On 16th May, 1897, The very first edition of ‘Dracula’, by Bram Stoker, was published. Since then, multiple films, TV series and plays have been produced, all putting their own stamp on the story. Of course, the most famous versions of Dracula are undoubtedly Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee, both horror icons of their time and forever recognised as the undead Count.
However, with so many versions now existing, can anything new be done with the story? After all, there has even been a ‘Blacula’ film and a ‘Dragula’ song (by Rob Zombie, if you must know – and ‘Dragula’ was also the name of Grandpa Munster’s coffin-shaped drag car!)
This new version of the story by Beverley Theatre Company takes a different approach. What if the modern world had never heard of Dracula, because the book had never been published? What if the reason for that was because, in that world, the events had actually happened? And, most importantly, what happens if someone in the modern world finds all the papers that Stoker should have used to write the book, and starts to tell the tale online?
As the details of the story are sporadically published, we see the events of the late 1890s appear before us, taking us from Jonathan Harker’s trip to Transylvania to their bloody conclusion…..and beyond, as the consequences of making the story known are revealed.
