Behind the Curtain – What Makes Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula a Theatrical Event

Theater thrives on bold choices, and Chautauqua Playhouse is making one this fall: staging the world premiere of an original play that pits literature’s greatest detective against its most infamous vampire. Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula, written by local playwright John E. Lee, runs October 17 through November 9—and it’s the kind of ambitious, inventive storytelling that reminds us why live theater still matters.

A Local Voice, A Fresh Take
John E. Lee isn’t adapting a known script or reworking public domain material into something safe. He’s crafted an entirely new narrative that asks, “What if?” What if Holmes returned from Reichenbach Falls not to a grateful London, but to a city under siege by an ancient evil? What if the detective’s greatest strength—his reliance on observable fact—became his greatest vulnerability?
This is original dramatic writing with stakes, vision, and respect for its source material. Lee doesn’t just throw two famous characters into a room and hope for sparks. He constructs a world where their collision feels inevitable, where the rules of one universe force the other to adapt. And he does it with a cast that includes Watson, Van Helsing, and the Harkers—turning a duel into an ensemble investigation.

Victorian London as a Character
Setting matters, and 1894 London is the perfect stage for this story. The era sits at the intersection of reason and superstition, gaslight and shadow. It’s the tail end of the Enlightenment, a moment when science was ascendant but folklore still whispered in the alleys.

Holmes represents modernity’s faith in logic; Dracula represents everything that faith can’t explain.
In Chautauqua’s hands, that fog-soaked, lamplit world will come alive through design, sound, and atmosphere. The venue’s black-box flexibility allows for Gothic set pieces—creaking doors, ominous crates, crypts, and parlors—while the intimate seating ensures that every shadow feels like it might move.

The Challenge of Cross-Genre Storytelling
This production asks a lot of its creative team. It has to deliver a satisfying mystery—clues, deductions, red herrings—while also honoring the horror conventions of vampire lore. It has to be cerebral and visceral, rational and supernatural, witty and terrifying. That balance is hard to strike, but when it works, it’s electric.

Lee’s script reportedly leans into both genres without sacrificing either. You get the procedural pleasure of watching Holmes assemble a case, cross-reference evidence, and test hypotheses. But you also get the Gothic thrill of watching those hypotheses fail when confronted with a creature that shouldn’t exist. It’s Sherlock Holmes at his most brilliant—and his most vulnerable.

Why Now?
Audiences are hungry for smart, inventive storytelling. We’ve spent years watching franchises recycle the same stories. We’ve seen endless reboots, sequels, and “safe” adaptations. Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula offers something different: a new story that honors the past while taking real creative risks. It trusts the audience to follow complex ideas, to enjoy language, to sit with tension instead of spectacle.

And it’s happening here, in Carmichael, at a community theater that’s willing to take a chance on an untested script because it believes in the power of original voices.

That’s worth celebrating. That’s worth showing up for.
Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula opens October 17 and runs through November 9 at Chautauqua Playhouse, 5325 Engle Road #110, Carmichael, CA. Evening performances at 7:30 PM. For tickets and full schedule, visit cplayhouse.org.
Come for the premise. Stay for the execution. And remember: in theater, as in detective work, the best discoveries happen live.