Sep 14, 2025
Bela Lugosi in the late 1920s or early 1930s, as Dracula.
seen from Japan
seen from South Africa
seen from United States
seen from France
seen from China
seen from Kenya
seen from Bangladesh
seen from China
seen from China
seen from Netherlands
seen from Japan
seen from Russia
seen from France
seen from Brazil
seen from China
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seen from United Kingdom
seen from China
seen from China
seen from Saudi Arabia
Bela Lugosi in the late 1920s or early 1930s, as Dracula.
in love w this photo of Béla’s gorgeous/scary makeup for the stage production of Dracula
he liked to do his own makeup for theater, so at some point in the 1930s he was backstage doing fire smokey winged eyeliner for his look as the lord of vampires
I WILL pay money for Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors to be filmed and released somewhere. It looks so amazing and I hope it's been selling out every night
German "Dracula" Play Review 🩸🦇
The Premise/Plot
One incredibly crucial detail that has NOT been communicated in any way prior, is that it was an entirely Dracula-less play, taking immense creative liberty with the whole story. Dracula only "appears" through an audio track voice-over or by "speaking" through his victims, whom he possesses. This leads to the entire third act taking a completely different turn, since no direct confrontation between the Crew of Light and Dracula is possible. Jonathan remembers in a dream séquence that Dracula has bought three estates in England, and the group splits up, wanting to burn them all. Still, they don't find Dracula and figure out that he must still be aboard the stranded Demeter. His coffin, which they find there, is however empty - in a plot twist worthy of Moffat himself van Helsing realizes Dracula has never, not in Transylvania nor England, been a corporal being. Instead, he is more like an evil spirit or illness, possessing, contaminating, speaking and spreading through his subjects.
The Characters
Jonathan's role is reduced to a few short appearances, starting right at his escape from castle Dracula. The rest of the play he spends incredibly weakened and disturbed through the Brides and his "master", who on occasion pokes into his mind and speaks through him. Repeatedly he warns the others that "he" is coming and eventually begs Dracula to come inside him, like he has before. That's. alI have to say.
Dr. Mina Murray is an official doctor in Seward's asylum and his coworker. Renfield implies she and Jack may fancy each other. Mina also cares more about Lucy than Jonathan - whom she is neither engaged to, nor gets the chance to marry him. The play ends with her and Jonathan sacrificing themselves for the greater good. Since both had been possessed by Dracula at some point, they "carry" him and his disease inside themselves and in order to destroy him, they must end their own lives. They decide to burn themselves alive aboard the stranded wreck of the Demeter. Double suicide, yay.
Helsing is played by a woman using a wheelchair - inclusivity wise, this is honestly done really well. In the last scene, he reads the final chapter in Jonathan's diary, written by Mina's hand, possessed by Dracula, revealing that even death won't stop him and he (as a state of infection?) has already spread to countless other Londoners. Mina and Jonathan have therefore died in vain.
Lucy's story is honestly pretty book-accurate. We have it all, the suitor squad, the unexplained illness, the bloofer lady. Her part was my favorite.
Arthur Holmwood. Arthur's actor was a cutie patootie doing an excellent job. The image of him wailing, whimpering and crying over Lucy's corpse TWICE? Absolute fanservice imo
Quincy Morris kept slipping in and out a HEAVY American accent and just randomly dropping English words left and right at whim, like "gun". Please keep in mind that it was an all German play otherwise. Still, I am glad he was there, even if it was in the form of a traumatized war veteran who lost all of his charm he once had by doing that silly voice.
Jack Seward. He was there, I guess.
Renfield was incredible. His actor deserves an Oscar, honestly. The way he bounced back and forth between wild mania, obsession and tortured soul in the blink of an eye? He always appeared with a crew of other people right behind him, almost like glued onto him or like living, writhing shadows, tugging at his shoulders, his hands, whispering into his ear, screaming at him, talking to him, for him. The idea of him hearing voices like that, constantly, is terrifying on its own but when they all suddenly speak in unison in Dracula’s voice? Goosebumps.
All in all
What can I say, it's not a "Dracula" play at all, and that should have been made clear from the start. I don't mind creative liberty but I know for a fact that people who were not familiar with the original were COMPLETELY lost at times. It's a "Crew of Light" Play, if anything. With a very... Dissatisfying ending. The metaphors are all over the place. Is Dracula a mental illness? An STI? A ghost ? A plague? Either way, there were FOUR instances of characters shouting "He's coming! He's coming!" and yet he didn't come. Ultimate edging both for the viewers as for the characters, I guess.
does anyone have a recording of "dracula, a comedy of terrors" that they would be willing to share with me ????
Edit to add: Had a lot of folks asking for a link for this, it was just on youtube and that upload has been taken down.
Found a bootleg of Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors. Obviously it’s going to be better live but….I’d say it was nice. Pleasant enough, friendly enough, and I love the reader’s theatre style staging. I would see this show.
Bela Lugosi with actress Hazel Whitmore in Dracula on stage (circa 1928)
The greatest production of Dracula I ever saw was called “Dracula: Fangs of Destiny”.
The play was produced by Questors Theatre in London and starred five people. Literally, just five. At least two people were playing double parts, and one of the actors was playing Dracula and Van Helsing.
Seriously, there was a moment where Dracula was harassing Jonathan and Quincey in Mina’s bedroom. The dialogue was as follows:
*Dracula flees through the window*
*brief pause for costume change time*
One of the guys: Where’s Van Helsing when you need him?!’
*very obviously out of breath Van Helsing comes running in out of the wings*
“I...I came as quick as I could”