Dracula is a stage play written by the Irish actor and playwright Hamilton Deane in 1924, then revised by the American writer John L. Balderston in 1927.

After touring in England, the original version of the play appeared at London's Little Theatre in July 1927, where it was seen by the American producer Horace Liveright.

In the revised story, Abraham Van Helsing investigates the mysterious illness of a young woman, Lucy Seward, with the help of her father and fiancé.

Stoker secured his theatrical rights to the story that same month by holding a staged reading at the Lyceum; this hasty adaptation was never performed again.

[1] In 1899, Hamilton Deane, a young Irish actor whose family owned an estate next to one belonging to Stoker's father, joined Irving's company.

He began working on a theatrical version of Dracula in 1923, and in 1924 he secured the permission of Stoker's widow Florence to stage an authorized adaptation.

[6][a] To stage the production, Deane was required to submit the completed script to the Lord Chamberlain for a license under the Theatres Act 1843 (6 & 7 Vict.

[11] In 1927 the play was brought to Broadway by producer Horace Liveright, who hired John L. Balderston to revise the script for American audiences.

Directed by Ira Hards with scenic design by Joseph A. Physioc, Dracula opened on 5 October 1927 at the Fulton Theatre in New York City.

[12] Raymond Huntley, who had performed the role of Dracula for four years in England, was engaged by Liveright to star in the U.S. touring production.

[13] By the late 1940s, Lugosi's movie career had stalled, and he hoped to revive it by successfully bringing Dracula back to the West End.

Lugosi's involvement got considerable press coverage, but the production received little interest from London theatres and never appeared on the West End.

[18] The original cast of the revival included Frank Langella as Count Dracula (later replaced by Raúl Juliá), Alan Coates as Jonathan Harker, Jerome Dempsey as Abraham Van Helsing, Dillon Evans as Dr. Seward, Baxter Harris as Butterworth, Richard Kavanaugh as R. M. Renfield, Gretchen Oehler as Miss Wells, and Ann Sachs as Lucy Seward.

The Broadway producers established a road company that toured the U.S. in 1978 and 1979, with Jean LeClerc as Dracula and George Martin as Van Helsing.

Seward tells Van Helsing about Lucy Westenra, a friend of Mina's, who complained about bad dreams and had two small marks on her throat before inexplicably wasting away and dying.

He asks Miss Morris to fetch a package he had shipped in from Holland and urges Harker and Godalming to keep an eye on Mina and to not leave her alone even for a moment.

After Van Helsing turns off the lights, Dracula appears in the dark near Mina, expressing his pleasure of seeing her alone at last, causing her to scream.

[26] Three days later Godalming, Harker and Miss Morris have located and purified five of Dracula's boxes of earth, leaving the sixth in Carfax to trap the Count there.

Van Helsing explains that the wounds were caused by undead Lucy and that they should put a stake through her heart to save her soul after they're done with Dracula - much to the shock of Godalming.

Seward tells Van Helsing about Mina Weston, a friend of Lucy's who complained about bad dreams and had two small marks on her throat, then wasted away and died.

When Dracula leaves, Van Helsing tells Seward and Harker that Lucy has been attacked by a vampire, an undead creature that feeds on the blood of the living.

The men follow Renfield into an underground vault, where they find Dracula asleep in his box and drive a stake through his heart.

Deane revised the character into a suave aristocrat, who dresses formally and displays the polite manners expected in a Victorian drawing room.

[31] Although the Count continues to be a foreign visitor in England, he no longer reflects negative stereotypes of eastern Europeans and Jews as he does in the novel.

[8][33] In addition to evening clothes, Deane had Dracula wear a long cape with a high collar, which served the practical purpose of hiding the actor as he slipped through a trapdoor when the vampire was supposed to magically disappear.

At the start of the story, the Harkers are already married, Dracula is in England, and Lucy Westenra (renamed Westera in the play) is dead.

[41] The paper also gave a positive review to the Little Theatre production in London, praising its "breathtaking excitements" and comparing it favorably to the Grand Guignol shows in Paris.

[42] Theatre Magazine complimented Peterson's performance as Lucy in the 1927 Broadway production, calling her "the lightmotif of Dracula ... [whose] fair comeliness shines through every scene like a flood of sunlight in a chamber of horrors".

Laemmle instead considered other actors, including Paul Muni, Chester Morris, Ian Keith, John Wray, Joseph Schildkraut, Arthur Edmund Carewe and William Courtenay.

[45][46] Frank Langella, star of the 1977 Broadway revival, reprised the role of Count Dracula in the 1979 film version directed by John Badham.