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When Dracula came to Town

An image of Dracula

When Bram Stoker wrote the classic horror story ‘Dracula’ in 1897 he would have never, even in his most optimistic moments, have anticipated the cultural phenomenon that would follow his tale about the evil Count.

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Since it was published in 1897, Bram Stoker's Dracula has never gone out of print with the book also translated into multiple languages – ironically considering the subject matter putting it on a par with the bible in terms of popularity – and has seen over 200 movies to date featuring the Count in a major role.

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2024 saw the centenary of the stage adaptation of Dracula and its debut wasn’t in the glitzy West End of London but in Derby – at the Grand Theatre on Babington Lane to be precise.

The stage play itself was written by the Irish actor and playwright Hamilton Deane and was the first authorised adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel.

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In the almost 100 years that have passed since its debut on the stage, people’s sensibilities have of course shifted substantially. Nowadays countless horror films are available at the mere click of a button on platforms such as Netflix, but it was a different world in 1924. So different in fact that for Dracula’s initial three-night run precautionary measures were taken with a nurse patrolling the aisles to aid terror-stricken members of the audience!

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The premier itself took place on Thursday May 15, 1924 - tickets would have set you back anything between 8d to 3/6 (three shillings and sixpence) - and the following day it was met with an enthusiastic review in the Derby Daily Telegraph.

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Described as a ‘noteworthy production’ it was said that when the curtains fell just after 11pm ‘half the audience were in a frenzy of applause, while the remainder were in a state of nervous prostration’.

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One of the compliments paid by the newspaper succeeded in praising the production highly whilst still managing to take a dig at the horror genre generally when it said that while, ‘under the spell of the breathless action and excellent acting one forgets the absolute twaddle to which one is listening. The utter drivel of were-wolves, vampires, and undead, which provokes nothing but laughter in the sane light of day, becomes dreadful reality in the awful semi-darkness of the stage.’

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Derby was just the beginning of the story for the stage adaptation of Dracula. This production toured England for three years before settling in London. The Little Theatre in the Adelphi hosted the play first from February 14, 1927 with the need to accommodate larger audiences leading to it being transferred firstly to the Duke of York’s Theatre and then onto the Prince of Wales Theatre.

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In that very same year the play was brought to Broadway by producer Horace Liveright and this would have come as no surprise to Hamilton Deane who had received two enquiries from America by 11.30am on the morning after its debut in Derby!

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Of course, the next natural progression was for Dracula to move onto the silver screen – and as mentioned at the start of the article - there have been countless films made. Nevertheless, each and every one of those films can trace their origins back to the stage adaptation and that my friends, began in Derby.

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