Australian actor Dwayne Lawler

I arranged to meet Dwayne Lawler one early evening in a café in the backstreets of Harajuku. I find him sitting in a corner cradling a cup of coffee with both hands as if he is cold, although it is still pleasantly warm outside. With his blue piercing eyes and trademark black clothing, he looks very much the vampire.

“Now what would a vampire be doing in the land of the rising sun?” he says with a just a hint of a smile as he rises to gently shake my hand. The man who introduced Japanese audiences to Macbeth with death metal music at Tokyo's New National Theatre now returns to the stage with a solo performance called Tokyo Vampire.

Written by Lawler, Tokyo Vampire is described as a heartbreaking horror story, a vampire's last confession before he goes “into the sun.” This is a kinder, gentler vampire, waxing philosophically about life and death as he recounts his tragic romance with a lonely girl, his “dark lady.” Using his ‘chameleon approach' Lawler has created a production specifically for the Japanese environment.

The vampire's kamon or family crest is the centerpiece of the set and the vampire's costume is uniquely Japanese with its Visual Kei* and Gothic elements. In Macbeth, Lawler used music by the New Orleans band Shakespeare In Hell, but for Tokyo Vampire he is using a wadaiko piece by Motoichi Yuzawa.

A charismatic man, Lawler studied acting with legendary Australian actress Babette Stephens. "She was from the 'old school' of acting and I was expected to stand for up to four hours a day, reciting Shakespeare. She used to say that if you want to work in the theatre you will have to get used to standing. She was the perfect teacher and my greatest friend.”

With his interest in things Japanese it is not surprising that Lawler would choose Japan to launch his productions, but why a solo performance? “I didn't only play the lead in Macbeth but I also directed and designed the production. After that experience I felt I had forgotten how to just be an actor and so I wrote Tokyo Vampire as a way of finding myself as an actor again.”

From Macbeth to a vampire, does Lawler have some macabre obsession with all things dark (Indeed, the name ‘Dwayne' means ‘dark' in Gaelic)? “Not really” he says, “people thought I was crazy doing Shakespeare in Japan but thankfully I didn't listen to them and the same goes for a play about a vampire in Tokyo. There are tales of vampires in every land, but no one has really represented them on stage in a serious manner, no one recently anyway. Sure, there have been musicals and comedies but few straight plays about vampires besides those performed in the early to mid 1800s, which were very popular. I am trying to do theater in a way that hasn't been done before. Tokyo Vampire is a gothic romance for those who think that everyone deserves love, even a vampire.”

It is late in the evening by the time the interview is over and I suddenly notice that he hasn't touched his coffee. He flashes his green eyes (did they change color?) as we say our goodbyes and prepare to go our separate ways. When I turn back, Dwayne Lawler has vanished into the night. Or maybe it was just my imagination.

*Visual Kei is literally translated as "visual type" and refers to bands who wear elaborate costumes and makeup to create an androgynous look which takes precedence over the music. Some popular Japanese Visual Kei bands are Malice Mizer, X Japan and Dir en Grey.

TOKYO VAMPIRE starring Dwayne Lawler

Studio Museum Tokyo

Sundays 7:00pm

Oct 30 th , Nov 6 th 13 th 27 th , Dec 4 th 11 th 25 th

www.tokyo-vampire.com