Think High School Musical meets Twilight and throw in a queer tilt to and I may present to you, Count Dykula.

With high production values, Count Dykula is the story of a loner lesbian vampire, who seeks to set the record straight for vampires everywhere and fight against the attempt to add a fluffy exterior around the monster/human dynamic, changing horror culture forever.

This threat comes from Scare University, run by a stereotypical lesbian vampire headteacher who fully leans into this with large breasts and a siren-esque facade before biting your neck. Throughout the Count’s journey, she comes across many monsters, merged with Americanised stereotypes, such as werewolf football jocks and zombie cheerleaders. These provide endless comedy and are well performed throughout, with the help of changed costumes in quick succession and great character acting.

If this description fools you however, it is not one for the children. Some of the comedy is sought in queer references, lewd and sexualised jokes and this twist on the story makes it full of laughter but also very camp and adult. We laugh at the clever stereotype merging and the content that comes with it.

The production value themselves are perfection; with well constructed costumes, props and staging, it already feels like a firmly planted production. But this doesn’t let you miss out on jokes of reduced staging at fringe; audience members are brought up to act as a mirror or a wall or help with a wrestling ring rope and this interaction adds yet another layer to the comedy.

However, for me the merging of a school aesthetic with something else felt a little twee. While the production is clearly well invested in, from the fantastic professional performances and writing, all the way down to the costumes and props, it felt like something that had been done before and, while entirely enjoyable, it felt a bit of an overused approach. They do well to combat this with satirical pop culture referencing but it still feels a little over-done.

Count Dykula is a very enjoyable and well constructed production, with clever merging of different genres and themes, it is sadly something that feels a little over saturated in theatre.