The first horror film I saw as a kid was Dracula
Actor James Gaddas tells MARION McMULLEN how lockdown helped him get his teeth into a new role
You’ve revamped Dracula for a one-man show. When did you start working on it?
It started during the first lockdown when I had just finished Hollyoaks. I was going backward and forwards to Hollyoaks when the Covid restrictions were in place.
It was very strange with social distancing. I was being punched by someone three metres away in scenes. The whole theatre industry collapsed as well and it became impossible to do anything.
I didn’t want to sit around doing nothing. I wanted to do something that was Covid-proof and so I started work writing the one-man show and Dracula.
My wife joked, ‘What if you don’t get the part?’.
Why did you choose Dracula?
He’s such a classic figure. I think that is why the story has stood the test of time. I think Dracula and Sherlock Holmes are the most played characters on film and television.
The first horror film I saw as a kid was Dracula. I remember staying up late on night and watching Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing as they battled it out.
I still remember, no matter how much Peter Cushing was pushed about, his hair never moved. That was the scary thing for me.
What’s the premise of the new story?
I didn’t want to just do a reading of the book so I’m playing myself and in this I’ve been signed up to present a TV documentary because of a new discovery – the original manuscript of Dracula by Bram Stoker, which proposes to show that Dracula was real and not fake.
During the course of filming, something goes wrong and I continue the investigation on my own. I watched all those sorts of documentaries during lockdown, things like The Hunt Big Foot.
(Laughs) I watched 12 episodes as they analysed a bit of poo before deciding it’s probably wasn’t Big Foot at all but from a dog.
How are you going to play 15 different characters?
(Laughs) My wife has told me not to do a Scottish accent for any of the characters because I can’t. I start off and it turns into Sean Connery along the way.
It’s not Count Dracula really. I also promise not to attempt a Welsh accent when we play Cardiff. I play all the characters in the play – Van Helsing, Jonathan Harker and Dr John Seward – every single one.
The majority of characters in Dracula are solid mid-to-upper class citizens, but I also play the female characters as well. I don’t want to be verging on Monty Python like (in high falsetto voice) ‘Hello, what are you doing, you naughty boy’. I want to catch a flavour of people more than anything.
You’ve played Governor Neil Grayling in ITV’s Bad Girls and Vinny Sorrell in Coronation Street, while West End theatre work has included Mamma Mia! Spamalot and Billy Elliot. Do you like the mix of both?
I always enjoy theatre more than anything. I did my first 10 years in theatre, but I enjoy television as well, although there is a lot of pressure around doing television these days.
I get recognised for Bad Girls, although some people think I played Skinner and tell me I was rubbish. I say ‘I didn’t play that character, but I’ll pass your comments along’.
I love the rehearsals, the company and everything that goes on backstage in the theatre. My wife works as a chaperone in the West End and I remember she was working on School Of Rock and came home one night saying ‘I’m really tired’ and I came in from doing Mamma Mia! saying ‘No, I’m really tired’ and we went on like this.
She won the argument in the end by saying ‘Yes, you might be tired, but at the end of the night you get a round of applause’. You can’t beat that.
In Mamma Mia! we used to have quizzes every month, as well but doing a one-man show now I don’t think there is going to be an awful lot of opportunity for banter.
What else is in store for 2022?
We were looking at doing The Three Musketeers as a one-man show with me playing all the musketeers.
(Laughs) The fight scenes would certainly be interesting with me having a sword fight with myself, but you really need that clashing sound of steel on steel for The Three Musketeers so we’re now going to do it as a twohander.
In the meantime, I have the 36-date tour of Dracula. I’ll be going up and down the country... but not Scotland.
Maybe, they’ve heard about my bad Scottish accent.
You can see Dracula at The Garrick Theatre, Lichfield, on February 20. Go to draculatheplay.com for booking information