Dracula

Written by Bram Stoker and Charles Morey

Narrated by David Selby, John Glover and Full Cast

Before Twilight and True Blood, only one vampire commanded “the children of the night.” In this blood-thirsty tale of unholy terror, Count Dracula slips into Victorian London with a cargo of his native Transylvanian soil - so he can rest between victims. The city seems helpless against his frightful power, and only one man, Dr. Van Helsing, can stop the carnage. But to do this, he must uncover the vampire’s lair and pierce his heart with a wooden stake.

Program note from Rosalind Ayres, director of the live performance by L.A. Theatre Works: “For centuries man has dreamed of a life beyond death. Chinese Emperors were buried with clay armies to protect them in the next world. Egyptian Pharaohs were entombed with all the belongings they would need in the afterlife. But how might it be possible to cheat death itself? Well, try the myth of the Vampire. One who, by constantly drinking the ‘life force,’ the blood of others, could ensure eternal survival.

In Charles Morey's dramatization of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, the creed of the Vampire and the Christian belief in 'life everlasting' is juxtaposed. It's the eternal struggle between good and evil. Plus, the confidence of scientific beliefs and theory, marred only by that uncomfortable shaft of inexplicable fear when something goes 'Bump' in the night. Enter Dracula...”

A L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance featuring:
David Selby as Abraham Van Helsing
John Glover as Renfield
Simon Templeman as Count Dracula
Matthew Wolf as Arthur Holmwood
Moira Quirk as Lucy Westenra
Lisa O’hare as Mina Murray Harker
Nick Toren as Dr. John Seward
Karl Miller as Jonathan Harker
André Sogliuzzo as Maxwell and others
Sheelagh Cullen as Mrs. Westenra and others
Denise Carole as Tart and others

Directed by Rosalind Ayres. Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles.

• Language: English
• Publisher: L.A. Theatre Works
• Release date: Oct 15, 2011
• ISBN: 9781580818339

Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker (1847-1912) was an Irish novelist. Born in Dublin, Stoker suffered from an unknown illness as a young boy before entering school at the age of seven. He would later remark that the time he spent bedridden enabled him to cultivate his imagination, contributing to his later success as a writer. He attended Trinity College, Dublin from 1864, graduating with a BA before returning to obtain an MA in 1875. After university, he worked as a theatre critic, writing a positive review of acclaimed Victorian actor Henry Irving’s production of Hamlet that would spark a lifelong friendship and working relationship between them. In 1878, Stoker married Florence Balcombe before moving to London, where he would work for the next 27 years as business manager of Irving’s influential Lyceum Theatre. Between his work in London and travels abroad with Irving, Stoker befriended such artists as Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman, Hall Caine, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In 1895, having published several works of fiction and nonfiction, Stoker began writing his masterpiece Dracula (1897) while vacationing at the Kilmarnock Arms Hotel in Cruden Bay, Scotland. Stoker continued to write fiction for the rest of his life, achieving moderate success as a novelist. Known more for his association with London theatre during his life, his reputation as an artist has grown since his death, aided in part by film and television adaptations of Dracula, the enduring popularity of the horror genre, and abundant interest in his work from readers and scholars around the world.

Reviews for Dracula

[jenknox · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well, it's Dracula. What more do I really need to say, right? :-)Written back in the 19th century when things were left more to the imagination (which can think up way more horrifying things than anything written), I prefer this to any other novel on vampires that I've read.

[dverdecia-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a very good rendition of Dracula for the young adult. It's not the full version. It has been adapted for the young reader. I remember getting this book as a kid and I remember it putting terror into me.

I highly recommend this book for the young reader. The print is a decent size. It has the correct mixture of pictures and words to keep the young reader interested.

[rainpebble_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dracula by Bram Stoker.my thoughts and comments:The Count is definitely a book of another time, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it. I expected it to be creepier, but as I was yet a teenager the last time I read it, it most likely affected me very differently. I enjoyed the characters in the story. I found it a little long winded at times, but books of that era pretty much are so I am not complaining, just commenting. I would have liked to see more little underlying stories but I thought it quite good and will give it another read in a few more years with a newer different copy.

[dnaej · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The book was filled with unnecessary, long, drawn out conversations. The overall plot was the only thing that kept me reading.

[wonderlandgrrl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The grandfather of all modern vampire fiction - what more can you say

[dbsovereign · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My measure of a great book of suspense is whether or not it reads well out loud, and if that's a good criteria, I think this book succeeds admirably. ((I grew up with folks telling ghost stories around campfires, trying to scare each other.)) Folks might argue that _Frankenstein_ is the more thought-provoking book, but this one scares me on a primal level.

[nu5bibliophile · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Constantly long-winded but I enjoyed how it was narrated from different people through their diary entries or letters. The author's writing was skillful.

[michael8xolotl · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Great beginning, but shortly after events switch to London the writing descends into tedious and poorly written melodrama and just plain bad dialogue (especially Van Helsing's). The Virtue of Manliness! The horror of female carnality! The constant weeping! The expressive nostrils! The latter half of the book is like one long cornpone homily intermixed with, dear my friends, an absurd amount of regurgitation, the manly weeping, and the nostrils of deep feeling. Terrible.

[jasonli_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

"Dracula" is the classic vampie tale from 1897, a mix of mystery and adventure, full of gentlemanly huffing and puffing and unironic sexism.This abridged but digitally-enhanced version of Dracula starts off well: The interactive elements got me to read closer and the plot is strongest when it's in single-protagonist mode. But towards the middle, momentum wears off, and the novelty of interactivity turns into a minor annoyance -- there are only so many pages where I could stand having the text legibility tampered with. Yet it does show promise -- some moments work, and really do help modernize the 1897 classic.

[5eva5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The story, told in an epistolary format, of infamous Count Dracula's attempt to settle in England, and the battle to thwart this attempt, and finish the vampire, by a small group of righteous people, led by equally well-known Professor Abraham Van Helsing. I've seen numerous film-versions based on this story, but this is the first time I've managed to get through the original and I must say it's absolutely fantastic. There isn't much new to say about the actual story since most people are fully aware of what a great and monumental literary masterpiece it is, but I must note that the (unabridged) full-cast audio-version with Alan Cumming and Tim Curry is absolutely excellent and highly, highly recommended.

[nospi-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Read through immersion reading.
Wonderful performances by Alan Cummings and Tim Curry

[giovannuccia · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

A good story told by a bad story tellerI didn't like the writing style (sometimes I was catching myself falling asleep during reading). The main characters seemed to be very superficial, the story is developing really slowly and as a bonus it has disappointing ending.

[entrenous-324372 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this book. The imagery relayed through the articles, letters and diaries of the main characters lets you experience the times and the horror of the circumstances that each is put in. Most notably, Mina and Jonathan Harker along with Dr. Seward all keep detailed recordings of their day to day excursions through happiness and terror. And though Professor Van Helsing bungles at times, they wouldn't have had a chance without his leadership and advanced knowledge of the arcane and paranormal. Meanwhile Lord Godalming and Quincey Morris complete the team like courageous and true gentlemen of the day. Dracula does move about during the day at times and he has a moustache which is a bit odd, but the maniacal lure of his beautifully vampiric victims and his dreadful scenes with Jonathan and Mina leave you rejoicing that you're not, as of yet, one of the Un-Dead.
Victorian Gothic at it's best.

[judygibson-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Just finished the San Diego Library's read-aloud for Halloween. With all the modern re-interpretations of vampire lore, it's interesting to read the one that started it all (nod to Nosferatu). It shows its age but holds up well with many truly creepy passages that have never been surpassed.

[amcheri-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I liked it but not nearly as much as I thought I would. There were some parts that were very intense and I'm certainly happy that I picked it up and read it.

[norabelle414 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Told through letters and journal entries, young lawyer Jonathan Harker goes to visit a new client in very remote eastern Europe and things get weird. When he finally returns home to England, things get weird there, too. 19th century travel takes a long time.I did it! I read Dracula! I’m glad I’ve read it, but I didn’t love it. I enjoyed Mina a lot but the rest of the characters were just okay. I read the sections in chronological order, instead of in the order they appear in the book, which makes a big difference in the first part but no difference for the rest.

[kslade-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good horror story. I remember being scared in my bedroom while I read it.

[othemts · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Reading Dracula for the first time makes me realize that I didn't know Dracula at all!  The film adaptations have never quite captured the book.  I read this as part of Dracula Daily which sends out each diary entry, letter, and news article on the date that each entry is given in the novel.  For about seven months, along with thousands of other readers on Tumblr, it's been like a giant book club as we slowly read this book a bit each day.  It's a fun way to read a book since I gained a lot of insights from other readers' observations and memes.  Oh the memes!The novel's format is very interesting, allowing perspectives from several characters (and some we don't get to hear from at all). And the characters are really great too, especially the two women.  Lucy Westenra is Dracula's first victim upon arriving in England, and Mina Harker around whom a team of vampire hunters coalesce.  In fact, Mina is given credit for assembling and transcribing all the diaries and letters, so Stoker essentially gives her authorship.  All the men are interesting too, from Mina's gentle but determined husband Jonathan to the Dutch polymath Abraham Van Helsing to the American cowboy Quincey Morris.It's a really interesting narrative with a lot of twists and turns and quite different than Nosferatu and Dracula, and other adaptations.  There's a basic wholesomeness to love and friendship among the Harkers and their friends that I just didn't expect from a 19th century novel or a vampire story.  Anyhow, now that I've read it once, I'll definitely want to read it again.

[chris.wolak · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Dracula was the first "big book" or adult reading level book that I read. I remember looking through the Scholastic catalog at school and being surprised to see there was actually a book called Dracula. I loved vampire movies and thought since all of the adults in my life were pestering me to read more that I'd give it a try. I LOVED it. For days I hung out on the hammock in our yard and read that book. I remember loving the detail--the stuff that could never be captured in a movie. After that I read Stephen King's Salem's Lot and a slew of really good and not so good vampire novels. I firmly believe that I own my reading life to Bram Stoker. That burst of enthusiastic reading made the stuff I was reading for school much more palatable. I fondly remember reading The Pearl and The Good Earth from around this time period.

[nx74defiant · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very familiar story. Told in journal entries and letters. Each section starts with telling you whose journal we are reading. Lucy's attack and death happens when Mina is away. For a big part of the middle section all of Dracula's action take place off the page.

[marklacy-355086 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interactive, very enjoyable. I wouldn't have thought I'd be interested enough to read through an old book like this, but I did, thanks in part to the interactive features.

[gbelik_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This worked well as an audio book for me. It did wrap up a little too quickly at the end, I thought. But all in all, a joy to listen to.

[jhemlock-1711 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Stoker is remembered for Dracula for a reason. This book does not envelope many of his political views. They are there...but the story is more of a story.

[ladycato · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was my first time reading Dracula, and I was impressed by how readable it was. The horror vibe is fantastic, the characters well-done (including a brilliant woman protagonist), and the technical telling through diaries, articles, and other media is innovative even now. I was pleasantly surprised by the entire book.

[connorshirs · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved the themes within this story. Stoker could have done so much more with the brides (they were only in two scenes of the story).

[maydacat_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

While the novel itself is certainly spellbinding, this audio version has to be superior to the print book. Narrated by the great Simon Vance, his superb performance enhances the already scary tale into one of unspeakable terror. You may think you know the story of Dracula, but until you read the original one penned by Bram Stoker, you will not have experienced the true horror of the beast. The danger is subtle at first, sneaking up on you, and you may not even realize the depth of the disaster headed your way. Until it’s too late to save yourself.

[infjsarah · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Dracula is one of those stories you think you know because it has become part of popular culture - with a billion spin offs. But in fact you don't. I hadn't intended to read it but had a book scheduled which was related so felt I needed to read it first. I found it a real mixture - some parts were really good and interesting and some bits were deadly slow and I was reading as fast as possible to get past them. And I didn't know the actual story as it turned out. I didn't love it but it was good enough most of the way to get an average score from me. And all the tiny bits which people have used to create their own stories were fun to spot.

[paul_s-289480 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The horror elements (especially compared to modern horror stories) are charming rather than scary. Actually, the whole book is. From the lovable character caricatures to the diary/letter/log entry etc. conceit.

[rolby-945548 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Was not even scary
It started very promising. Jonathan Harker is stuck in a castle and finds out his host is evil. Dracula knows that Jonathan knows that he has sinister plans, but he still acts like he's a really nice guy. I thought that was really scary. Especially the part where Jonathan is shaving and Dracula suddenly comes up without being visible in the mirror really gave me the chills. If it kept going on like that, this book would be great.

For some reason the author decided to turn the book into a story about a few men simping for a girl until she dies. Then they want to take revenge on Dracula, thus it turns into an adventure story. A book really isn't scary when it's about five men who can't be hurt by the enemy because they know its weaknesses and you already know they're going to win. Which they also did, though very underwhelmingly.

Dracula is also very stupid. He doesn't even know about the consequences of his own superpowers, while the professor somehow does. And last but not least, the professor is supposed to be very smart, but he doesnt't speak proper English. Dutch and English are very similar, so I would have expected him to know how to construct grammatically correct sentences. He also speaks German and not Dutch in the book, which is kinda weird?

[nikon_11 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Liked the start then it quickly droned on and on. I have never seen a Dracula film and so this was an introduction of sorts. I think when it came out it must have been brilliant but as the years have rolled by it is now quite dull and somewhat tedious to read