I’m a big fan of Edgar A Poe, one of the giants of macabre fiction. His works are among my favorites when I do dramatic readings. I love making pieces like The Raven, Tell-tale Heart, and Cask of Amontillado come to chilling life for an audience. So, I was delighted to hear that the Edgar Allen Poe Speakeasy was coming to Maryville. My wife and I attended last night after I came home from WordFest.
I saw ads on Facebook for this event, in which they serve cocktails in a spooky atmosphere while performers present the works of the master. What’s not to like? As it turns out, quite a lot.
On a positive note, the crew made a good attempt at creating a spooky atmosphere, although you can only do some much with a hundred wooden chairs in the front of a banquet hall. I cut them some slack because of the limited venues available in Maryville. There were spooky lighting and a bit of artificial fog, as well as eerie music. So, A for effort.
Now the drinks. I’d have to give these a C. They tried to provide themed cocktails, using amontillado wine in one and some period spices in others. But these were weak and extremely watered down, no doubt from sitting in the back on big trays waiting for the venue to start. Suffice it to say, we ran no risk of violating the legal BAC limit on the drive home. 😊
As to the performances themselves? They probably get a D. Several pieces were presented, including The Pit and the Pendulum, The Cask of Amontillado, Anabelle Lee, and Fall of the House of Usher. But I was surprised to see that these were not dramatic readings but memorized performances. While I give the actors credit for learning so much monologue, they unfortunately paraphrased at times. The material was also shortened in some spots, which I can forgive due to time constraints. What I cannot forgive is that material was added, usually of a comic nature, which detracted from the suspense of the pieces. One should not rewrite great works of literature in order to ham them up for cheap laughs, especially not such iconicly eerie and suspenseful material. This reflects poorly on the ability of the actors to legitimately elicit an audience response.
Speaking of the acting, it was less than stellar. People spoke too quickly and slurred words, making it difficult to hear and understand. And if the audience can’t understand you, you’ve already lost them. Furthermore, the performers seemed to think that histrionics, over-the-top comic displays, and shouting were the way to interpret suspense and drama.
I was again struck by the attempt to add additional material of a comic nature. These works are not inherently funny and adding slapstick and anachronistic references does not make them so, it only detracts from the tension and beauty of the writing. If you are going to do that, go all the way and make it a spoof of Poe, which might have been funny. This was neither fish nor fowl, a little of both and a lot of neither.
Only the recitation of Annabelle Lee stood out. The young lady spoke clearly and forthrightly, allowing the loveliness of the writing to shine without any vaudevillian schtick. Bravo.
One to happier thoughts. I had lovely chats the past month or so with some nice podcast folks, namely Denny Jam and The DateKeepers. I’ll pass on links when these go live.
Peace!