Review: A MIDNIGHT DREARY at We Happy Few

I watched the first Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" episode when it first aired on October 25, 1990, when I was eight years old. This was my introduction to Edgar Allan Poe's immortal poem "The Raven," which I suspect is true of many of my generation. I've loved it ever since, and to this day, whenever I read it, I can't help but hear James Earl Jones' thundering narration interspersed with Dan Castellaneta voicing the words of the poem's speaker as Homer-"D'oh! Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend..." 35 years later, I'm a college English professor, and just last Thursday led my class in a discussion of the poem. Because, as I told my students, when it's All Hallows Eve Eve, we're starting the poetry unit, and we're in Maryland, what other poem can we focus on?

I further celebrated my "Poe-versary"  by attending We Happy Few's new production, which invites the audience into an immersive visit to Poe's dark, Gothic world. The audience is invited to pour themselves a sherry or Amontillado in the lobby of the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, then three actors all dressed as Poe lead them into the theater, ornately designed by Jon Reynolds and eerily lit by Jason Aufdem-Brinke. Over the course of an hour the three Poe actors then perform unique interpretations of three of Poe's most famous works. First, in "The Masque of the Red Death,"  we are in Prince Prospero's abbey as he hosts his masquerade ball and a silent, menacing, uninvited guest arrives. Next, in "A Cask of Amontillado," which my students read earlier in the semester, Montresor beckons the audience to follow him into the catacombs where he tricks and traps Fortunato. The third and, in my opinion, most harrowing segment is "The Tell-Tale Heart," in which the unnamed narrator pulls us along on his tale of meticulous murder preparation, madness, and eventual confession.  The production ends with an abridged reading of "The Raven."

As I discussed with my students, it is easy to see Poe's unhappy life and times reflected in his work. Orphaned at a young age, he struggled with alcoholism and compulsive gambling. His beloved wife Virginia died in 1847 and his own life would end at age 40 two years later under mysterious circumstances. Having Poe look-alikes perform these stories gives us the impression of observing the author's tortured thought processes as he channels these painful experiences into his famous tales of insanity, isolation, and horror.

Director Esteban Marmolejo-Suarez achieves compelling synergy among his enesmble. The play is performed by two trios of actors on alternating nights. On the night I attended, it was performed by the "A cast," consisting of  Rachel Dixon, Victor Salinas, and Paige O'Malley (who also serves as Costume Designer.)  "B cast" consists of Em German, Andrew Quilpa, and Gill Rydholm.

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