This past weekend, the RMHS Drama Club performed An Evening with Edgar Allen Poe. This play follows six short stories written by Poe: The Cask of Amontillado, The Purloined Letter, The Fall of the House of Usher, The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether, The Oblong Box, and The Tell Tale Heart. The play lasted a total of eighty minutes, which was arguably the best part of the entire play; perhaps all plays and musicals by the RMHS Drama Club should be restricted to this time length in the future. An Evening with Edgar Allen Poe marked the last performance by the RMHS Drama club, and sadly they did not end this season on a high note.
For the most part, the six stories were very hard to follow; fortunately The Fall of the House of Usher and The Tell Tale Heart were two stories that were a bit easier to follow, and thus my favorite. The Fall of the House of Usher followed the story of a Roderick Usher, played by Tyler D’Ambrosio, living in a haunted house with his sister who has catalepsy. The short story ends with the man going mad and his sister dying. This leaves his childhood friend Rhodes, played by Samantha Kramer, who tried to help, all alone. The plot of this rather scary story was intriguing and made me listen for the entirety of the story.
The Tell Tale Heart was another creepy story of a man named Burke, played by Travis Giragosian, who kills the old man living in this apartment, played by Atticus Habel. Burke is plagued by his guilt and when the cops come to investigate the sounds that neighbors heard the night of the old man’s death, he exhibits guilt at the sound of the thudding of a heart. The sound effects of this story were the best of the entire drama season.
Although I only enjoyed two out of the six short stories, I felt that the sound effects, setting, and costumes made up for this. Besides the thudding of the heart during The Tell Tale Heart, I enjoyed the realistic sound effect of rain during The Fall of the House of Usher.
My favorite costumes were the simple attire worn by Poe, played by Travis Giragosian, which consisted of a realist wig and mustache, black pants, and a white flowy tunic. I also loved the white dress worn by Caroline Hagan during The Fall of the House of Usher.
During the entirety of the performance, there was a curtain cut up in individual strips in the background. This choice of background added to the creepy and mysterious essence of the play. My favorite way the Drama Club utilized this curtain was during the The Oblong Box, the fifth story, which took place on a ship. Several members from the Visions Ensemble took a section from the curtain and moved back and forth to mimic the motion of waves and the movement of the boat. Honestly, I could have stared at this curtain for eighty minutes, rather than listen to the stories.
Although An Evening with Edgar Allen Poe was not my favorite production by the RMHS Drama Club, the sound effects, setting, and costumes made up for the plot of each story. It was nice that the play was not three hours long, something the Drama Club should keep in mind for next year. I hope that the Drama Club also considers performing plays and musicals that have an easier plot so that the performance can be more clearly translated through the script; a good plot is the key to a successful performance.