Peter Wyngarde's Dracula - rats, bats and half-hearted 70s horror

[@dallasbrunson3677]

Wyngarde’s speaking voice is outstanding

[@grahamchalk4727]

.I saw this play, accompanied by my brother at Sunderland Empire. I have walked out of a few productions that weren't worth my time: this wasn't one of them. A rat scurrying across the stage got stuck with it's arse in the air for the entire scene. A log Mr Wyngarde threw at the mirror failed to break it, bounced off and he had to pick it up and throw it again. This helped to add to the entertaining atmosphere. I didn't notice anyone leaving in the interval and I do remember Peter Wyngarde counting the applause bows during the standing ovation. Having just read the adulatory press for the new season of Dr Who I'm inclined to think most journalists have always had a pretty loose grip of reality.

[@MichaelRowe-cv3oq]

Crikey as a child I loved Department S and Jason King,Peter Wyngarde was my hero.I heard some unsavoury stories about him a few years ago but I'm not going to dwell on those.Loved him as an actor.

[@MichaelRowe-cv3oq]

In fact I've got the Department S dvd box set,had it for many a year...its time I watched it again.

[@MattTHX-io4tk]

What the story he bummed a minor in thw tiolets of Gloucester City center ?😂

[@MichaelRowe-cv3oq]

@@MattTHX-io4tk 😁👍

[@TheBollysongs]

KZbin snd it's crazy algorithm threw this video into my watch list, and well, I loved it! Thank you. 👍🏼

[@culturewarp]

Brilliant! Thank you!

[@bobmcdade5217]

FWIW I actually saw Peter as Dracula when the tour arrived in Hull. It was my introduction to the theatre - I was 11 or 12 (I don't remember which month I saw the production) and was taken by my mother. I vaguely remember enjoying the event but one moment of the evening springs vividly to mind; during a scene depicting Dracula's seduction of a woman/victim, Peter's voice got lower and lower and the stage lights dimmed until the only thing being lit was the two actors on a bed. And just as Dracula is poised to sink his fangs into her neck, (at which point the lights cut out and the theatre thrown into darkness, punctuated by a dramatic clash of thunder), with perfect timing, a woman in the audience said "don't trust him love" causing a ripple of laughter in the theatre and leaving Peter struggling not to corpse. It was a while before he could perform the coup de grace, triggering the darkness/thunderclap.

[@kali3665]

Peter Wyngarde also inspired the fantasy image of the mind-controlling Mastermind in the X-Men comics. He was the guy who brainwashed Jean Grey and ultimately invoked Dark Phoenix. I had NO idea that Wyngarde played Dracula, but I am sure he would have been fascinating. He may have had more charisma than talent, but that doesn't mean he didn't have any talent. He was a fascinating presence and still a good actor. And he could still carry the scene in the Flash Gordon movie despite never once showing his face. It's a shame his career got short-circuited by the scandal, but there are still fans who remember Jason King.

[@borusa32]

Its a new one on me.He was very good in Flash Gordon.

[@simontreves]

I bet he was.

[@wimvanderstraeten6521]

Bela Lugosi played Dracula on stage before he starred in the 1931 movie.

[@simontreves]

I saw this at Wimbledon Theatre. It was as awful as those notices indicate. Wyngarde's wig was actually more bouffant than his Jason King syrup, and - incredibly - he wore even more mascara. It's a great blessing that time has erased every other memory, but my God, he was a very odd performer.

[@jenlovesbooks]

I was at Billingham Forum last week.

[@simontreves]

Damn, you must have just missed him.

[@owenmcgheeandbdawg]

I grew up in Billingham and have performed at The Forum.

[@culturewarp]

The first play I ever saw was the Dad's Army musical, preparing for the West End, at the Forum in September 1975.