Staging the Vampire

Beginning in the early nineteenth century, in the wake of the publication of John Polidori’s The Vampire, a vogue for vampire plays began in London and Paris. A new stage technology was even created for the monster, the so-called “Vampire Trap.” For almost a century, plays based on Polidori’s novel, as well as satires and parodies of it, dominated the stage. The publication of Dracula by Bram Stoker, a theater manager and friend and employee of celebrated actor Henry Irving once again brought the vampire to the stage in an adaptation by Hamilton Dean and John Balderston, although Stoker’s own experiences with the theater infuse the original novel and the vampire himself is based on Irving. The vampire is inherently a theatrical monster, often shown as performing at being human, and Dracula makes that abundantly clear.