In the century since he was first entombed in Victorian sensation, Count Dracula has manifested in countless adaptation.

Bram Stoker’s vampiric fantasy offers an irresistible cocktail of horror, erotica, religion and Johnny Foreigner, capable of constant reinterpretation by literary theorists, film makers, playwrights and choreographers.

Yet Mark Bruce Company demonstrates that surprise is still possible, breathing new life into the familiar tale.

Ten astonishing dancers take your imagination and whirl it around a darkened set whilst storms lash a Transylvanian castle.

Brilliant costumes and athletic movements replicate howling wolves and prancing horses, carriages and ships; atmospheric and sinister lighting creates drama from spotlight and shadow.

But this Dracula is more than a brilliant ballet, more than a play and more than a recreation of an old story.

It is something completely new - it involves wit and humour, it uses breathtaking contemporary music and Eastern European dances alongside Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, there are tangy references to Fred Astaire and jazz and echoes of the Victorian music hall theatre.

Jonathan Goddard impersonated the Count with charismatic brilliance, allied to a moving sensitivity, but all the cast made visual magic.

Truly exceptional in every sense. Keep the garlic: Dracula lives.