Dracula

Starred review from April 27, 2015
This full-cast production is a masterly depiction of the Victorian gothic ethos in Stoker’s classic tale. Told through a series of letters and diary entries, the novel begins when Count Dracula lures a young English lawyer named Jonathan Harker to his castle in Transylvania under the pretense of a real estate transaction, but Harker soon discovers the count is a vampire and the diabolical intent in the real estate deal. It falls to the resourceful Professor Van Helsing, along with a handful of intrepid heroes, including Harker and his fiancée, Mina, to stop the count’s evil plans. The readers each have a distinctive voice for their characters and do a perfect job of conveying the emotional content of the assorted letters and diaries. Jamie Parker’s portrayal of Harker is particularly stirring, especially as the character slowly pieces together the horrific truth about Dracula. Alison Pettitt succeeds at providing a gamut of emotions for the voice of Mina throughout the story. Each reader hits the mark with precision. For anyone who has never read (or for anyone looking to revisit) this classic tale of gothic horror, this is a fine way to do so.

DRACULA is one of the most well-known stories in the world, yet Britisher Richard E. Grant manages to wring new life from the Bram Stoker classic. Whether he's voicing the naive Jonathan Harker or any of the frightened townsfolk, Grant is a master storyteller. He effortlessly takes on more than a dozen characters, including the deliciously evil Count Dracula himself, with ease and skill. It comes as no surprise that Grant has appeared in numerous films, including DRACULA. Even in this abridged form, the familiar story of the blood-sucking Transylvanian monster is a chilling testament to the ability of the author who wrote the story more than a century ago. M.S. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine


Stoker's classic gothic novel is restructured as an efficient, entertaining audio drama, complete with chilling sound effects and eerie music. Phyllis Logan offers up a strong and feisty but still appropriately vulnerable Mina, and Finlay Welsh perfectly captures Professor Van Helsing's dry and morbid sense of humor. Frederick Jaeger's Count Dracula, when not in full vampire mode, sounds rather like a stuffy businessman, which is a fresh and insightful alternative to the Bela Lugosi stereotype. While knowledge of the novel helps fill in the gaps between scenes, this careful reimagining works on its own and provides a wonderful opportunity for fans to revisit this much-loved story. A.H.A. (c) AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine


Curiosity and dread creep up on the listener as Oscar-nominated actor Michael Fassbender leads a fine group of English and American actors in narrating this crisp and concise BBC Radio adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 vampire classic. The production adheres closely to Stoker's rich nineteenth-century prose as the story is told through diary entries, personal letters, and newspaper clippings. A young lawyer travels to Transylvania to meet a mysterious client and discovers an unbelievable and bloody secret. He races back to England only to find that Count Dracula has already arrived and is threatening the woman he loves. Can Professor Van Helsing, performed wonderfully by the late James Greene, come to the rescue? A great- sounding way to get reacquainted with the original gothic tale of the undead's thirst for blood. B.P. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine