BRADFORD actress, Riana Duce is set to star in a production of Dracula: The Untold Story, with production company Imitating The Dog at Leeds Playhouse.

Riana who has spent most of her life in Yorkshire describes this experience as a dream come true.

“I’ve always been a big gothic literature fan, I went on holiday to Whitby a lot and I now get to play the heroin in Dracula.

“Mina Harker is fierce and one of the only women in Dracula, so it’s exciting.”

Riana who studied theatre at the University of York, is currently in pre-show production and after being out of the theatre for nearly two years, loves the feeling of being back.

Imitating The Dog combines cutting-edge digital technology with skilled live performance – a theatre technique they have made their own through acclaimed productions like Night of the Living Dead - Remix their 2020 co-production with Leeds Playhouse in which they lovingly recreated George A Romero’s cult zombie film frame-by-frame live on stage. 

“This show was in the works pre-pandemic, but I auditioned and got the role in May and in person rehearsals started in July.

“This is my first time working with Imitating The Dog and it is very different, there’s an extra challenge but it’s a good one.

The story takes place 70 years after Dracula, where Mina Harker walks into a police station and claims responsibility for a body that they have found.

The only issue being that Harker has been not been seen since 1901.

The gripping show is set in 1960’s London and changes the version of Dracula many are thought to know.

The show open on September 25 and will be on at Leeds playhouse till October 9, before it goes on tour in November.

Riana said: “After having time off because of the pandemic it does feel kind of full on coming back but I’m more excited than ever before.

“Coming back is always harder because you have to remember how to act on stage, what other people are doing, and it can be really tough.

“I’m happy to be back and performing in front of an audience after so long.”

Growing up in West Yorkshire, Leeds Playhouse plays a huge role in Riana’s story.

“Getting to perform here is always a joy.

“It has a very fond place in my heart.”

The show is set to go on tour in November and after two years of being cooped up indoors, she is more than read to get back out there.

“Tours are fun, they are tiring but fun.

“What I miss most while being on tour is obviously family, but I miss Yorkshire, I miss Yorkshire water.”

Andrew Quick, Co-Director and Artistic Director of imitating the dog said:

 “It’s extremely exciting to be working on this new adaptation of Dracula.

“We are doing something quite different with the story, coming at it afresh.

“We have great respect for Bram Stoker’s original storyline, and we do revisit it a lot in our production.

“But I think this version is relevant to our times and we cannot wait to be in front of audiences again.

“It’s been too long.” 

Riana is more than read to pick up from where she left off and get back on the stage next week.