David Campton’s “Carmilla”

Several play versions of Joseph Sheridan LeFanu‘s classic novella exist, from the Wildclaw Theater‘s grand guignol adaptation to recent musical in development and even one penned by yours truly.  There’s one particular version that has seen several different productions in the United Kingdom since its premiere in the 1970s–that of David Campton (who also wrote stage adaptations of Frankenstein and The House of Usher).  I recently finally got ahold of a copy of the script of his Carmilla, had a sit down to read it.

simage.phpNow let us be up front.  As noted, I myself wrote an adaptation of this very same story for the stage and frankly I’m quite pleased with it. So I have my own ‘take’ on the tale, my favorite of all vampire stories. On the other hand, I’ve also seen and enjoyed many a different version, including the Nightmare Classics version, the web series,  the motion pictures Styria (aka Angels of Darkness), The Unwanted and The Vampire Lovers. So I’m not whining Campton didn’t do the “obvious” thing and anticipate my lead.

I will say this play version has very little in common with the source material. Like too many adaptations, for example in moves Laura from center stage to the side, introducing a young handsome hero to sweep in and rescue her. This character has no parallel in the novella. In fact Laura’s isolation and lack of contact with anyone her own age helps explain the plot.  But this seems tossed aside in favor of what frankly seems like formula.

Carmilla008Frankly, all the female characters end up weakened, save for Carmilla herself–and her aggressiveness (or simple habit of making her own decisions) is used as a way of showing how evil she must be.  Even Carmilla’s mysterious mother, the Countess, vanishes to be replaced by a smarmy male servant named Ivan but who really should have been named Igor. The reason I say that is because the whole thing had a distinctly “camp” feel, without ever roaming into the area of actual comedy.  Every single character seemed like a type, rather than a person.

Add to this is plenty of small bits liberally lifted from the novel and play of Dracula (garlic, crosses and a visit to Transylvania even!) made me wonder “Why?”  Was it because Campton believed we wouldn’t believe in a vampire story without them? What does that say about his view of audiences?

To be fair, some nice touches dot the play here and there. Doctor Spielsberg (a tiny, walk-on character in the novella) becomes a puzzling supporting part, a man manipulated by the vampire in ways that frankly don’t seem terribly clear. But he is interesting. More, I rather liked the description of Carmilla seizing one person with vise-like grip, with directions saying it is as if the arm moves of its own accord.  A nice touch, that. Let us give credit where it is due.

Carmilla_-Lester_McKone-300x160Yet in all honesty, Campton’s version doesn’t really explore very much.  We don’t dive any deeper into LeFanu’s tale, not really.  Instead of Laura being genuinely special to Carmilla, she’s the equivalent of a favorite pet. Laura herself seems (as is all too often the case) without much personality at all.

One particularly vivid example of poor writing is when Captain Field tries to convince Laura’s father that his house guest is a walking ghost feeding off the blood of the living.  He does not know this man.  Captain Field’s reputation is a very shady one (he desecrated–that is, drove a wooden stake through–the corpse of his late fiancee). Yet all the Captain need do to persuade the father is insist he knows what he’s talking about–and the father agrees to go vampire hunting.  Not good writing. Not at all.

 

By david

David MacDowell Blue blogs at Night Tinted Glasses.  He graduated from the National Shakespeare Conservatory and is the author of The Annotated Carmilla. and Your Vampire Story (And How to Write It) as well as a theatrical adaptation of Carmilla.

1 comment

  1. I dislike the web series but Igor, garlic, Transylvania, 19th century setting… count me in! BTW, I have never liked LeFanu´s heroines. Fanny in A Chapter in the History of a Tyrone Family seems to be is pretty much OK with wife-beating – probably because the victim is older and “mad” – and Laura reacts to Carmilla´s I-want-to-whip-peasants in the peddler scene with the same “who cares” attitude.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: