Dracula is a stage play written by the Irish actor and playwright Hamilton Deane in 1924, then revised by the American writer John L. Balderston in 1927. It was the first authorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. After touring in England, the original version of the play appeared at London's Little Theatre in July 1927, where it was seen by the American producer Horace Liveright. Liveright asked Balderston to revise the play for a Broadway production that opened at the Fulton Theatre in October 1927. This production starred Bela Lugosi in his first major English-speaking role.
In the revised story, Abraham Van Helsing investigates the mysterious illness of a young woman, Lucy Seward, with the help of her father and fiancé. He discovers she is the victim of Count Dracula, a powerful vampire who is feeding on her blood. The men follow one of Dracula's servants to the vampire's hiding place, where they kill him with a stake to the heart.
The revised version of the play went on a national tour of the United States and replaced the original version in London. It influenced many subsequent adaptations, including the popular 1931 film adaptation starring Lugosi. A 1977 Broadway revival featured art designs by Edward Gorey and starred Frank Langella. It won the Tony Award for Best Revival and led to another film version, also starring Langella.
History Background The Irish author Bram Stoker wrote the novel Dracula while working as a manager for Henry Irving's Lyceum Theatre in London; he continued to work for Irving after it was published in May 1897. Stoker secured his theatrical rights to the story that same month by holding a staged reading at the Lyceum; this hasty adaptation was never performed again. In 1899, Hamilton Deane, a young Irish actor whose family owned an estate next to one belonging to Stoker's father, joined Irving's company. In the early 1920s, after both Irving and Stoker had died, Deane founded his own theatrical troupe, the Hamilton Deane Company. He began working on a theatrical version of Dracula in 1923, and in 1924 he secured the permission of Stoker's widow Florence to stage an authorized adaptation. At the time, Florence Stoker was engaged in a copyright dispute with the German film studio Prana Film over the film Nosferatu, which adapted the plot of Dracula without authorization, and she needed the money from the play royalties. Deane's play was the first dramatization authorized by Stoker's estate.
Original production To stage the production, Deane was required to submit the completed script to the Lord Chamberlain for a license under the Theatres Act 1843 (6 & 7 Vict. c. 68). The play was censored to limit violence – for example, the count's death could not be shown to the audience – but was approved on 15 May 1924.
Deane's Dracula premiered on 15 May 1924 at the Grand Theatre in Derby, England. Deane had originally intended to play the title role himself but opted for the role of Van Helsing. This production toured England for three years before settling in London, where it opened at the Little Theatre in the Adelphi on 14 February 1927. It later transferred to the Duke of York's Theatre and then the Prince of Wales Theatre to accommodate larger audiences.
Broadway production
In 1927 the play was brought to Broadway by producer Horace Liveright, who hired John L. Balderston to revise the script for American audiences. In addition to radically compressing the plot, Balderston reduced the number of significant characters. Lucy Westenra and Mina Murray were combined into a single character, making John Seward Lucy's father and disposing of Quincey Morris and Arthur Holmwood. In Deane's original version, Quincey was changed to a woman to provide work in the play for more actresses.
Directed by Ira Hards with scenic design by Joseph A. Physioc, Dracula opened on 5 October 1927 at the Fulton Theatre in New York City. It closed on 19 May 1928 after 261 performances. The Broadway production starred Bela Lugosi in his first major English-speaking role; Edward Van Sloan as Van Helsing; and Dorothy Peterson as Lucy Seward. Raymond Huntley, who had performed the role of Dracula for four years in England, was engaged by Liveright to star in the U.S. touring production. The national tour began on 17 September 1928 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
1951 UK tour By the late 1940s, Lugosi's movie career had stalled, and he hoped to revive it by successfully bringing Dracula back to the West End. Producers John C. Mather and William H. Williams staged a touring production across the UK. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Brighton on 30 April 1951. Lugosi's involvement got considerable press coverage, but the production received little interest from London theatres and never appeared on the West End. The tour ended at the Theatre Royal, Portsmouth on 13 October 1951. It was Lugosi's last performance as Count Dracula.
1977 revival
In 1973, the producer John Wulp staged the play with the Nantucket Stage Company in Nantucket, Massachusetts. He asked Edward Gorey, an illustrator known for his macabre, surrealist imagery, to design the sets and costumes. Gorey, who had never worked in theatre before, created a mostly black-and-white design accented with red. Dennis Rosa directed and Lloyd Battista starred as Dracula. Wulp subsequently moved the production to the off-Broadway Cherry Lane Theatre in New York. In 1976, the producer Eugene Wolsk decided to revive Dracula on Broadway, using the Gorey designs. He worked with Wulp and several co-producers, including Jujamcyn Theaters, to stage the revival. The revival opened on 20 October 1977 at Jujamcyn's Martin Beck Theatre, with Rosa directing. It closed on 6 January 1980 after 925 performances.Botto, Louis. At This Theatre: 100 Years of Broadway Shows, Stories and Stars Playbill, Inc., 2002
The original cast of the revival included Frank Langella as Count Dracula (later replaced by Raúl Juliá), Alan Coates as Jonathan Harker, Jerome Dempsey as Abraham Van Helsing, Dillon Evans as Dr. Seward, Baxter Harris as Butterworth, Richard Kavanaugh as R. M. Renfield, Gretchen Oehler as Miss Wells, and Ann Sachs as Lucy Seward. The show won two Tony Awards for Most Innovative Production of a Revival and Best Costume Design (Edward Gorey).
The Broadway producers established a road company that toured the U.S. in 1978 and 1979, with Jean LeClerc as Dracula and George Martin as Van Helsing. Jeremy Brett starred as Dracula in Denver, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Chicago. The U.S. revival also sparked a new production in London, where it opened on 13 September 1978 at the Shaftsbury Theatre. Terence Stamp took the title role, with Derek Godfrey as Van Helsing and Rosalind Ayres as Lucy.
Plot of the play
Plot of original version by H. Deane Jonathan Harker and Dr. Seward discuss the condition of Harker's wife, Mina. She has had bad dreams and grows pale and weak. Dr. Seward has sent for Professor Van Helsing. They also talk about Harkers' extravagant new neighbor, Count Dracula. Harker helped him to buy property in London, including Carfax Abbey, next door to both the Harkers’ residence and to Dr. Seward's asylum. Dracula, meanwhile, comes on a visit and hypnotizes the Harkers’ maid to do his bidding at his command. Abraham Van Helsing arrives to help with Mina's case. Seward tells Van Helsing about Lucy Westenra, a friend of Mina's, who complained about bad dreams and had two small marks on her throat before inexplicably wasting away and dying. Seward was in love with Lucy, but she chose his friend, Lord Godalming, instead.Act 1, “Dracula The Vampire Play” by H. Deane Van Helsing sends for Mrs. Harker, who tells Van Helsing about her bad dreams. Upon examination, he finds two small marks on her neck. Van Helsing also meets Harker, Godalming and Quincy Morris, a young feisty American girl and close friend of the Harkers, as well as of Godalming and Seward. Suddenly Mina tries to leave the room in a trance, saying “He is calling me," but Van Helsing stops her and persuades her to go to her room to rest. He asks Miss Morris to fetch a package he had shipped in from Holland and urges Harker and Godalming to keep an eye on Mina and to not leave her alone even for a moment. Van Helsing tells Seward that Mina has been attacked by a vampire, an undead creature that feeds on the blood of the living. They hear a commotion coming from Dr. Seward's asylum from one of his patients called Renfield, who is obsessed with eating flies. After Seward leaves to check on him, Van Helsing is approached by Dracula. Van Helsing points to him that he didn't notice how he entered the room, as he didn't see his reflection in room's mirror. Dracula considers smashing the mirror, but changes his mind. Miss Morris returns with a parcel for Van Helsing, who shows Dracula what he has prescribed for Mina - garlic flowers. This enrages Dracula, who promptly leaves. Van Helsing decides to watch Mina in her sleep to catch the vampire. He invites Mina to come lie down on the couch. After Van Helsing turns off the lights, Dracula appears in the dark near Mina, expressing his pleasure of seeing her alone at last, causing her to scream. When others burst into the room and switch on the lights, Dracula has vanished. Moments later, Dracula returns through the door the others had just entered and asks if Mina is better.
Van Helsing, Harker, Seward and Miss Morris gather to discuss what they have learned. Van Helsing says that Dracula is the vampire, who is causing Mina's illness and they must stop him, but nobody else must know about it. They hear Renfield laugh and realize he has been spying on them. Renfield enters and asks to be sent away to save his soul. Mina and Godalming join the group and Renfield begs Mina to leave the place in order to save herself. Renfield is interrupted when a bat flies past, outside the window. He calls the bat "Master" and swears he is loyal. He is taken away back to his room. Van Helsing hangs garlic flowers around Mina's neck and instructs her not to remove them. They leave Mina as she is about to go to bedroom. Suddenly she feels dizzy, the maid enters and removes the flowers. Just as the maid is about to open the window, she sees a bat flutter against the glass, trying to enter, and runs to fetch Harker. The window's glass breaks, billowing mist creeps into the room, solidifying into Dracula as Mina looks on in horror.Act 2, “Dracula The Vampire Play” by H.Deane
Three days later Godalming, Harker and Miss Morris have located and purified five of Dracula's boxes of earth, leaving the sixth in Carfax to trap the Count there. Miss Morris also points to latest newspaper describing mysterious cases of missing children, who tell stories of spending the night with a strange beautiful lady and were found in the morning with wounds on their necks. Van Helsing explains that the wounds were caused by undead Lucy and that they should put a stake through her heart to save her soul after they're done with Dracula - much to the shock of Godalming. When others leave the room, Renfield bursts in and begs remaining Dr. Seward to save him, as Dracula intends to kill Renfield for betraying him. Seward runs to fetch Van Helsing, but Dracula appears and snaps Renfield's neck, breaking his spine. Dracula wants to leave but is thwarted by Seward, Van Helsing, Godalming, Miss Morris and Harker, who block the exits and close in on Dracula. Dracula snarls at them and vanishes. The men go to Carfax, where they find Dracula in his coffin and drive a stake through his heart. Miss Morris and Mina stand in the doorway. Mina covers her face with her hands as Dracula is staked. Van Helsing says a short prayer.Act 3, “Dracula The Vampire Play” by H. Deane
Plot of revised version by John L. Balderston