To mark a milestone anniversary of the publication of the book “Dracula,” the great grandnephew of famed author Bram Stoker has embarked on a year filled with special projects including one that is slated to be part of Charleston’s Piccolo Spoleto Festival starting Thursday.
“Because this is the 125th anniversary, I tweaked my Stoker on Stroker lectures,” said Dacre Stoker, who lives in Aiken and who has spent the past two decades researching the famed member of his family tree, writing several novels and traveling the globe preserving his family’s literary legacy.
For “The Secrets of Dracula Unearthed,” Dacre Stoker has enlisted a couple of actors to bring pieces of “Dracula” as well as parts of Bram Stoker’s biography to life. Andrea St. Amand
and Braxton Williams, appearing as Bram Stoker, will provide a compelling twist to the program.
“There’s one interview that Bram gave that they will act out,” he said.
Also, the actors will do dramatic readings of excerpts from “Dracula,” which was originally published May 26, 1897.
“We performed a very similar show at the Charleston Library Society in October,” he said, and because of the response it received, he decided to apply for the Piccolo Spoleto festival.
Dacre Stoker said that Bram Stoker visited Charleston in 1896 when he was still writing the book and plans to tie that into the presentation.
“Through an audio/visual presentation with dramatic readings by Braxton Williams playing Bram Stoker, they unravel the influences, superstitions and non-fictional events that led to the creation of this beloved supernatural novel. Join them as they reveal unpublished portions of the novel, disclose the recently discovered location of Castle Dracula, and foray into the brilliant mind and influences that created, Dracula,” according to the program’s description at the piccolospoleto.com.
“The Secrets of Dracula Unearthed” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. June 2-4 and at 2 p.m. June 4 and 5 at the College of Charleston’s Chapel Theatre. Tickets are $30.
Dacre Stoker has presented programs in many countries, but Charleston is the closest to home that he’s done one. He said he hopes to rectify that and bring a program to the Aiken-Augusta area soon.
He recently returned from England and Scotland, where he did a special tour related to the publication anniversary. He visited sites in York and Whitby, England and Edinburgh, Cruden Bay and Glasgow, Scotland, which had ties to Bram Stoker and the book.
Dacre Stoker was at Cruden Bay on the anniversary date of May 26 and presented “Bram Stoker in Cruden Bay” information board. It’s been fixed to the side of the Kilmarnock Arms Hotel, a spot where Bram Stoker liked to stay. Bram Stoker spent 17 years visiting Cruden Bay, and he based some of his writing on the location.
Also planned as part of this year’s 125th anniversary is a new role-play game, a dice game and other stories related to the Stokerverse, Dacre Stoker said.
The Piccolo Spoleto Festival and the Spoleto Festival offer a variety of visual and performing arts through the 17-day festival which ends June 12.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the managing editor of The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
