Count Dracula by Ted Tiller - Skipton Little Theatre

High above the ground in Dr Arthur Seward’s asylum north of London, an autumn evening closes in. From the open French windows, a single light burns in the tallest tower of Castle Carfax across the valley, the home of the new neighbour, Count Dracula. Inside, Dr Seward’s young ward Mina is wasting away. She is pale, weak and plagued by strange dreams, and her fiancé, the young architect Jonathan Harker, is desperate for answers. Mina’s friend Lucy Westenra died of the same mysterious illness only last week.

Dr Seward sends for the brilliant Professor Heinrich Van Helsing, who finds two small wounds at the base of Mina’s throat and an anaemia that is no anaemia at all. Meanwhile the asylum’s most disturbed patient, Renfield, feasts on flies and spiders and raves about his master, and Dr Seward’s scatterbrained sister Sybil pours the sherry and welcomes the elegant Count into the house. As the doors open by themselves and the Count appears and vanishes at will, Van Helsing must convince the household of the truth before Mina is lost for ever.

Ted Tiller’s celebrated three-act adaptation keeps all the dread of Stoker’s novel, with stage illusions, sudden shocks and a seam of dark comedy from Sybil and Renfield. It is a thriller to grip you and a night out to enjoy.

Count Dracula by Ted Tiller, based on Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula. Directed by Richard Wilkinson. Not suitable for children.