Dracula

By Bram Stoker

Book Overview

Acclaimed poet and playwright Liz Lochhead's Dracula stays refreshingly close to Bram Stoker's classic novel. Asked to adapt it by the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, she immersed herself in the book. 'After a sleepless night,' she writes in the Introduction, 'my hair was standing on end, what with the mad Renfield in his lunatic asylum eating flies and playing John the Baptist to his coming master... and with Lucy's description of her "dream" of flying with the red-eyed one above the lighthouse at Whitby, and Jonathan's "dream" of the three Vampire Brides' advances upon him and of their being repelled at the last minute by the furious Dracula... 'This was before I'd even got to the abducted children or "the loving hand" of Lucy's fianc? staking her through the heart... or that shocking rape-like bit where, with Mina's newly-wed husband Jonathan asleep in a flushed stupor by her side, Dracula, at her throat, takes his fill of her life's-blood... 'Still, what really attracted me to the story was Rule One for becoming a vampire-victim: "First of all you have to invite him in."' Liz Lochhead's stage adaptation of Dracula was first performed at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in 1985. Ideal for schools and drama groups, this Dracula is all the more chilling for the respect it shows for Stoker's original nightmare creation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1848420293
• ISBN13: 9781848420298
• Release Date: February 2010
• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.0" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

"For the dead travel fast."

Surprisingly, "Denn die Toten reiten schnell" or "For the dead travel fast" is more than an opening line to this tale of love in the dangerous moonlight. After watching several Dracula movies and a few Nosferatu's, I pretty much thought I had a handle on the genre. Little did I know what a wonderful world of mystery and suspense Bram Stoker opened up for me. The story is told mostly by a third party through the papers, diaries, and phonograph recordings (on wax cylinders) of those people involved in a tale so bizarre that it almost defies belief. The general storyline is that of a Count who plans to move to a more urban setting (from Borgo Pass to London) where there is a richer diet. There he finds succulent women; something he can sink his teeth into. Unfortunately for him, a gang of ruffians (including a real estate agent, an asylum director, a Texas cowboy, and an Old Dutch abnormal psychologist) is out to detour his nocturnal munching. They think they have Drac on the run, but with a wing and a prayer, he is always one step ahead. Of more value to the reader is the rich prose chosen by Stoker as he describes the morals and technology of the time. We have to come to grips with or decide if we can perform the rituals that are required to eliminate vampires versus the impropriety of opening graves and staking loved ones. The vamp powers in the book differ from the movie versions in that they are more persuasive and capable of manipulating the local weather. At one point, the Dutch Dr. van Helsing is so overwhelmed by a beautiful vampire lying in the grave that he almost forgets why he is there and may become “vamp chow.” All in all, the story is more about the cunning chase. The question is whether they will succeed in dispatching Dracula, or will Dracula triumph? Remember, "For the dead travel fast."