Horror at the Lyric - Dracula on the Belfast Stage

The clocks going back, the evenings getting darker earlier and winter approaching are sure signs that Halloween is near. With television and cinema listings brimming with the latest horror movie or classic black and white (and perhaps not so scary) films of the past. It seems theatre audiences were no different in liking a good scare.

Programme cover of the Lyric production of "The
Death of Dracula"

 The archive of the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, shows a production of the Death of Dracula, a version of Bram Stoker's classic gothic novel , Dracula, by Canadian/English playwright (with the suitably spooky surname) Warren Graves. Staged at the Lyric as part of their spring Season in May 1980, the production was a European premiere of the play.

The programme note for the play, written by John Boyd, names Graves as being a founding member of Playwrights Canada and had a special interest in Irish drama, notably, Yeats, O'Casey and Brendan Behan. The play was directed at the Lyric by Tony Dinner and featured John Cunningham as Count Dracula, J.J. Murphy as Professor Van Helsing and Stella McCusker as Lucy Murray.

Graves was born in London, England 5 February 1933 and died in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada in February 2008. Graves moved with his wife and two children to Calgary, Alberta in 1964, and then to Edmonton where he worked as an assistant clerk at the Alberta Legislature. He became a prominent theatre artist and administrator with Walterdale Playhouse before quitting his government job to become a self-employed writer in 1974. 

In a previous interview with the Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project in 2004 when asked about the task of adaption for a playwright entailed, Graves answered:

"Tell a thumping good story that appeals to the common man, make sure it has a beginning, middle and an end, and get the bums on the seats. Respect language as gold and not copper coin to be tossed on the counter.

In my other adaptations, my job has been to make theatrically possible a story that exists in a different medium. I suppose my position about adapting a theatrical work that already exists as a theatrical work would be ––"Why bother?" Why not take the theme and storyline and use them to write an original work? I recall the story of a distinguished Hollywood writer producing an excellent script about a cattle drive for John Wayne and gurgling with delight because nobody recognized that it was an 'adaptation' of Mutiny on the Bounty."

Page of script from Graves' "The Death of Dracula"

The play is an interesting adaptation of an often told and re-told story and offers an archival record of this story of the dark Count once more. The full script of Graves' the Death of Dracula is available as part of the Lyric Theatre Archive, T4/257.

Cast and creative listing for "The Death of Dracula"

For more from the Lyric archive, see catalogue in full here.

Frank McGuinness's "Dracula" at Druid

Draft artwork from production of "Dracula"

While Halloween may just be passing and the season of Samhain and the month of the souls begins, it is hard to ignore the many films, books and plays designed to scare and thrill readers and viewers. The season of Trick or Treat and ghosts and ghouls is especially remembered in Ireland by those writers and playwrights who inspire to scare. From Sheridan La Fanu to Yeats’ occultism to more recent works by the likes of Conor McPherson have thrilled their audiences by exploring the dark realms of the undead and the unknown.

One piece in particular is by an Irishman who gave the world one of the greatest of horror stories. Bram Stoker’s Dracua has terrified young and old for generations. Druid tackled this work in 1986 and in doing so staged a version by the celebrated Frank McGuinness. Starring Sean McGinley, Jane Brennan, Maeliosa Stafford, Michael Ford, Maurice O’Donoghue, Brendan Conroy, Kate Hogan and directed and designed by Monica Frawley, the production explored the original 1897 reflection on the morality of late Victorian times. 

The production file in the Druid theatre archive contains the original play programme, flyers, a copy of the script, colour photographs of the set, invitation to the opening night’s performance, press reviews of the production and colour artworks and drawings that were used as draft ideas for the play poster and programme.  

In the programme a note by Frank McGuinness describes his thoughts on the evolution of the play: “The first monster s I met were made from celluloid; Frankenstein, Dacula, their brides and curse, daughters and revenge. . .What myth lies behind the powerful hold of Dracula on the European imagination? It is the poetry and power, not the period [of the story] that interests me, for Dracula belongs to a diseased universe, full of blood loss and bloodletting madness. He is not the source but a symptom of that universe, longing for its death.” McGuinness’s version is a powerful production and exploration of moral consequence, a failing human nature and lust for power. Through Frawley’s  hugely skilful design and direction it is a performance that was a success for Druid and not just owing to seasonal influences of Halloween: It was actually produced in April of 1986!

Programme cover from "Dracula" at Druid theatre.