| Lucy Seward | |
|---|---|
 Dorothy Peterson played Lucy Seward on Broadway | |
|
Real Name |
Lucy Seward |
|
First Appearance |
Dracula - Play (1927 revision) |
|
Original Publisher |
Fulton Theatre on Broadway |
|
Created by |
Bram Stoker and John L. Balderston |
Origin[]
John Harker visits his fiancée, Lucy Seward, at the sanatorium run by her father, Doctor Seward. Abraham Van Helsing arrives to help with Lucy's case. Seward tells Van Helsing about Mina Weston, a friend of Lucy's who complained about bad dreams and had two small marks on her throat, then wasted away and died. R. M. Renfield, a lunatic patient who has been eating insects, enters and asks to be sent away to save his soul. Van Helsing waves wolfsbane at Renfield, who jumps back and becomes enraged. An attendant drags Renfield away. Lucy tells Van Helsing about her bad dreams, and he finds two small marks on her neck. Count Dracula, a visitor from Transylvania who stays nearby, arrives to offer help with Lucy. When Dracula leaves, Van Helsing tells Seward and Harker that Lucy has been attacked by a vampire, an undead creature that feeds on the blood of the living. They can exist for centuries, have supernatural powers, and hate the smell of wolfsbane. Van Helsing considers whether Dracula might be the vampire, but dismisses the idea because vampires must sleep in the soil where they were buried, and Dracula is not from England. He decides to watch Lucy in her sleep to catch the vampire. After Van Helsing turns off the lights, Dracula appears in the dark near Lucy, causing her to scream. When Van Helsing switches on the lights, they see a bat fly out the window. Moments later Dracula comes back through the door and asks if Lucy is better.
The next evening, Dracula hypnotizes Lucy's maid, saying he will send her orders. Van Helsing, Harker, and Seward gather to discuss what they have learned during the day. Harker reveals that Dracula arrived three days before Mina became ill, and he had six large boxes of Transylvanian dirt with him. Van Helsing realizes Dracula is able to stay in England by sleeping in these boxes. He says they must purify the boxes with holy water so they will no longer be usable by a vampire. They hear Renfield laugh and realize he has been spying on them. Renfield says Van Helsing's plan is the only way to save his soul and Lucy's. Renfield is interrupted when a bat flies in the room. He calls the bat "Master" and swears he is loyal. The bat flies away, and the attendant takes Renfield back to his room. After the others leave, Dracula returns and attacks Van Helsing, who repels him with a bag of sacramental bread. Van Helsing tells Seward and Harker he has proof that Dracula is a vampire. Van Helsing identifies him as “the terrible Voivode Dracula himself.” He places wolfsbane and a crucifix in Lucy's room, but the hypnotized maid removes them so Dracula can enter.
The next night just before sunrise, Seward and Van Helsing have purified five of Dracula's boxes of earth, but did not find the sixth. Lucy attempts to seduce Harker and bite him, but Van Helsing stops her with a crucifix. Van Helsing plans to lure Dracula into the house and trap him there until sunrise. Dracula arrives and says he will return to his box for a century, but will then rise and claim Lucy from her grave. As the sun rises, Dracula escapes up the chimney. Renfield follows him using a hidden passage behind a bookcase. The men follow Renfield into an underground vault, where they find Dracula asleep in his box and drive a stake through his heart. After the theatre's curtain falls, Van Helsing addresses the audience with a warning that "there are such things".
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Lucy Seward from before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.
Public Domain Stage Appearances[]
- Dracula (1927 revision)
Notes[]
- In 1927 the play was brought to Broadway by producer Horace Liveright, who hired John L. Balderston to revise the play for American audiences. As a result of Balderston's revision, the names of female characters were swapped, and what was Stoker's Mina character became now Lucy Seward, daughter of Dr.Seward. She was played on Broadway by Dorothy Peterson.