Kip Williams interview: The use of technology in Dracula gives the gothic horror new bite

**What does the use of this technology add to this story, and what do the cameras add that 'traditional' theatre/storytelling is missing?** I think the technology I use sits firmly within the ancient tradition of storytellers using technology to create imaginary worlds, which is something we've been doing since we used fire to create shadow puppets. The technology I use always comes from trying to find a theatrical form that is in itself a mirror to or expression of the story I am telling. In the case of *Dracula*, Stoker's novel is epistolary in form, which means that the characters are nearly always sharing their story with you in a private form of confession. I was drawn in part to using cameras to establish a very intimate act of confession between character and audience, and, in turn, to allow the camera to be an extension of the audience's act of peering into the minds of these characters, as each battles to hide from or confront the complex truths that exist within them. **Why did you want to lean into modern technology to tell this 130 year+ story?** I am interested in the way our lives today are filled with cameras. We perform to them daily, often hourly, and when we're not performing to them, we're often ogling at the performance of someone else. This act of performing self is a natural human act, but the rate at which we are doing it today and the virtual space that these performances exist within are entirely unprecedented in human history. And so it felt highly resonant to me to explore these characters - all of whom are caught in complex acts of self curation and censorship - in a way that mirrors our lives today. I'm ultimately interested in the way these characters struggle to embrace their authentic self, and for me, part of what makes that challenging today is the fear that we are being watched by those who will not accept us. **Did you always know you wanted to use technology and cameras to tell this story?** I know when the story calls for it, but I only use it when the story calls for it and never otherwise. That would be using that technology for superficial aestheticism, and I deplore that. I've been fortunate to direct around 50 shows so far in my career, and it surprises some people to learn that two thirds of those productions have had no cameras, mobiles or screens in sight. A lot of my work has been about large ensembles in empty theatre spaces. I believe very much in the Shakespearean notion of holding the mirror up to nature, so it is impossible as a contemporary artist to not be grappling with the way this technology is infiltrating so much of our lives. That said, I only ever use such technology in my work if the story I am telling calls for it. *Dracula* is part of a trilogy of works and the cinetheatre form that I developed for this trilogy is a specific use of this technology that speaks directly to the themes that the trilogy explores. **Did you know that you wanted to work with cameras and pre-recorded material and looked for a story that would fit, or was it the other way round?** I always start with the story. The form of any work has to be an expression of the story itself. That is my process. The variation for me is based on how long I take to find the form. With the trilogy, it came very quickly, like a vision of sorts. With most works, I sit with the text and read it and read it until I have a sense of how it might be approached. **Did you always want to direct Dracula and this way of storytelling was found along the way?** I can't watch horror - unfortunately I get horrendous nightmares, and there is enough to be afraid of in the world and I value my sleep too much - so it is on some level unusual that I've directed *Dracula*, along with the rest of the gothic works and dark stories I've done - I've directed *Lord of the Flies* three times! I came to *Dracula* along with *The Picture of Dorian Gray* and *Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde* (the other two parts of the trilogy) about eight or so years ago, when I sat down to revisit a host of Victorian literature. I was drawn to that time period because of the fascinating social, cultural and scientific progress of the era, as well as the puritanical push back it encountered. The resulting stories that emerged are asking big questions about values and paradigms that are seemingly having their apotheosis today, but the Victorian writers had to ask those questions in the forms of metaphor and fable, which make them fecund for reinvestigation. When I came to read *Dracula*, I was instantly compelled by a story that had always been framed to me as being about an external monster, which seemed so evidently to me to be about the monster within. That was my hook, and I became compelled to retell the story as a tale about how we seek to take the part of us inside of ourselves that we are most afraid of and project it into an external monster, and then attempt to defeat this monster in order to prove that it does not exist within us. Kip Williams’ *[Dracula](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/play/dracula-tickets)* plays at the [Noël](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/venue/noel-coward-theatre-london)[ Coward Theatre](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/venue/noel-coward-theatre-london) until 30 May 2026.