Bram Stoker |
"The dramatic adaptation is by Hamilton
Deans, whose grandfather, Colonel Deans, and the Rev. Abraham Stoker, Bram's
father, lived on adjoining estates in County Dublin.
Young Bram and Hamilton Deane's mother, then a young girl, were great friends. Stoker
had the book 'Dracula' in his mind, and the young people used to discuss its
possibilities. Strange that it should be young Hamilton Deane who has
dramatized the book and brought the play to London."
At the Little Theatre the cast of Dracula
was as follows: Count Dracula, Raymond Huntley; Abraham van Helsing, Hamilton
Deane; Dr. Seward, Stuart Lomath; Jonathan Harker, Bernard Guest; Quincey P.
Morris, Frieda Hearn; Lord Godalming, Peter Jackson; R. M. Renfield, Bernard
Jukes; The Warden, Jack Howarth; The Parlourmaid, Hilda Macleod; The Housemaid,
Betty Murgatroyd; Mina Harker, Dora Mary Patrick.
Confessedly the play was extremely
weak, and yet such is the fascination of this subject that it had an
exceptional success, and triumphantly made its way from theatre to theatre. On
25th July, 1927, Dracula was transferred to the Duke of York's; on the
29th August, following to the Prince of Wales, on 10th October to the Garrick;
and all the while it was given to thronging houses. It has also toured, and at
the present moment is still touring the provincial theatres with the most
marked success, the drama being given with more spirit and vigour than
originally was the case at the Little, and Wilfrid Fletcher in particular
playing the lunatic Renfield with a real touch of wistful pathos and uncanny
horror. This is is extremely instructive, and it is curious that the vogue
of the "vampire play" in London
should be repeated almost exactly after the interval of a century. On 5th
November, 1927, a new version of Dracula by Charles Morrel was presented
at the Court Theatre, Warrington.
In America
the dramatization of Dracula was produced at the Shubert, New Haven, 19th September, 1927. This was
given at the Fulton, New York, upon the following 5th October. Jonathan
Harker was acted by Terence Neil; Abraham Van Helsing by Edward Van Sloan;
Renfield by Bernard Jukes; and Count Dracula by Bela Lugosi.
( Montague
Summers, The Vampire, London 1995, pp. 335-36)
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