In his treatment of standard theater elements—certainly of language—Wellman can be rather vampirish himself. He takes an old word or phrase, drains it dry and then raises it from the dust transformed. Characters in Dracula contort words in eerily brilliant ways, which only grow eerier as they become more possessed (“there is hair growing into my head,” sings one of the particularly mad). When they can’t find the words to describe the alien situations they come upon, they are forced to invent their own (e.g., “zoo-ophagus,” one obsessed with eating life).

In a play where words are so vital, the thrust of the show lies in the actors’ abilities to make their words heard and the effect of those words clear. In this area, the production has its notable flaw. Some of the actors whisk through or swallow their lines; others seem uncomfortable with the accents they have had to adopt. While it is not imperative to catch every bit of dialogue (after all, there’s a lot of it), a few too many viewers at the performance I attended had to turn to their friends for assistance or translation.

Some performers, nevertheless, deserve special praise for their delivery of the language. Jason T. Fitzgerald ’04, playing doomed victim Jonathan Harker lends a cadence and lucidity to the nonsense he spews. And David N. Huyssen ’02, playing Dracula sans black cape (it’s white!) but with a dynamite Transylvanian accent, releases sentences into the air with such surety and depth that they linger like smoke rings.

With the assistance of an able crew, director Gregory J. Gagnon ’04 keeps one continually astonished by what is seen. Throughout the show, the sense of being in another world, one utterly beyond comprehension, is skillfully maintained. And though the ending registers as abrupt and unsatisfying, it is faithfully interpreted.

One of the defining attributes of theater is its immediacy. Dramatic appearances, sudden transformations, suggestive dances and loud screams have a way of impressing themselves upon an audience as they never can on the written page or the film screen.

This Dracula, both the script and the production, is ultimately commendable for its excellent use of its medium. Though it’s hard to tell whether a theatergoer will like or even appreciate this show, what is certain is that it won’t soon be forgotten.