Broadway on Showtime: Passion of Dracula – review

Director: Bob Hall

First Aired: 1980

Contains spoilers

This stage play version of Dracula (based around the 1979 Bob Hall and David Richmond adaptation) was recorded for television at the Ed Sullivan Theatre and its theatrical pedigree can be seen in the staginess of the production. It is set in 1910 and limited to a single set – the drawing room of the living quarters in the sanatorium of Dr Cedric Seward (Gordon Chater). This is reminiscent of the authorised Dracula plays of Deane and Balderstone, which also limited locations.

This is not necessarily an easy broadcast to source and the version I watched was a washed-out version but it was still fascinating.

Malachi Throne as Van Helsing

So, the cast changes thusly – we have the (forename changed) Dr Seward, whose niece Wilhelmina Murray (Julia MacKenzie), known as Willie, is suffering from a mystery ailment. To help ascertain her diagnosis and treatment his acquaintance Abraham Van Helsing (Malachi Throne) is visiting but we also have the fascinating Austrian Doctor Helga Van Zandt (Alice B. White), a Freudian psychiatrist. She essentially takes on a Lucy role as we discover her affair with married Lord Godalming (K.C. Wilson).

Elliot Vileen as Renfield

Also within the cast we get the patient Renfield (Elliot Vileen) who is constantly escaping (and referring to a nameless master) and so we often see him chased down by orderly/butler Jameson (Brian Bell). Into the fray comes reporter Jonathan Harker (Samuel Maupin) who is looking to tie lapses in sanatorium security with the murder of three girls with their throats torn out that have occurred in the vicinity of Whitby. He and Willie quickly bond.

Renfield and Dracula

Dracula (Christopher Bernau) is there also – living in nearby Carfax abbey and posing as a folklorist. Van Zandt states she would love to psychoanalyse him. Clearly he is murderous (we can assume he is the killer of the three locals) and when he kills Van Zandt it is in one attack, rather than over time. So why take his time with Willie? His designs on her are different, he has a desire to make her a bride and breed with her and she must come willingly to him.

Dracula and Willie

As I mentioned this is incredibly stagey, with the cast indulging in high theatrics. There is a streak of comedy through this and I rather enjoyed it for the high camp it represented – despite the bad transfer. It would be nice to get hold of a decent transfer, though I suspect that is unlikely. Still, it is a refreshingly different story despite seeming awfully familiar in places (given its proximity, in many regards, to the Balderstone treatment). The imdb page is here.