a bit of a mixed bag. The lighting by Jeff Hurst was excellent as always, though I’ve seen him do better. Jeff is perhaps the premiere stage lighting designer in the DFW area, so my expectations are very high when I see his name on any credits. He may want to revisit the level of light during the second act; the heavy use of shadows caused some odd dark spots. Fortunately the Teatro Dallas space is small enough that you could still see the actor’s faces even though at times the shadows seem to cut across them, either their face or their bodies, and I found myself looking at the lighting effect more so then the performer. I wouldn’t give him an A+ for this show, I’d give him an B+, still a very good grade.

The sound effects, while nice designed, seemed to be a bit off and this was because the board operator missed the cue or the actors were coming in a bit early adding unintended humor: An actor coming in via a motor boat entered the stage while the sound of the motor boat being turned off was still happening. Shelia D. Rose covered this oops beautifully by shooting the expression to the actor with a look saying “how did you do that?”

The makeup effects were well done. The costuming was overall good, though I kept feeling that Don Juan’s black jeans needed to fit a little tighter, and perhaps some briefs under them would help: a saggy butt a sexy man it does not make. The set by Nick Brethauer was serviceable. I’ve seen him do more inspiring work. The faux finishes looked too faux, and didn’t have enough finish.

As for the direction? This is a Cora Cardona show. Her signature is everywhere. There’s a particular genius to her work that is always fascinating: it’s either thrilling or it fails miserably, but it’s never in between. Fortunately for us in North Texas she seldom ever fails. If you want to see stunning staging done on a small stage you must go see her shows. In this production she creates visual after visual, each beautiful, engaging, and expressive. Many performers who have worked with her feel at times that they are like puppets in her theatre; what they don’t understand is that the visual components of her shows are just as potent as what they as actors can bring to the roles. If not a word had been uttered by any of the performers the audience would still understand the play fully. This is why she can have actors sometimes deliver lines in Spanish - which happens in this production only about 5% of the time - and the play still makes sense.

Go see this show, it is a treat, and you will have loads of fun. Yes, it’s an utterly implausible story, done in an overly grand style, but it is vastly entertaining.

Don Juan the Vampire runs through November 1 and tickets can be purchased online.

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