A Haunting Production

James Hyland (née Donovan, Tyson's 1992) will receive the highly prestigious Hamilton Deane Award from the world-renowned Dracula Society at its 50th Anniversary Bram Stoker Birthday Dinner in November for his performance as Dracula in his critically acclaimed stage production of Dracula's Guest (of which he is also the adapter, director and producer).

The award is named after the man who first made Dracula famous on the stage, and is awarded by The Dracula Society annually. Previous recipients include Sir Christopher Lee, Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Christopher Frayling, Denholm Elliott, Patrick Troughton, Ian Richardson, David Hemmings, Guillermo del Toro, George Hamilton, Michael Sheen, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Mark Gatiss.

What makes this award even more meaningful is that The Dracula Society was founded in October 1973, the very month and year that James was born. Together, they will be celebrating their 50th! This will be James's 40th industry award to date following his recent OffComm Commendation (Off West End Awards, 2023) for Fagin's Last Hour (of which he is the actor, adapter and producer), a multi award-winning one-man show adaptation of Oliver Twist taking the stage for its 13th consecutive year on tour, as well as Best Performance of the Year (The Actors Awards Los Angeles, 2022) for his lead performance in the short film The Impatient Man Who Made His Life Considerably Shorter which is currently screening at film festivals worldwide.

Current tour dates for James's stage shows can be viewed here.

Congratulations James!