Like the Dracula character itself, popular interest in the creepy Transylvanian vampire just won`t die. Movies about the blood-sucking count continue to be made, including a soon-to-be-released feature by Francis Ford Coppola.
So the Village Theatre of Palatine is doing its bit to sustain the legend by presenting ”Dracula.”
The play is based on the script that made Bela Lugosi a star on the New York stage in 1927 and in the first ”Dracula” film, produced in 1931.
The play`s director, Mark Hardiman, said he was interested in doing the project because ”I`m fascinated by any stories that have to do with our mythic history, and the Dracula character fits right into that. Just about every culture has some kind of legend about a person who draws life from the living.”
Hardiman believes that Dracula will thrive as long as people fear their own mortality. ”We are lured by his character because of our desire to conquer death in some shape or form, which he plays into on two levels,” he said.
”On the one hand, Dracula represents death; if we can kill him, we can conquer death. At the same time, we identify with him because he has managed to stay alive for so many centuries. There`s a duality in what he represents, so we find him both fascinating and abhorrent.”
The Village production, Hardiman said, is intended to leave audience members ”delighted, thrilled and slightly uneasy. It`s a very quiet kind of terror that goes on.”
Most of the gory stuff is left to the imagination. ”I didn`t even see any movies before I started work on this, because movies have become so graphic,” he said.
”In theater, we must compel the audience to use its imagination. In this show we provide lots of clues and symbolic imagery to excite the imagination.”
Palatine actor Ron Culver, who portrays Dracula in the production, sees the character as a charismatic leading man.
”Dracula is suave, romantic, sexy, clever, and intellgient,” Culver said.
”He has to come across as a baron, right? Even though he`s off sucking blood at night, he has to be played as a normal guy who turns into a monster. How else would he survive but by being able to walk among everyday people?”
”Dracula,” which features La Grange`s Ann Marie Pearson as the romantic lead, Lucy Seward, plays at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and at 2:30 p.m. Sundays at Cutting Hall Theatre, 150 E. Wood St., Palatine.
Tickets are $8, with $1 discounts for senior citizens and students on Fridays and Sundays. Call 708-577-7848.
