Once Upon A Midnight

If you’ve heard about Poe’s famous tales of romance, mystery and the macabre, this is a handy sample bag to introduce you to his works.

The company chose four stories in various styles, all but one adapted to the stage by a Nash playwright, and director Sandra Harman cast ten fine actors to bring these stories to life on the stage. An interesting challenge?  Yes, and they brought it off.

Let’s start with the stories: The Masque of the Red Death, adapted from the J. E. Ballantyne Jnr version; Ligeia, adapted by Ron Kelly; The System of Dr Tarr & Professor Fether, adapted by Robert Mason; and The Black Cat, adapted by Elodie Boal.

Given the world’s present obsession with ebola virus, The Masque of the Red Death was an appropriate opener. Then came one of Poe’s popular love stories, Ligeia (in reality a double love story), and The System of Dr Tarr etc. that dealt with a novel treatment for the insane. Finally, I need to warn cat lovers, The Black Cat is not for you.

Most important are the actors who are charged with bringing this show to fruition: Elodie Boal, Joshua Byrd, Paul Careless, Jonathan Collins, Taryn Crispin, Brendan James, Samantha Lamont, Steve Pearton, Sandy Sharma and Reagan Warner. To them and their Director, it’s a thumbs up from me!

Jay McKee

Photographer: Maun Collins