The feminist philosophy that drives this production’s celebratory finale is deeply rooted in the script’s adaptation of a familiar text. By claiming a power traditionally assumed by men, women are able to escape the oppression of patriarchy and work towards new ways of being. Yet it is only in the second act that Morna Pearson’s script escapes from the source novel and brings together themes of emancipation and vampirism to a thought-provoking conclusion.

The first act of Mina’s Reckoning is bound heavily by Dracula’s plot points, and the initial setting (an asylum for women) does not take on its rich symbolism until Mina confronts the notorious villain and usurps his abilities. A consistent set of solid performances (although Dracula never quite takes on a convincingly sinister allure) set up the drama, but its structure falls back on the source novel and lacks melodramatic bite as suggested by its material. The male characters are sketched out through their lurid misogyny, Mina is suitably capable and independent, and the first act seems to settle for a reverent, if occasionally mischievous retelling.

Once Dracula has revealed his savagery, however, and the men attempt to exclude Mina from their heroic war against evil, the action becomes intriguing. Dark scenography conjures the murkiness of the vampire’s twilight world, and sudden, spectacular splashes of video design offer a vivid theatricality; meanwhile, Danielle Jam’s performance as Mina is energetic and charismatic. Balanced between a populist remake of Dracula and something more bracingly political, Mina’s Reckoning is an uneven pleasure. Drawing together an archaic fear of female sexual or intellectual power, a cerebral reimagining of the metaphor of vampirism, and an incomplete transfer of the story to Scotland (and into a poetic Scots), it emerges from a sluggish beginning to a lively ending. 

Dracula: Mina's Reckoning tours until Saturday 28 October; reviewed at Theatre Royal, Glasgow.