Drama: Hampton High rolls out classic production next week

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Erin Dwyer
For the Telegraph-Journal

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HAMPTON - Hampton High School's fall production has some bite this year.

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Cindy Wilson/Telegraph-Journal

Dracula, played by Alex Donovan, leans in on Jonathan Harper, played by Tom Hearn, during a dress rehearsal for ‘Dracula’.

After serious productions of Our Town and Macbeth, director Shane MacMillan decided to stage Dracula for the school's first production this school year.

"I really wanted to aim toward a project that I thought my students could have some fun with and something that they'd take an interest in," he said. "And vampires are such a craze right now."

With the latest Twilight film hitting the big screen Thursday night, and all the bloodsuckers on television, there are more vampires out there than you can shake a stake at. Even the Count on Sesame Street turned 40 this month.

"With every generation, there is a new vampire that the public becomes fascinated with," MacMillan said. "They just don't die. Quite fittingly, it's a genre that doesn't seem to fade away."

The most famous vampire of all, however, still remains of the Transylvanian variety, and Hampton High's production, which opens Wednesday, is a chill-worthy version by playwright Steven Deitz of the famous Bram Stoker story. It follows the 1897 novel closely, recounting Dracula's journey to England where he terrorizes the country and stalks two women before he is defeated.

MacMillan said the students were enthusiastic about the choice of play. Some of the cast members, upon hearing of MacMillan's plans last spring, took the summer to read the novel and educate themselves about the legends surrounding vampires.

"They were pleasantly surprised at what a good book it really is," he said. "Like it or not, indirectly, this is a book that has inspired millions of young children to read."

MacMillan is not sure why generation after generation seems fascinated by these blood-sucking legends.

"But I think they love to be scared," he said. "People love to be frightened."

The set and costumes will all add to the spooky atmosphere of the production. While some of the Victorian costumes have been recycled from last fall's production of Our Town, Count Dracula and four of his blood-sucking conspirators - as well as two characters who become vampires - have been outfitted with fangs from a local denturist.

"They are the real thing," MacMillan said. "They went in and took impressions and they now look like vampires."

Portraying Count Dracula is Grade 12 student Alex Donovan, who this spring portrayed Macbeth. Ellen Hickey is playing Lucy, who suddenly becomes very ill and begins sleepwalking, which concerns her friend, Mina, played by Kyrsti Boye. Concerned for her friend's health, Mina sends for Lucy's love interest, Dr. John Seward (played by Aaron Ellis), an asylum psychologist who is obsessed with a patient named Renfield, portrayed by Patrick Kelly. After Seward examines Lucy, he notices bite marks on her neck and sends for his old pal Prof. Abraham van Helsing, played by Matt Koval.

While Lucy seems to be recovering, Mina's fiancé, Jonathan Harker (played by Tom Hearn), returns mentally disturbed from a business trip selling land in the Carthapian Mountains in Transylvania to a Count Dracula.

The play, which recounts this group of characters' efforts to kill Dracula, has some darker moments, and MacMillan warns it's not suitable for children in elementary school.

"It's Dracula," he said. "It's a scary story."

The play runs from next Wednesday to Friday with curtain time at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale at Hampton Pharmasave and the Hampton High School library. They are $10 in advance or $12 at the door.