Kerr and Small are both multi-instrumentalists; Small is musical director and Kerr plays double bass, clarinet and guitar along with drums and ukulele. They both sing. “We’re a big little team,” says Small. Do they every get sick of doing the same routine over and over again? Not on your life. “Each night is different,” says Kerr. “It’s an ongoing process; we keep up to date. The jokes change, there are subtle little popular culture references. We challenge ourselves as musicians to try and play better each show. Doing it constantly, we have to work at keeping the energy up. We all give 120 % during the show. If you’re backstage you’re dealing with props, puppetry, no-one’s really relaxing. And we get to have playtime afterwards. It’s a rewarding and entertaining gig.” I
The musicians plus a troupe of six actors, three women and three men, make up what the musos call ‘a big happy family’, performing in a show that’s rewritten annually; each show starts off in Melbourne, runs for a year then moves to the Gold Coast Dracula’s for another year before the cycle begins again. “It’s an incredible job, a brilliant opportunity,” adds Kerr. Not surprisingly the staff stay around, one performer has been with the troupe for eight years. “Each year is completely different to the next one,” reckons Kerr, who has been with the show for four months. “The variety is just brilliant.” Small is no less enthusiastic even though after nearly four and a half years he’s a veteran. He spent a couple of seasons at the Gold Coast venue. “That venue is custom built. They have state of the art technical and audiovisual set ups. They their own Gold Coast twist on the show. It’s a beautiful, fun and energetic business.”
The show is divided into three parts with a line up of several different acts within each, from aerial circus work, to black light puppetry (performed under ultra violet light so you can’t see the person operating the puppet), to a human syringe experiment, breathing marble statues, stilt walking, optical illusions and aerial and suspension circus style acts. As well, of course, there’s the burlesque, and, at this time of year, ukulele versions of Christmas carols are surreptitiously slipped in. “We all have characters,” explains Kerr. The two musicians form a jazz duo called the Spinecrunchers. Kerr’s character is a pseudo-cool kind of rockabilly clown known as Sting and Small’s is Fang, ‘a fool most of the time.’ “We get away with quite a bit,” Small adds.
Australia’s first theatre restaurant is unique; the comic horror dining experience that is the Dracula’s experience was a punt taken in 1980 that paid off. Dracula’s is a family business: Marc Newman’s parents, John and Tikki Newman famously started out with a late night cafe in Melbourne in the early sixties catering to the post theatre supper crowd. Different versions of theatre restaurants evolved, eventuating in the Melbourne landmark cabaret on Victoria Street in Carlton. Small and Kerr are full of praise for their employers. “Marc’s an incredible individual,” says Small. “We can almost do just what we want. He builds the show around the cast. If we want to try things, the boss is open and accommodating. He’s willing to run with ideas, there’s a ‘never a no’ policy.”
Performers are chosen according the variety of skills they can bring to the show, be it a virtuoso vocal talent or being able to do a back flip on stage. “The waiters have their own little show,” Small continues. “They’re all extremely talented, they’re are hired on that as well. The floor staff all bring their own special humour and energy, their own mind-warped twist on things. Friends of mine have come along and said ‘ to me ‘I love my waiter!’ It’s a special experience. Some people have never been to a theatre restaurant and they’re quite bewildered by the amount we do on stage.”
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
