DRACULA

Published in 1897, the novel “Dracula” by Irish writer Bram Stoker arose from a sense of acute, though undefined, fear that accompanied the decline of the 19th century.

Victorian prosperity, a prolonged period of peace, and the sophisticated upbringing of the imperial power of the British state could not last forever. The face of the world was transformed by the Industrial Revolution, bringing lasting and disturbing changes to society.

The novel shook readers, immediately becoming a sensation. The story of a ghostly count inhabiting the Romanian wastelands is still considered a classic of the horror genre, rightfully included among the hundred most outstanding novels of all time. Taken in the form of letters, newspaper clippings and excerpts from diaries, it touches on authenticity and the complexity and diversity of feelings and emotions it contains.

“The decadent sense of dread rhymes with the modern sense of fear of coming from the east of the unknown and imagined. We do not know exactly what we are afraid of, it is easy to feed on our fears. Some are afraid of ignorance, others do not sleep from an excess of information. A similar fear pushes the protagonists of the play to dangerous actions — fear awakens in people the darkest side, perhaps much more dangerous than the people and phenomena that we are told to fear.” — says the director, Jakub Roszkowski.

Gliwice's “Dracula”, which is a faithful adaptation of Stoker's novel, will delight all horror lovers, although Roszkowski and the crew do not hide their fun with the horror convention. “After all, we don't go to the theater because it is a real feeling of fear, although as spectators we like a certain kind of discomfort and uncertainty. However, the most terrible thing happens inside us.” — adds Jakub Roszkowski.

The play uses a fragment of Dante Aligheri's “Divine Comedy” translated by Edward Porębowicz

The Dracula show received the Golden Mask for 2025 in the category SPECTACLE OF THE YEAR!

Fig. Jeremy Astashov