tech advise on dracula cape with frame...

One of the reasons you are having trouble is that the sort of trap they used (if that's the 1927 script) is now illegal as it required the actor to drop about 6 feet. The cape frame is quite simple, I unfortunately have no drawings but it is a rigid wire frame that retains the shape of the cape but can bend enough to be handled briefly by the cast before a blackout. You build a collar of wire on your actor with a set of long struts down to the ground. Van Helsing and Sewrad grab the collar and it sort of hangs. If I remember rightly that's the end of a scene and they can get rid of it quite quickly afterward. We did it by having Dracula turn his back on the audience with his collar turned up then the cloak was grabbed he ducked out and through a fire place simutaneously with a blast of smoke. It looked great and worked well. Good luck Is that all there is? Well if that's all there is my friend, then let's keep dancing. www.tonymoore.id.au