DRACULA

PROLOGUE

Scene 1. Dracula's Despair
In fifteenth-century Transylvania, Count Vlad Dracula rides to war against the Turks to defend his homeland. Rumours of his death soon spread, and his grief-stricken wife Elizabeth, believing herself a widow, throws herself from the castle tower. When Dracula returns to find her gone, he is consumed by despair. The clergy refuse to grant burial rites to a suicide, and in his anguish, Dracula renounces God and humanity — transforming into a vampire.

Scene 2. Jonathan's Farewell
London, 1897. Jonathan Harker, a young solicitor, prepares to travel to Transylvania to finalise a property purchase on behalf of the mysterious Count Dracula. Before his departure, he and his fiancée Mina visit the home of Mrs Westenra to bid farewell to their friends. Mrs Westenra, who suffers from a heart condition, is being courted by the eccentric Professor Van Helsing. Her vivacious daughter Lucy is pursued by two admirers: the aristocrat Arthur Holmwood and the psychiatrist Dr Jack Seward. Lucy favours Arthur. Mina, meanwhile, is filled with foreboding about Jonathan's journey and, as she says her goodbyes, gives him a portrait of herself as a keepsake.

ACT I - TRANSYLVANIA

Scene 1. In Front of Dracula's Castle
Jonathan arrives by coach at the Count's remote castle. Among his fellow passengers is a mother travelling with her baby and young child. When Jonathan alights and approaches the castle alone, the remaining passengers are gripped by an inexplicable dread.

Scene 2. The Party at the Count's
A gathering is underway inside the castle. Jonathan, as yet unaware that he is among vampires, feels increasingly uneasy as a group of women press themselves upon him. Dracula eventually dismisses the company so that he and Jonathan can attend to the property transaction — though the Count shows little real interest in the matter. When Jonathan accidentally cuts his finger, Dracula is overcome with excitement and attempts to suck the blood from his guest's hand. His attention is then caught by Mina's portrait, which Jonathan carries with him; the young woman bears a striking resemblance to his beloved wife Elizabeth, and the Count is transfixed.

Left alone, the exhausted Jonathan drifts into a half-sleep, during which the women from the gathering return to torment him. Dracula intervenes — but his means of distracting them is horrifying: he offers them the body of a baby. Jonathan wakes with a start and, disturbed by what he has witnessed, follows the Count through the castle. Outside the gates, the mother from the coach stands in anguish, searching desperately for her lost children. The nuns have found just one of her children, it is then the mother realises that her infant is gone forever.

Scene 3. The Vampires' Lair
Deep in the castle's vaults, the vampires gather for their ghastly rites. Dracula presides, sealing his companions into their resting boxes before taking his own place. Jonathan creeps in after him and watches in horror as the lid of Dracula's box closes. When he lifts it, the Count seizes him and tries to drag him inside. At that moment the grief-stricken mother appears in the vault, holding a cross aloft. Dracula recoils, and the courageous woman leads a shaken Jonathan to safety.

Scene 2. Lucy's Engagement
Mrs Westenra is hosting an engagement party for Lucy and Arthur. As the guests spill into the garden, Lucy, weary from dancing, falls asleep in a chair — and Dracula appears beside her. A taste of fresh blood restores him to the form of the young Count Vlad, who slips unnoticed back among the returning guests.

Concerned by Lucy's pallor and sudden frailty, Mrs Westenra turns to Dr Seward and Professor Van Helsing, who discovers a bite mark on Lucy's neck. As the unsuspecting guests continue to celebrate, Mina notices the handsome stranger in their midst — and the Count, in turn, recognises her as the young woman from Jonathan's portrait. A powerful, unsettling fascination takes hold between them.

Mrs Westenra, alarmed by her daughter's deteriorating condition, begins to wind up the party. Mina stays behind, disturbed by her own unaccountable attraction to a man she does not know. She then watches in horror as Lucy sleepwalks straight into Dracula's arms. Mina's presence unsettles the vampire and he withdraws, leaving Lucy in a faint. Mina wakes her friend and realises with a chill that the man who captivated her that evening is the same one who has been preying on Lucy.

Mrs Westenra returns with Dr Seward and Van Helsing. Suspecting a vampire, Van Helsing surrounds Lucy with garlic and crucifixes to ward off further attack, and the household settles in to watch over her. Mrs Westenra falls asleep at her post and wakes to find Dracula in the room; the shock brings on a fatal heart attack. As she dies, she inadvertently destroys Van Helsing's protections. With nothing to hold him back, Dracula drains Lucy of the last of her blood. By the time her friends rush in, both women are dead.

Scene 3. Renfield's Transformation
Mina is reunited with Jonathan on his return from Transylvania, but her joy is shadowed by grief and by the lingering memory of the mysterious stranger. Together they visit Dr Seward's asylum, where Arthur and Van Helsing are also gathered. When Renfield catches sight of Mina, he becomes agitated in a way that seems less like madness than desperate warning — as though he is trying to protect her. While Van Helsing attempts to calm him, Dracula and the newly turned vampire Lucy watch through the window, their expressions dark with hunger.

Scene 4. Lucy the Vampire
Lucy now hunts with the vampires by night. Her friends go to the cemetery to try to save her, opening her grave — only to find it empty. Lucy circles in the shadows, drawn irresistibly towards Arthur, seeking to give him the kiss that would condemn him. Van Helsing intervenes in time. Dr Seward drives an aspen stake through her heart, and Arthur — in an act of terrible love — severs her head, freeing her at last from her undead existence.

Scene 5. Dracula's Death
Mina rushes to the asylum, hoping to protect Renfield from the Count's vengeance, but arrives too late and watches him die. Her confrontation with Dracula that follows is charged with an intensity that can no longer be denied. He shows her the portrait of Elizabeth, and in that moment, Mina understands the full measure of his grief and longing. She surrenders to his power.

Jonathan and the others return from the cemetery to find the scene with alarm. Dracula attempts to hide, and as the men give chase, Jonathan remains behind to guard Mina.

Now restored to his ancient form, Dracula returns and is drawn once more towards her. A struggle breaks out; he is wounded, but Mina steps between him and the others, shielding him. Overcome with emotion, she kisses the aged vampire. Moved by her tenderness — and determined to spare her from sharing his fate — he persuades Mina to drive a stake through his heart, releasing him at last from centuries of suffering.

In dying, he becomes the young Count Dracula once more.