Frankenstein & Dracula: Performance of Stoker’s Dracula
6:30pm - 8pm
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Bram Stoker (1847-1912), notes and outlines for Dracula (multiple pages), ca. 1890-96, pencil, pen, and ink on paper. Courtesy of The Rosenbach.
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From neuroscience and blood transfusions to hypnotism and phonograph recordings, Stoker’s Dracula is as much a chronicle of scientific, medical, and technological advances as it is the tale of the monster that threatens it all. Courtesy of The Rosenbach.
In conjunction with its exhibition Frankenstein & Dracula: Gothic Monsters, Modern Science, The Rosenbach of the Free Library of Philadelphia presents a performance of Bram Stoker’s Dracula by Josh Hitchens of Going Dark Theatre. A solo adaptation of the Gothic vampire tale, the performance draws on Stoker’s original text of diary entries, letters, and newspaper articles.
Frankenstein & Dracula is an exhibition highlighting Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein and Bram Stoker's Dracula—two seminal Gothic works that probe the intersection of scientific literature and social anxieties. Commemorating the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein, the exhibition includes manuscripts from Oxford University's Bodleian Library, notes Stoker made while writing Dracula, and cross-disciplinary materials from the American Philosophical Society, Chemical Heritage Foundation, College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and the Free Library of Philadelphia. Complementing the visitor experience is an interactive portal to the “Frankenstein Digital Museum,” an international project that documents the novel’s continuing influence and its appropriation during times of apprehension prompted by scientific advancements.