This week, Distant Era photographed the production and press images for Michael Dalberg’s play, The Blood Countess, directed by Tristan Brandon and produced by Idle Muse Theatre Company. Originally scheduled to open September 13, the play’s opening has been temporarily postponed. However, tickets for upcoming performances can still be purchased here.
The Blood Countess is the story of Erzsébet Báthory (popularly referred to as Countess Dracula), the sixteenth-century Hungarian noblewoman accused of torturing and murdering hundreds of women, with the aid of her servants. Báthory’s arrest in 1610 and the proceedings of her subsequent trial preserved the countess in folklore as a vampire who bathed in the blood of virgins to maintain her youth, possibly an inspiration for Bram Stoker (she isn’t mentioned in his notes). The Báthory most people have heard of is a monster costumed in the trappings of myth, as ambiguously true to life perhaps as Shakespeare’s Richard III or Macbeth—characters that history reveals in a somewhat different light from how Shakespeare’s plays illuminate them. Incidentally, and for context, William Shakespeare’s life (1564–1616) was coterminous with Erzsébet Báthory’s (1560–1614).
Context for the Countess
Did Erzsébet Báthory commit the atrocities she was accused of? Was she a wealthy sociopath who took pleasure in the suffering and death of her victims? Or were the charges against her as baseless and politically motivated as, say, those against the Knights Templar, created to remove her from power and seize the widow’s vast riches and estates?
The Blood Countess dramatizes what we know, or think we know, about Báthory, portraying the historical figure founded on established facts as well as the speculative monster of legend.
Idle Muse Theatre Company invites audiences to weigh the facts and fictions for themselves as Michael Dalberg carefully plots the narrative of Báthory’s fall from power.
Transporting. Timely. True.
These three words are the tagline that Idle Muse uses to describe their work. Writing this entry, I’m reminded of public figures who fell into disgrace following actions that made them monstrous in the public eye. Some of them did unconscionable things. I’ve also known innocent people who have been targets of intentional malice, whose reputations have been slandered by monsters. When rumors take root, misdeeds and evils grow and are amplified, rightly or wrongly, as fact and fiction combine to form an ever more monstrous portrait.
In this regard, I think The Blood Countess accomplishes Idle Muse’s mission, both timely and true; throughout their production history, Idle Muse has done an amazing job transporting their audience, whether working on a postage-stamp-sized stage or proscenium. They’ve cultivated skilled designers who’ve grown in their craft from production to production, pulling in multiple Jeff nominations for their shows (and at last a win this year for L. J. Luthringer’s sound design for The Tempest). But let’s have a look at some of the images.
Photography
The Blood Countess was perhaps the most technically challenging production shoot I’ve done with Idle Muse in our past decade of show photography (beginning, I think, with 2015’s The Talking Cure). The Blood Countess is staged alley-style, with the audience seated on either side of the action—which is a very cool way to stage a show. Nevertheless, in a small storefront theater space, chairs to the left and chairs to the right limits the angles at which we can capture the action. We overcame this challenge by zooming in with a long lens, cropping out seats on either side of the alley, and by looking for creative angles to shoot around the seats when photographing toward the audience.
Light was the other challenge. Lighting designer Laura J. Wiley has outdone herself with some incredibly immersive scenes, often very dark, with spots of dappled light that had my camera’s sensor guessing before I switched to spot metering in the midst of our session; this metering mode allowed me to pinpoint my exposure—measuring for that bright bit of dappled light, for instance.
Behind the Scenes
Assistant director and violence designer Libby Beyreis sent me this wonderful behind-the-scenes picture that shows us in the act of solving both of these technical challenges at once. Note the chairs on either side of the alley, the camera angled up, long lens zoomed into the scene, beautifully painted with Laura J. Wiley’s dappled light.
BOTTOM: The final photo, featuring Makenna Van Raalte (Imre Thurzó) and Laura Jones-Macknin (Erzsébet Báthory).
The second photograph (above) shows the resulting image. I was happy with the composition here—the rays of light angling toward the knife in complementary azure and amber hues, chains and manacles illuminated, actors Makenna Van Raalte (Imre Thurzó) and Laura Jones-Macknin (Erzsébet Báthory) fully committed in the scene.
Looking Forward
I look forward to seeing Idle Muse Theatre Company’s transporting/timely/true tale of The Blood Countess, starring Chicago theatre treasure and artistic director of Shakespeare’s Motley Crew Laura Jones-Macknin as Erzsébet Báthory. The show features an exceptional artistic team whose work I can’t wait to see come to life.
The Blood Countess also features Distant Era collaborators familiar to followers of The All Worlds Traveller, including the exceptionally talented Jennifer Mohr (doing costumes this time) and our primary makeup artist Jacque Bischoff (playing Ilona and also doing makeup design)—as well as Laura Jones-Macknin herself, once I find the time to return to my long-long-long delayed Gods and Heroes of the Aegean dream project.
Thanks and best wishes to Idle Muse Theatre Company on opening The Blood Countess, with extra special thanks to production manager Kati Lechner for organizing the press photography, to violence designer/assistant director Libby Beyreis for shoot assistance and the behind-the-scenes photo, and to playwright Michael Dalberg for sharing an earlier draft of his play in 2024, which acquainted me with Erzsébet Báthory’s story.
Cast and Creative
Finally, here’s the cast and creative team for The Blood Countess from the Idle Muse Theatre Company website, with minor adjustments by Idle Muse.
Cast: Laura Jones-Macknin* (she/her, Erzsébet Báthory); Mara Kovacevic* (she/her, Anna Darvulia); Xavier Lagunas* (he/him, Pál Nádasdy); Raúl Alonso (he/him, János Újváry); Erik Schnitger* (he/him, György Thurzó); Makenna Van Raalte (they/she, Imre Thurzó); Jeff Broitman (he/him, István Magyari); Kristen Alesia (she/they, Dorotya); Hannah Eisendrath (they/she, Katarina); Jacque Bischoff* (she/they); Sam Neel (he/him, Guard, u/s Thurzo); Derek Preston Ray (he/him, Guard, u/s Pál Nádasdy); Alex Hultman (they/them, u/s Katarina, u/s Dorotya, u/s guard); Kayla Erpenbeck (she/her, u/s Ilona); Ian Saderholm (he/him, u/s Imre, u/s Janos) and Madeline Wakley (she/her, u/s Darvulia).
Creative: Tristan Brandon* (he/him, director, health and safety officer, props designer, scenic designer); Libby Beyreis* (she/her, assistant director, violence designer); Lindsey Chidester* (she/her, stage manager); Beth Bruins* (she/her, assistant stage manager); Evan Jackson* (he/him, artistic director); Kati Lechner* (she/her, production manager, health and safety officer); Erin Alys (she/her, intimacy director); Emma S. Rund (she/her, dramaturg); Brendan Hutt* (he/him, assistant violence designer); Jeremiah Barr (he/him, tech director); Laura J. Wiley* (she/her, lighting & projection designer); L.J. Luthringer* (he/him, sound designer and composer); Jennifer Mohr* (she/her, costume designer); Katie Fletcher (she/her, assistant costume designer); Jacque Bischoff* (she/they, makeup designer); Breezy Snyder* (she/they, scenic painter); Eva Neuharth (they/them, paint charge); Mara Kovacevic* (she/her, house manager); Caty Gordon* (she/her, marketing & social media); Charlotte Brown (they/them, stage management cover); and Michael Dalberg* (he/him, playwright)
*denotes Idle Muse Ensemble Member
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