Review: Count Dykula at Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Learn more about this new hit show all about vampires and fitting in 

BY VEE WILSON, IMAGE BY CAM HARLE 

Count Dykula is a campy queer musical that playfully reimagines the vampire myth while celebrating the joy of not fitting in. The story follows Count Dykula, a butch loner vampire who doesn’t conform to the feminine, hyper-sexualised image of how women are expected to look in monster media. Instead, she’s an outcast who refuses to shrink herself, and that makes her a target at Scare University, where the dean, Scarlet Fang, insists on monsters fitting a rigid mould of beauty and behaviour.

The show’s premise is simple: Count Dykula has to take down Scarlet Fang and her normative agenda if she wants to be able to continue terrifying children in the forest. Alongside a ragtag team of other loners at Scare University, Dykula must face off against Scarlet Fang in an all-out (and boobs out) wrestling match. Between audience participation (handled with gleeful menace but always consent-first), satirical monologues, hilarious pop culture references, and outrageous musical numbers, it’s a high-energy hour that feels like a cross between a vampire spoof movie, a late-night drag cabaret and an episode of Glee. The audience is pulled in from the start – sometimes literally, if you’re sat in the front row.

The cast is small but incredibly versatile, jumping between characters with quick changes. Each over-the-top character cranks up the comedy and feeds into the satire of familiar archetypes: from big boobed, hyper-feminine vampires to brainless zombie cheerleaders, to the pack of toxically masculine werewolf bros. By pushing these stereotypes to the extreme, the cast turns them into punchlines that poke fun at the stupidity of gender norms and reveal just how ridiculous those expectations really are. It’s the kind of satire that feels both hilarious and cathartic, especially for a queer audience. 

The songs are catchy, hilarious, and sometimes absurd; they don’t just make you laugh so hard that you tear up, but they make you think about how restrictive gender norms can be. As the cast belts out their final number, “there’s only one way to be me, so fuck off human normativity,” you realise this isn’t just comedy for comedy’s sake, it’s a cheeky anthem of queer joy and defiance. 

It’s clear that the show isn’t just about monsters; it’s about queerness, gender, and what it feels like to not fit into the roles society expects. Dykula’s struggle to exist unapologetically as a masc woman vampire mirrors the real pressures many queer people face to conform, especially when it comes to appearance.

At its heart, Count Dykula is silly, fun, and side-splittingly entertaining, but it also has a point to make. By the end, you’re not just humming along to the songs, you’re also left reflecting on how deeply rooted gender expectations still are. Camp, chaotic, and defiantly queer, Count Dykula is one Fringe show that proves being called a monster can sometimes be the greatest compliment of all.

Sink your teeth into more content from the team that created Count Dykula by following Airlock Theatre on Instagram or visiting the Soho Theatre website. 

DIVA magazine celebrates 31 years in print in 2025. If you like what we do, then get behind LGBTQIA+ media and keep us going for another generation. Your support is invaluable. 

✨linkin.bio/ig-divamagazine ✨