Blood Countess – MAP Theatre @ 18th & Union (Seattle – Central Dist)

Blood Countess is a fictionalized account of Countess Elizabeth Bathory’s life, a historical true-crime horror-comedy snatched from the headlines of the early 1600s. A brilliant woman of Hungarian nobility, Bathory holds the Guinness World Record of Most Prolific Female Murderer, “[practicing] vampirism on girls and young women. She is alleged to have killed more than 600 virgins in order to drink their blood and bathe in it, ostensibly to preserve her youth.” We know she was tried and convicted of her gruesome crimes. The rest we must suppose.

Landing solidly on the dark side of dark comedy, Blood Countess employs playwright Kelleen Conway Blanchard’s trademark humor and linguistic gymnastics. This historical horror story is filled with dead birds, headless soldiers, eel pies, and pailfuls of blood. Directed by Peggy Gannon; starring Zenaida Rose Smith.

Tickets $15+ (sliding scale available for all) here.