Dracula
Hartford Stage
Hartford
October 17, 2026
The King of Vampires has crossed the pond, with the American premiere of British playwright Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s take on Dracula at the Hartford Stage to kick off its 2026-2027 season.
Malcolm approaches the story from the perspective of Mina Harkers, one of the group of brave souls who go to confront Count Dracula in Bram Stoker’s original. Malcolm’s adaptation sticks to the story beats of the original, with Mina joining her fiancee Jonathan and the other vampire hunters on their mission to avenge the death of her friend Lucy at the hands of the evil Count. The biggest change to the story happens at the end, where instead of being cured of Dracula’s influence once the man is killed, Mina takes his place, using her new powers to bring “freedom” to the people she bites, mainly women.
The standout performance belongs to Scout Backus as the doomed Lucy. Backus is able to display both Lucy’s playful, innocent side as she pines away for true love, and her twisted descent into gruesome vampirism. She embodies the tension at the core of Dracula and all modern vampire stories, recoiling from the horror he represents, until bitten, when she becomes darkly seduced by him.
My main complaint about the play is its structure. The main narrative device has the performers present the story as a play within a play, in which the Harkers are directing the retelling of the tale. Adding the second track of Jonathan and Mina arguing about how the story should be told adds a few laughs at first, but does more to drain the tension out of the main story. Every time the action gets rolling and the suspense builds, the play-within-a-play comes to a screeching halt so Mina can berate Jonathan again.
I’m also not sure the decision to make Mina the main character works completely, if only because Malcolm doesn’t go far enough in reimagining the tale. The description for the physical edition of the script itself states, “In this major new adaptation of Bram Stoker's horror classic, Morgan Lloyd Malcolm uncovers the female voices at the heart of the tale.”
Well, there are only two female voices in the cast, one of which is silenced halfway through the play. The rest of the crew that takes on Dracula are ensemble members, and are treated as such with no development or purpose in the story aside from cannon fodder. It leaves Mina in the position of talking to the audience a lot, which like the overall structure of the play is cool a couple of times, but wears thin. I would have liked to see those ensemble members reimagined as women, to explore some of the themes more deeply, or at least give Mina someone else to talk to.
Despite these complaints, I had a great time at Dracula. It turns out that a flawed adaptation of a classic is still a lot of fun, especially when performed by talented actors and staged by the expert production crew at Hartford Stage. The play is a brisk 90 minutes, with wonderfully moody staging, gorgeous costumes and eerie sounds that bring the dread of the tale to life. There are some funny special effects that I won’t spoil as well.
That’s more than enough to recommend this play. Don’t worry too much about the changes, and enjoy a good retelling of a great story.
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Jamil checks out another new play premiere at South Church.
