SEWARD
This is what happened: Two nights ago the professor and I came here – with good purpose, believe me. We opened this coffin, which was then sealed up, and we found it, as through the trees. Completely empty! No body at all.
VAN HELSING
And the next day we came here in daytime, and she lay there. Did she not, friend Jack?
SEWARD
Yes. She did. On mine honor, I can vouch for it. That night we were just in time. The papers had announced another sighting of the so-called “Bloofer Lady”. One more small child was missing. We found it, thank God, unharmed amongst the graves.
VAN HELSING
Yesterday I came here before sundown, for at sundown the Un-Dead can move.
MORRIS
The what?
GODALMING
Un-Dead?
VAN HELSING
Ja. It is a term for that which is neither of this world nor the underworld beyond.
GODALMING
Is my Lucy alive?
VAN HELSING
(Makes the universal sign with his hand meaning “More or Less”)
Ehhhhhhh.
GODALMING
What does that mean?!
HARKER
Tell us more.
VAN HELSING
I waited here all the night till the sun rose, but I saw nothing. It was most probable that it was because I had laid over the clamps of those doors, garlic, which the vampire, or Un-Dead, cannot bear, and other things which they shun. Last night there was no exodus, so tonight before the sundown I took away my garlic and other things. And so it is, we find this coffin empty. But bear with me. So far there is much that is strange. Wait you with me within, unseen and unheard, and things much stranger are yet to be.
GODALMING
I simply cannot believe that this, this so-called “Bloofer Lady”, this child ravager is the work of my poor deceased Lucy!
VAN HELSING
Believe it, Arthur.
HARKER
I have several times encountered Count Dracula, the vampire king. I know it all to be true.
VAN HELSING
I am keeping the tomb open. So that the Un-Dead may return.
MORRIS
And is that stuff you have put there going to do it?
VAN HELSING
Always does.
GODALMING
Great Scott! What sort of game are you playing, Van Helsing?
VAN HELSING
It is no game, I assure you, Lord Godalming.
GODALMING
What is that?
VAN HELSING
The host. I brought it from Amsterdam. It is the Holy wafer. I have an indulgence.
(Lighting change, music in, a strange sound and smoke billows in bringing with it the vampire, Lucy!)
HARKER
Make haste, gentlemen! The thing arrives!
VAN HELSING
Hide yourselves!
(Lucy enters in the red velvet wedding dress within which she was buried. She glides in amongst red smoke and fog. She is clearly a full-fledged vampire, newly un-dead. She carries a small living boy with her.)
GODALMING
It is her face.
HARKER
And yet how changed!
GODALMING
Good Lord! She’s carrying someone’s child!
SEWARD
Her sweetness has turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty.
MORRIS
Her lips are crimson with fresh blood.
GODALMING
What was it that stained the purity of her death-robe?
HARKER
Van Helsing, your iron nerve is failing?
VAN HELSING
No. It is a thing.
MORRIS
It bears her shape, yet it is nothing more than a thing.
VAN HELSING
And the babe is her feast. We must save the boy…
(Van Helsing leaps out from his hiding spot and waves his torch. This distracts Lucy who drops the boy. The boy escapes, running out of the tomb. Lucy hisses at Van Helsing, till she sees Godalming.)
LUCY
Come to me, Arthur. Leave these others and come to me. My arms are hungry for you. Come, and we can rest together. Come, my husband, come!
GODALMING
How I miss you!
LUCY
Now, we can be together for all eternity, my Love. Come to me!
(She steps into her own coffin as though crawling into bed to make love to Arthur.)
SEWARD
Arthur, stay back! It is nothing more than an illusion! She is no more your Lucy than an apparition.
VAN HELSING
Shall I move forward, Arthur? Have you seen enough now?
GODALMING
I miss her so.
(Lucy slowly, gradually lies back in the coffin, she closes her eyes and crosses her arms. She has gone back into her sleep-state.)
VAN HELSING
Answer me, my friend! Am I to continue in my work?!
GODALMING
Do as you will, Professor: Do as you will! There can be no horror like this, ever! Anymore!
VAN HELSING
Come now, my friends.
SEWARD
My friend, Arthur, you shall undergo a sore trial. But after, when you will look back, you will see how all this was necessary.
GODALMING
Is this really Lucy’s body or only a devil in her shape?
HARKER
Her visage, her appearance is as you had known her in life. But within seethes a vampire, make no mistake.
GODALMING
My true friends, from the bottom of my broken heart, I thank you all.
MORRIS
Just follow the Professor’s orders. And let’s put this thing down like a sick horse.
GODALMING
Tell me what I am to do and I shall not falter.
VAN HELSING
Brave lad. A moment’s courage and it is done. This stake must be driven through her. It will be a fearful ordeal – be not deceived in that – but it will be only a short time and you will then rejoice more than your pain was great; from this grim tomb you will emerge as though you tread on air. But you must not falter when once you have begun. Only think that we, your true friends, are ’round you, and that we pray for you all the time.
GODALMING
Go on. Tell me what I am to do.
VAN HELSING
Take this stake in your left hand, ready to place the point over the heart, her left breast. And take the hammer in your right. Then when we begin the prayer for the dead, I shall read it. I have here the book, and the others shall follow – strike in God’s name, so that all may be well with the dead that we love, and assurance that the Un-Dead shall pass away. Now.
GODALMING
’Tis Lucy as I have seen her in life, with the face of unequalled sweetness and purity.
VAN HELSING
True, she is now beautiful once more. And now we must stuff her mouth with garlic and decapitate!
GODALMING
That I cannot do.
MORRIS
Step aside, Art!
(Music. Morris, Seward, and Harker take turns hammering the stake into her heart. She reacts with hissing and arms lifting upward. Blood sprays upward. The men finish the job. Lucy is still, presumably incapacitated. Music dies out to silence. All is quiet.)
VAN HELSING
Lord Godalming. Come, it is now safe. You may take one last look at her.
(Godalming crosses slowly to the coffin. He peers down at Lucy’s still, lifeless body. A beat. Then in a dramatic and unexpected ‘jump-scare’, Luc
y screams, bolts upward to grab Godalming. She flails, writhes, screams more and goes into frightening convulsions. She has previously been rigged by the actors with a device giving the illusion that a stake has run through her. The end of it jutting out her chest, the point clearly visible by several inches from her back.)
VAN HELSING
Arthur, look away! Hold her down, men!
(Music. He begins hammering another stake into her chest. This time one long enough to jut out from the bottom of the coffin, ostensibly pinning her there.)
VAN HELSING
Take her coffin and the remains of her body out of this now sanctified tomb. For there is a terrible task before us! Come!
(They do as instructed. Exeunt.)
[END OF SCENE]
Scene 3
“Baptism of Blood”
[Whitby Asylum]
(Harker and Mina are in the room provided them by Dr. Seward. Though, it isn’t what Mina anticipated for their honeymoon suite, she is upbeat and happy that she is with her husband.)
MINA
Who would’ve thought that upon our wedding, the honeymoon would unfold within the confines of a lunatic asylum.
(They kiss)
HARKER
Indeed, some might argue that it’s a fitting commentary on the institution of marriage.
MINA
Oh, Jonathan.
HARKER
Regardless. You are safe with me now.
MINA
Yes, I am… It’s a little close in here. Mind if I crack open the window?
(Music)
JONATHAN
Please do. Mina,…. Are you as tired as I am?
MINA
Well, now that you mention it, I do feel rather a bit fatigued.
JONATHAN
It’s more than that. I’m almost drowsy.
MINA
Lie down, dear. Rest yourself.
(Music. Jonathan falls into a deep sleep. Dracula mysteriously appears in the room having put Jonathan under and Mina into a trance. He approaches her, reveals his left wrist, cuts it so that it bleeds and places Mina’s mouth to the wound. In her trance, she is helpless and ingests his tainted blood. However, he does not have a chance to bite her and ingest her blood completing the communion. For all of a sudden, the male hunters burst into the room, find Jonathan out cold, and Mina within the grasp of the vampire. They raise their crucifixes to him, Van Helsing tosses Holy water upon the beast and Dracula recoils, hissing. Mina breaks free from his hold.)
VAN HELSING
Unhand her, Beast!
GODALMING
Mina, break away!
SEWARD
I’ll see to Jonathan.
VAN HELSING
We’re here just in time. She has ingested his blood, but he hadn’t time to consume hers. The vampire’s baptism of blood is not complete. She still has a chance.
SEWARD
He’s out cold. I’ll use water.
DRACULA
You think to baffle me? You, with your pale faces all in a row. Like sheep in a butcher’s. You shall be sorry yet, each one of you! You think you shall leave me without a place to rest; but I have more. My revenge is just begun! I spread it over centuries and time is on my side. Your girls that you all love are mine already; and through them you and others shall yet be mine – my creatures, to do my bidding and to be my jackals when I want to feed!
VAN HELSING
How dare you try to infect yet another with your evil!
DRACULA
Now, you shall speak to me? Oh tell me, thou dry men of science, what you see with those oh so bright eyes. “Omne ignotum pro magnifico!” Everything that is unknown seems wonderful!
VAN HELSING
I marvel your facility with languages, particularly Latin.
DRACULA
Ah, yes, Latin. It is the language of the Holy, is it not?
VAN HELSING
It is also the language of Satan, himself!
DRACULA
Call me what you will, Van Helsing. But, think you so little of me that you can control my movements? My powers emanate from darkness, a place you fear. I have lived a thousand lives! Think you that it is as simple as six mortals to kill me? You cannot destroy pure evil, for like the energy of the wicked one can neither create or negate, but only observe how it may change form. And in a flash of fire can I vanish, escape, and travel great distances at speeds you cannot imagine! I shall fly from here as a winged devil, where my powers will increase, and my thirst for blood will be quenched. This young girl will forever be under my will! Come after me, if you wish. It is at your peril. When next you see me, it shall be your undoing!
(Dracula vanishes.)
MORRIS
He’s gone!
GODALMING
Vanished into the dawn!
SEWARD
Well, at the very least, if he gets caught in the morning’s sunlight, he will evaporate into nothing.
VAN HELSING
No, My friend, I’m afraid you’re wrong. The toxic relationship between morning’s rays and the strigoi has been somewhat exaggerated over the centuries. Though, the light of day may in fact weaken the vampire’s powers temporarily, its effects are not altogether deadly to him. It merely lessens his strength, allowing hunters to gain advantage. Come, help Mr. and Mrs. Harker. Bring them with us where they shall be safer. We are protected by the crucifix, the garlic, holy water and scripture! To Doctor Seward’s office. I will attempt hypnosis on Mrs. Harker to discover where the vampire has fled!
(Exeunt)
[END OF SCENE]
Scene 4
“Darkness and the Swirling of Water”
[Whitby Asylum]
(Harker goes to one side of the stage. He opens his journal. And begins writing with quill. Van Helsing, Mina, Godalming, Morris and Seward stay gathered in the room. Mina now sitting at the foot of the bed…)
HARKER
(Writing in his journal.)
And so it was, that Professor Van Helsing placed Mina at the foot of the bed in the makeshift ‘guest bedroom’ at Whitby Asylum. The theory behind the attempt at hypnotism, the Professor told us, was that…
VAN HELSING
…Mina having just experienced a dream-state in which her will is not her own, she will be more susceptible. And since the Count has linked himself to her mind, she may be able to reveal clues about his new whereabouts. So now I shall…
HARKER
…Dangle a gold watch in front of her and swung it carefully from side to side. Mina gazed at him fixedly for a few seconds during which my own heart beat like a trip hammer, for I felt that our crisis was soon at hand. There was a far away look in her eyes, and her voice had a sad dreaminess that was new to me. Van Helsing asked her…
VAN HELSING
Mrs. Harker,… Where are you?
HARKER
She responded that there was…
MINA
…darkness and the swirling of water.
HARKER
She further noted that she could…
MINA
…see a large crate that seems to have fresh soil scattered about its lid.
HARKER
When asked what she heard, she told us…
MINA
…the creaking of old wood. And then the lapping of water, and waves leaping about.
HARKER
The Professor deduced that the Count had been carried in one of his crates of dirt onto a ship and that the vessel had already embarked on a determined voyage. When we inquired as to which direction, all Mina could say was that she could see…
MINA
…a dark castle in a land beyond the forest.
HARKER
At the which, it w
as determined that Dracula was on his way back to his native Transylvania to hole up in his castle there. Mina, having a powerful symbiosis with Dracula, was able to intuit the path his wagon-train would be taking. Her clairvoyant premonitions allowed her to draw us a map as to the way he was to go. It was decided, however, that to be on the safe side,…
VAN HELSING
…The best plan of action is not to travel as one caravan,…
SEWARD
…as we would surely be a slow-moving target for marauders.
GODALMING
And should Mrs. Mina’s predictions prove faulty?
VAN HELSING
If we divide to conquer, we make it more difficult for his gypsies to follow us.
MORRIS
We’ll stand a better chance of blasting this beast back to Hell.
SEWARD
We travel in pairs.
GODALMING
We rendezvous at the foot of the castle.
HARKER
We realized we had not a moment to lose, that we should pack our bags and take the fastest train in Dracula’s direction we could find,…The Orient Express!
(Train whistle. Music. Another train whistle. The individuals each procure a piece or two of luggage.) (They gather at a designated area to create the illusion of boarding and sitting in a train.)
[END OF SCENE]
Scene 5
“The Orient Express”
[Charing Cross Train Station]
(They gather at a designated area to establish the boarding platform.)
VAN HELSING
Then it’s all set. Mrs. Harker will travel with me. Jonathan, you will go with the Lord Godalming.
GODALMING
‘Arthur’, please. Enough with ‘Lord Godalming’. I shall always remain simply ‘Arthur’ to my friends.
VAN HELSING
Very well, Jonathan and Arthur travel together.
SEWARD
And Quincey and I will blaze our own path.
VAN HELSING
Goot! You all have your kits, your maps, your separate paths to the castle. When we arrive, we must organize with haste.
(Train whistle. Enter Conductor played by the actor who previously played Swales.)
CONDUCTOR
From Charing Cross to Bucharest! ALL ABOARD!!!
(They “board” the train. It is a huddle of the characters sitting on various levels from front being lowest to the last being highest to accommodate the audience being able to see everyone. There is a general, friendly hubbub of ad-libbing as they set down their luggage and find their seats.)
Dracula of Transylvania: The Epic Play in Three Acts Page 10